Fitness

Fiscal Fitness: Free Exercise Routine

Keywords: exercise, fitness routine, lose weight, weight loss, weight training alternatives, workout-routine

By Shawn McKee
eDiets Contributor

As the government tries to get a struggling economy back on its feet, we realize that the economy isn’t the only thing out of shape in this country: Roughly two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

So while the president’s fiscal stimulus package aims to shape up the economy, eDiets’ physical stimulus package aims to get you to a state of increased health and well-being. The best part about our plan is that there aren’t any tax increases, earmarks, gym memberships or expensive equipment to buy!

“You don’t need a gym membership to work out,” says fitness pro Raphael Calzadilla. “There are so many exercise options that you can perform without any equipment at all, and you can find numerous exercise videos available free online.”

Raphael recommends using things around your house for exercise. Instead of spending money on dumbbells, you can use soup cans, which come in a variety of sizes and can weigh up to a few pounds. If you need more weight, you can use gallon jugs filled with water, which weigh just over 8 pounds.

There is exercise equipment everywhere you look — and it’s free! You can use furniture: Do incline pushups off the edge of a sofa or try chair squats — sit down, stand up, repeat! They’re a safe way for beginners to squat.

The key is to understand the goal of your fitness plan.

“Be clear as to what your specific goal is,” says Raphael. “Whether it’s to lose 5 pounds in 30 days, to be able to perform 10 pushups or 20 ab crunches, you need to create a routine based on your lifestyle and time frame. If you only have three days per week based on your busy schedule, and can only allot 30 minutes each time, then the routine needs to be designed with the schedule and time parameters in mind.”

If you’re here, you probably want to lose at least some amount of weight, so Raphael has designed a fat-blasting workout to hit your entire body in about 30 minutes — and you can literally do anywhere.

Raphael stresses the importance of a warm-up before you begin your workout to avoid injury, as well as a gradual cool down at the end.

“I recommend at least a five-minute warm-up of walking in place or arm circles like these, to get the blood flowing,” says Raphael.

Directions:

– After the initial warm up, perform each of the 13 exercises in succession with minimal time between sets.
– Perform 12 repetitions per exercise (or as many as possible if you’re unable to reach 12).

– After completing a full circuit of the exercises, rest 30-45 seconds and complete the circuit again.
– Keep performing the circuit until you reach 30 minutes and then cool down. In most cases, a person can complete 2-3 rotations in the 30 minutes.
– There is no need to rush, but try to keep the pace somewhat brisk.
– For dumbbell exercises, use soup cans or water jugs. So instead of dumbbell curls, do soup-can curls and so on.

Click on the exercise names to see video demonstrations of all the moves.

Exercises:

1. Back – Dumbbell One Arm Row
2. Chest, Shoulders & Arms – Bent Knee Push-Up
3. Legs – Dumbbell Squats
*For those with lower body limitations, replace the Squats with Seated Leg Extension and omit exercise #10.
4. Abdominals – Double Crunch
5. Shoulders – Dumbbell Lateral Raise
6. Biceps – Dumbbell Curls
7. Triceps – Dumbbell Triceps Extension
8. Abdominals – Crunch
9. Glutes (Butt) – Straight Leg Reverse Lift
10. Legs/Butt – Walking Lunges (One set is 12 steps in one direction and 12 steps back.)
11. Calves – Standing Calf Raise
12. Chest – Dumbbell Flat Chest Fly
13. Abs – The Plank (Hold position for 20-30 seconds)

Make sure to cool down at the end and you’re on your way to a serious caloric deficit — the kind of deficit you want. You can get in shape without spending money. You just have to be creative and use the physical stimulus plan outlined above. Good luck, America!

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Anonymous

You need to build up for each excersise. If you can't do the modified push-ups, you can start with push-ups off the wall and then off the chair or sofa, then work your way to the modified version.

This routine is pretty basic though. I wonder why all the advice seems to be addressed to the beginners? I would dearly like to know what a person who is trying to break from intermediate to advanced needs to do and not over-train?

I keep being caught in a vicious circle – I either don't progress (or worse, start picking weight right back again), or I overtrain and don't progress as soon as I try to increase the load or duration or intensity (yes, by those 10% a week thing). Argh. Any advice in that department?
Raphael

musicrunner,

You have some sort of weakness in the delts, chest or possibly triceps. The best thing you can do is practice the push up by performing the negative portion of the movement. This technique helps the muscles to adapt and become stronger. So begin at the top of the push up position and lower very slowly with as much control as possible. Then when you reach the floor don't attempt to push up. Just shift back to your knees and prop back up to the top and perform another slow negative. Perform 6 reps and 3 sets each. Try this 3 non-consecutive days per week for 3 weeks. In week 4 try the modified push up. If that feels easy try the full.

Good luck!
Anonymous

Anonymous,

It's difficult to answer your question because I don't know what you're currently performing for a workout (routine, days, intensity etc.). Also I don't know what your actual goal is. Without knowing what you're currently doing I don't know what represents the next level. I do find that people tend to overtrain when they under eat but that may not be the case for you. Again, there are so many unknowns I'm not able to provide a recommendation.
Anonymous

My training regimen is as follow:

I aim for 90 to 120 minutes of excersise a day including stretching. Per week I do:

7 days a week – yoga/flexibility training (30 min), started hot yoga this week

3 days of weight training (40 min), 1 day I do bicep & tricep; 2 nd day I do glutes, shoulders and hamstrings; 3rd day I do chest and quads. I do 6 sets of 5 reps on max weight I can lift 5 times (schedule recommended for females by the Bodybuilding.com)(right now in 12 lbs to 20 lbs range on one arm, ~50-55 lbs on both arms, like for deadlifts and squats).

5 days of cardio (~30 to 50 min per session) I alternate running (outdoor and treadmill), with swimming, step, cardio-kickboxing, spin and hi/lo.

Optional on a good week: 1 day – interval training, such as Getting Ripped 1000.

Rest Day – 1 day a week, light activity only, like walking, playing in the pool or cleaning the house. I also take low-intensity day when my muscules are sore and/or I feel over-fatigued. Generally I do yoga and walking on those days.

My goal is to cut body fat from ~18-20% I have now to under 15% (I am a female). Weight doesn't matter, as long as I can trim the fat off my low body area.

My diet is at BMR, in 1300-1400 range, aiming for 30% healthy fat, 30% protein and 40% carbs. I only eat whole foods, no processed products, such as flour products. I cook everything myself, and eat 'out' no more often than 1th a month, and I pick my foods with great care when I do.

As far as I know I am doing everything by the book, but I am stuck, and have been stuck for >6 months. I have not deviated from this routine for over a year (I lost ~30 lbs very fast and that was it, picked back about 4 lbs & can't re-loose).

The moment I start eating more (say 1500-1800 range), I start picking up weight like crazy (up to 3 to 5 lbs overnight), so nope, not eating.
http://www.alexdesigns.com/ alex harris – alexdesigns

Great article, like the list of all related articles. Will check back for more

Disclaimer: The information provided is intended for your knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. Please talk with your healthcare provider regarding any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.

Fitness

Fiscal Fitness: Free Exercise Routine

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