Ahem… we’re talking about exercise, here:

Q: Hey girl, I love your blog and I subscribed to get them by email b/c I have an office job for 9 hours a day.  I was wondering if you could do a post with exercises that can be performed at the desk in the office during breaks or anytime. I am thinking you could use a water bottle, a towel, and your chair.

I love this question. Really, I do.

As a single parent, I was pretty limited in my resources as far as quality workout time. Sure, there’s a gym in my apartment complex that I could take my little one to, but there’s always that time frame in the year where everyone is in the gym. Having people trip over or run into her stroller… wasn’t working for me. My answer to this was simple: formulate a workout plan that I can execute at home, and if it didn’t require me to purchase any products, that’s even better. I’d imagine the limitations are similar at the office, with the added issue of limiting the amount of sweating going on. I was extremely successful using this kind of workout, so hopefully my little bit of insight can help.

I’ve written a little about this before, three of the ways that I really took advantage of what I had at home to get fit. However, in the spirit of this week’s “Ten More Minutes” challenge, how’s about I give you ten new exercises to get into right at your desk or in your office. Pack a lunch, close your office door, use ten minutes to get in these exercises and the other 20 (or 50, whatever you’ve got) to enjoy your lunch!

• Triceps: Dumbbell Kickbacks (uses a water bottle)
• Dumbbell Bicep Curl (uses a water bottle)
• Good Mornings (uses a broomstick or tall umbrella or a tightly-pulled towel)
• Steam Engines
• 8 Count Lunge and Squat
• The Superman
• Seated Calf Raise
• Vertical Jumping Jacks
• Standing Oblique Twists

Pick a couple to do each day and if you couple them with proper stretches afterwards, that’s a great way to make use of your ten minutes!

When I first started out with exercise, I would take my daughter to the gym in our apartment complex during the hours when most people were expected to be at work. However… during certain seasons, the gym becomes a 24-hour pick-up spot. No matter the hour, it was always full of people. It became less and less sensible for me to bring my little one in there. It was starting to feel like I was developing an excuse to not workout – “I can’t go to the gym because the fellas are going to trample all over my daughter in her stroller.. she’ll be in the way. They’re going to put me out. I can’t go!” – and I had to do something.

So, my little one and I spent a good amount of time at home. Sad that I couldn’t use the gym equipment – and unwilling to spend money (in a recession, no less) on my own – I had to come up with an effective manner of getting in my exercise. My desire to not spend money on getting fit had only a little to do with the fact that I’m cheap (painfully cheap.) It had much more to do with the fact that I needed to know that the effort I was putting forth wouldn’t be dependent upon how much money I could spend to get it. I needed to know that my business could fail, I could go broke and poor and be homeless living with a friend and that I’d still be able to maintain my health on my own. That I could innovate ways to get it done, and that I was devoted enough to my cause to continue to innovate.

After enough reading and research, I got it. Meet… my dumbell.

Oh, and I’m serious. Two gallon jugs that I could control how many cups are in them? Yes.

Look at it this way – a gallon of water weighs approximately 8lbs. There are 16 cups in a gallon of water. In theory, each cup weighs half a pound. If I pour 10 cups of water in each jug, I have two five pound weights at home to use. Simple as that. Obviously, you might not want that water sloshing around back and forth (if you did, you’d simply have an effective homemade Shake Weight) so feel free to use smaller containers, so long as you can maintain a good grip on it.

I also built a routine around calisthenics. Calisthenics are, in few words, exercises that consist of a series of movements that basically use the body’s weight against itself in order to build muscle. Think squats, push ups, jumping jacks, lunges. While you may not be able to increase the amount of weight (and actually hope that it decreases), you can increase the number of exercises you do and use different variations of the same exercise.

For example – I went from regular lunges to walking lunges. Yowzers. I went from squats to plié squats to frog hops. Double yowzers. I went from doing my push-ups against a wall to doing them with my feet on the floor and hands on a chair to finally doing them on the floor. See? It’s all about time, patience and progress.You’ll know when it starts to feel too easy, and you’ll want more.. or different.. or more challenging.

My last method of infusing my in-house day with exercise? Tabatas.

[begin superhero music]

Tabatas are a four minute long method of interval training. 20 seconds of going as hard as you can, followed by 10 seconds of rest. A cycle repeated with 4 different exercises – totaling 2 minutes – and then your entire 2 minute routine repeated twice. This is great for early morning just-woke-up activity, or “Dang, I missed the gym, let me at least get in a little something” night time activity.

