Get fit at home

Get Fit at Home

Thinking of a new you – but can't find the time for the gym – or don't want to commit to a monthly gym membership fee? Well don’t worry; you can still keep in shape without leaving the house!

1. 15 Minute Fat Loss

Forget about hours on the treadmill – research shows that short, intense 'interval training' is a great way to boost fat loss and fitness. All you need is a little bit of space and a stop watch! This simple workout gives you toning, cardiovascular fitness and fat burning all-in-one - and can also be performed with a skipping rope, exercise bike or rower.

• Warm-up by jogging on the spot and stretching.
• Once you're warm, sprint maximally on the spot for 10 seconds.
• Walk or jog for 30 seconds to 1 minute, repeat.
• Try starting with a total of 5 minutes, gradually building up to 15 minutes as your fitness improves.

2. Record Your Success

Here's a fat loss and fitness tip that doesn't require any exercise – but can dramatically improve your results; keep a training log to make sure you're 'progressively overloading your body’. The key to lo sing more fat and getting fitter is to progress the intensity of your home workouts (shorter rest periods, more repetitions, more resistance, longer sessions). Every time you increase your intensity, you get fitter and burn more calories. This has a dramatic effect on your body over the course of 2-3 months. Get yourself a diary, or pin a workout log on the fridge to remind you to exercise.

3. Make Gym Time, 'Your Time'

One of the benefits about going to a health club or deluxe gym – is the the luxuries like ice cool water fountains, music video screens and hot tubs. However, working-out at home shouldn't be dull, so turn your gym time into a sanctuary; make sure your workout space is nice and clean, prepare a bottle of ice cool water/energy drink and play uplifting music to get you motivated to exercise.

4. Smart Girls Use Dumbells

Although your bodyweight can provide a good workout, adding a small amount of weight to your squats, lunges and other exercises, dramatically burns more calories both during and after exercise, while also enhancing your body tone and shape (a secret known by all models, film stars and personal trainers). Dumbbells (or alternatively fitness bands) are an excellent, inexpensive solution that enable you to perform a range of new exercises in the comfort of your own home.

5. Use Your Bodyweight to Train

Resistance exercise is vital to boost your body tone and increase your metabolic rate to burn more fat. When performed correctly, body weight circuits are an excellent way to sculpt your body and burn calories, as well as quickly improving your all-round fitness. Try this simple routine and watch the fat melt away:

Chair dips x 8-15 reps
Chair press-ups x 8-15 reps
Biceps curls with water bottles x 8-15 reps
Lunges x 10-20 reps
Squats x 10-20 reps
Crunches x 10-20 reps

Move between exercises with as little rest as possible; perform 2-4 circuits

6. Keep Guessing for Faster Results

Your body loves to adapt to new forms of exercise – but you'll stop getting great results if you don't keep it 'guessing', by using different kinds of training. You can achieve this goal by getting creative with your exercise choices, and using different levels of resistance, repetition ranges and rest periods. Always aim to perform 3-5 exercise sessions per week, with 2 rest days – and never perform the same workout on consecutive days.