In this day and age, it can be difficult to find time to get to the gym and maintain a healthy exercise regemine. And with limited space in your apartment, that means exercise equipment is usually out. But good health is too important to ignore, so here are a few tips from ApartmentGuide.com to keep your heart rate up and your weight down:
Video Killed the Sedentary Star
While made big during the 80s, exercise videos are a great way to get a structured exercise routine (with a definite start and end time) going. Some good videos for those pressed on time are here and here.
We're Getting the Bands (and Ball) Back Together
While you may not have room for big, bulky exercise equipment in your place, you can still get a great workout using exercise bands
and an exercise ball. Excercise bands use the principle of resistance to help build and tone muscle. In as little as 10 minutes you can undergo a moderately intense workout. Check out some of the exercises here for more ideas on how to use exercise bands.
An exercise ball, also know as a Swiss Ball, works out the core body muscles ? the abdominal muscles and back muscles ? and are the focus of exercise ball fitness programs. Some people sit on an excercise ball instead of a chair (for example, an office chair), since this position requires them to engage their abdominal and back muscles and maintain proper posture to remain balanced on the ball. So even when watching TV or working at the computer, you could be exercising. Some additional Swiss ball exercises can be found here.
Video Games Aren't Just for Fun Anymore
Video game consoles have moved from providing sedentary entertainment that wasted hours to immersive systems that encourage you to get up and off your couch and moving around. The latest illustration of this is Nintendo's revolutionary Wii. It uses a unique control system that requires you to swing your arms around, mimicking the motion in real life that's required in the game. With a game that's active enough, like Wii Sports, you can get a respectable aerobic workout. This guy lost 10 pounds just playing video games.
Another good option for video game based activity is Dance Dance Revolution. In Dance Dance Revolution, a player must move his or her feet to a set pattern, stepping in time to the general rhythm or beat of a song. During normal gameplay, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen and pass over stationary, transparent arrows near the top (referred to as the "guide arrows" or "receptors"). When the scrolling arrows overlap the stationary ones, he or she must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance platform. Playing this game can result in some serious exercise if done for extended periods.
There is also a dedicated exercise video game called Yourself Fitness. According to Amazon, Yourself Fitness has 'over 500 unique exercises to choose from and customized meal planning with over 4,500 recipes, preparation instructions and shopping lists to make eating right more simple.' Who knew video games got so serious?
Move It and Lose It
When you're home, just remember to keep moving: stand in the doorway and do leg kicks while dinner's cooking, or stretch and do crunches/leg lifts/handweights in reps during commercials on TV. Buy some dance music and shake your booty to Shakira for ten minutes every morning. Anything that gets the heart rate up can be of help.
Walk This Way
If possible, simply walk more. If your grocery store is nearby, walk instead of driving. Walk those letters to the mailbox. Walk the garbage to the main dumpster if you don't have a garbage chute. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of wasting time in the car and traffic, take a relaxing walk to your next destination.