So, for example, on leg day – I’d do those hammer curls with my jug as hard and fast as I could (while trying to maintain my form) for 20 seconds, then rest for ten seconds. Then, I’d switch to my walking lunges for 20 seconds, then rest for ten seconds. Then I’d hit my leg swings for 20 seconds, then rest for ten seconds. Then? Tricep dips for 20 seconds, then rest. Finally, I’d repeat the entire sequence… feeling like I got beat down in the end.

Between tabatas, calisthenics and my gallon jug dumbbells, I was able to get my exercise in at home when I couldn’t get to the gym with the little one. Hopefully, they’ll give you a few options in how to expand your at-home workout, too.

A question that people often ask me is whether I prefer to work out in the morning or at night. I’ve often quipped that they should just “saddle up and do both!” but that’s often not an option for a busy woman.

Realistically, I feel like both have served their purposes very well at different stages in my life, and I don’t mind sharing what each did for me, and when.

When I first started working out, I’d go in the evenings. I know I’ve written about this before, but my beginning steps into working out were rough ones. Very rough ones. I could work out for a good hour, but man, I’d only burn half of one dish! I ate so poorly that even though I was putting in at least 12 hours a week at the gym, I didn’t see the results that my efforts deserved. However… the ability to resolve a day’s worth of stress on the chest press machine? I valued that! That client who drove me up the wall without a way down? Oh yeah, I took that anger out on the seated leg press machine. Those looming deadlines that I knew were coming and dreaded? I ran from ‘em on the treadmill. Oh yeaaaaaah.

Working out in the evenings means you have motivation to go harder in your workout. You can think of every mess up that you made – “Indulged in that Taco Bell Diet, did we? Oh no, you need to suffer for that!” or maybe “You know you didn’t need that latte this morning! Take that! Take that!” – and use that as a reason to push yourself beyond your original breaking points.

…even though you shouldn’t be messing up.

When I left my gym, I dropped all of the equipment and just walked. I’d hit the path around the lake and just go around and around and around for a good 45 minutes. It was the rule in my house – directly after dinner, I’d head out. Some nights it’d feel so good outside that I couldn’t wait to get out there, and I’d feel refreshed and relaxed upon my return home. The perfect way to calmly wind down a long day, it absolutely was.

When I realized that I was slimming down pretty quickly, I started stepping my game up. I did strength training exercises like stretches and yoga, various at-home exercises in the mornings. At night, I’d hit the dusty trail around the lake. That worked out wonderfully for me, because I had everything that I needed to workout at home at my disposal. Made it easy, made it free. No excuses.

Now, I get up in the mornings and I hit the cardio first. Why? Because all day, I’m gonna be thinking about how I kicked my own behind on the treadmill, and I’m going to use that as a reason to refuse to allow a cheeto to get in my way! Not only that, but it gives me a safe and healthy way to wake up without going on about my day half-awake.

I’m slowly bringing back my two-a-days – doing cardio and my basic daily routine in the morning, and more cardio coupled with yoga and strength training at night. For me, this is how I alleviate my stresses, motivate myself to behave better throughout the day, and give myself an opportunity to both wake up fully before engaging in my day and wear myself out before bedtime.

For me, my workout is my time for peace. I focus my thoughts. I relax. I prepare. I sort myself out mentally. It’s my time away from business, from responsibility, from drama. It’s the few moments of the day when I can truly focus on bettering myself. Some of us will need that kind of focus in the mornings before we embark on a difficult day, and some of us will need that to regroup ourselves so that we can get a restful sleep. As long as I’m still putting that effort into myself, it doesn’t matter if I do it during the 25th hour of the day.. I’m still getting it in, and I’m taking care of me.

So in short (these are never really short, are they?), I see the benefits to doing each option individually, as well as just buckling down and trying to do both. What about you? When do you get your workout on, and why? How does it work out for you?

Never mind the adorable girl showing off the exercise, but pay close attention to the instructions, here. I find that it took me a while to focus doing this exercise. You have to be careful that you’re not just swinging your legs back and forth, that you’re really working muscle groups with this one!

I started this one doing 10 of them back to back in three different sets. Give it a shot! Great for the booty, too!

A big part of burning fat is cardiovascular exercise (also lovingly known as cardio.) The most toned muscles in the world will never be seen if there’s a thick layer of fat covering them, you know? I deal with this right now – trying to get rid of the last bits of fat that I have just… chillin’ on my thighs so that I can let my newly defined thigh and calf muscles shine through! Nothing worse than seeing the definition in some spots, only to have it hidden in others.

A part of my OWN home workout includes skipping rope, and it’s been working wonders for me. I have a nice cheap jump rope that I got back from the dollar general, LOL, so I don’t use the cool rope this gentleman has in his video. Some days, I don’t use the rope at all, and I “mock jump rope” throughout the morning. Give yourself a good five minutes with this exercise, and after a few weeks you’ll definitely start feeling some changes in your body!

It happens to the best of us. Out of nowhere, the downward spiral we all want comes to a halt. We start wondering what’s going on, and become unhappy. It might also be those of us who are just starting out – sweating our hair out at the gym only to go a week and find no results.  What are we doing wrong?

I’d like to offer up five big reasons why you might be hitting a brick wall with your weight loss.

1. You’re eating too much after you workout. This was something I REALLY had to remind myself about, and became a better woman for it. Working out doesn’t give me carte blanche to eat how I want. It shouldn’t be looked at that way when I’m trying to lose weight. Working out doesn’t provide me with a “cushion” to fall back on if I overeat. It’s considered a known fact that people come out of a workout session sweaty and starving. What am I eating to replenish? Am I stopping by McDonalds drive thru, or do I have some grapes or a slice of cantaloupe waiting for me at home?
2. Are you a little too indulgent when it comes to the good stuff? So, you’ve finally done it. You’ve got a workout routine, you’ve slowed down on the junk food, and you’re only buying healthy/organic/[insert other fitness buzz word]. But wait? Have you merely replaced one vice for another? It may be organic, but that doesn’t mean that the caloric value is better. It especially doesn’t mean that just because the caloric value is smaller, that it’s ok to have 3 or 4 servings. If the “healthy” peanut butter is 20 calories less than the “regular peanut butter,” that doesn’t mean you should have more than you were originally getting! It might even mean you should start shooting for less.. since sometimes (especially with nuts) the more organic versions have the original fat values in tact, and can sometimes have more fat grams in them. To make matters worse, if that organic version has more sodium in it, it’s that much more likely to cause you to maintain water weight (which is usually a result of a high-sodium diet.) Talk about tripping yourself up.
3. You’re not drinking enough water. Here’s a neat little tidbit I picked up in my reading. The body burns fat whenever your internal temperature is increased. The more water you drink, the more able your body is to heat up. Remember, water is a conductor of heat and electricity – it makes it easier for heat to pass through it, thus making it easier for your body to heat up to do what it needs to do. Do you drink enough before your workout? Better yet, do you drink it afterwards? To tie in with the first point, if you’re drinking too many calories, you might be counteracting your body’s ability to burn calories… since you keep drinking so many!
4. You’re not hitting the potty enough. Where’s the fiber? For every meal that you take in, you should be releasing just that much. That’s right. Considering now that you know that, how far behind are you falling? Even more so, how much do you estimate you have stuck inside of your system? I know people who get such a small amount of fiber in their daily diet, they may not hit the potty at ALL in one given day. Trust me when I tell you, if your plate weighs 2lbs when you sit it down to eat, rest assured that you are adding at least a pound and some change to your weight. Add the fiber, already!
5. You’re doing better than you thought. Here’s another neat little tidbit I’ve picked up in my reading. Muscle weighs as much as [if not more than] fat. Yes, yes, this is true. You might’ve picked up just as many pounds in muscle as you might’ve lost in fat. This is a good thing, though! Why? “According to calculations published in the journal Obesity Research by a Columbia University team in 2001, a pound of muscle burns approximately six calories a day in a resting body, compared with the two calories that a pound of fat burns.” See how that works? So yeah, you might’ve gained a pound of muscle, but when you get your eating habits back together.. you will absolutely reap the rewards of having it!

I won’t lie – I’m facing this right now. I’ve been stepping up my calisthenics routine at home, and while I’ve lost a total of 12 inches between my upper/lower waist, hips, and thighs… I’ve only lost 12 lbs. 12! It’s hard to not let it get me down, which is why I focus heavily on what I look like, and not what I weigh. I suppose I need to re-read what I wrote about being a slave to the scale, eh?

How about it? How did you manage to fight your plateau? How did it affect you? Let’s hear it!

What other reasons are there why we might hit a brick wall?

When I first started working out, I joined a gym. It was awesome – open 24hrs with security, awesome facilities, and two personal trainers (a married couple, in their late 50s – I know, I was mad too) who owned and operated it. The gentleman was the one who showed me around his facility. First to the cardio center, then to the “core” area.

I didn’t even know what a “core” was, and I told him such. I had this awkward look on my face like, “This might be a stupid question, but.. what is a core?” He grabbed my hand and said, “There are no stupid questions in my house!” As he went on to say that the core is the entire batch of muscles that controls our midsections, I promptly told him, “Oh, I don’t have any abs. I mean, come on – I have to grab the top of the car in order to lift myself out of it.”

He laughed so hard at me, I felt like getting mad, LOL.

“We all have abs, Erika. Sure, we might have different levels of strength, but we all have them.”

I felt like telling him a giant “Whatever,” but I didn’t. Instead, I just listened as he offered up tons of exercises and tips for me to try to help “get some abs.” Here is one of those exercises. Hopefully, they’ll help you as much as they’ve helped me.

There you have it – a nice, challenging, simple method for working out your core. You don’t have to do a thousand of ‘em, you don’t have to do a hundred, either. Going from zero to 20 is challenging enough. Try whatever you can, and when they start feeling too easy, let natural progression tell you to try doing more. Be happy, be healthy, be good!

What I’m seeking to do is present you with a ton of different exercises that you can try in the comfort of your own home, maybe even your own bed!

I know that my biggest thing was getting over how silly I felt I might look trying to workout at home. As a friend said, “Some people need to go to a gym to feel as though they’ve accomplished anything.” I can’t necessarily say that this was how I felt, but I know that whatever it was was costing me my health in the process, and I needed to get it together!

The first of our exercises is something that will help with stretches as much as they will help with the booty area (yes, we will be giving the booty extra special attention!) as well as the upper thighs. Check out this hip extensions clip brought to us by the folks at expertvillage.com!

A big part of my ability to workout was stripping myself of excuses. I run a business, I don’t have time to get dressed, throw my hair back, go to the gym, and spend an hour. That’s like.. two hours worth of  time I could be spending on my business! I’m a single parent.. I can’t find a sitter for when I want to hit the gym!

I kind of had to develop a split personality, and beat myself at my own game. It sounds like I need psychiatric help, but it’s true in a sense. I needed to identify my own excuses, and start shattering them along the way so that I could begin to see my healthier self. I had to acknowledge, personally, that I was afraid to venture out into the world of working out because I was afraid to face the struggle that comes with it. I won’t lie.. I was also afraid to disappoint myself those weeks when the scale doesn’t move. To avoid the disappointment, I simply wouldn’t bother.

How awful does that sound?

I know not every woman will be able to identify with that, but I know some will. And even if that doesn’t define you, it may define someone you know. It’s important for you to understand this kind of mentality – not saying that it will always apply, but the self-defeating attitude that so many of us carry when it comes to weight loss and overall personal health? The difficulty of incorporating a routine in our lives that we might’ve never saw growing up? We might not’ve ever saw our friends partake? I had ONE friend in all my four years of college that worked out. It felt silly… why it might’ve felt silly? That’s a topic for another post, if you ask me.

Having realized my self-defeating attitude, I had to start slaughtering my excuses as they came. Can’t go to the gym? Fine. I’ll work out at home. I don’t have to “get dressed.” I don’t have to “look-presentable-even-though-I’m-going-somewhere-to-go-get-sweaty.” I don’t have to waste time in the commute. I can get just as good of a workout in the comfort of my own home.

That’s the purpose behind this series. I’m hoping to post videos from the web that showcase awesome techniques for working out at home without a single machine, barbell, or bendy band thingy. I don’t have them, and I do pretty well. Besides, this is a recession and jobs are here today, gone tomorrow, unfortunately. We want to focus on the ability to be healthy without having to purchase something.

In short, the Home Workout Routine is the excuse killer. If you make it as easy as possible for you to jump into, there’s nothing stopping you from doing so! Enjoy the series!