After a long day of work, the last thing you are in the mood for
is hitting the gym. You want to go home, plaster yourself on the couch
and enjoy a bit of mindless entertainment for a few hours.
There is no need for your body to suffer though. You can still get a good workout in front of the TV.
There are several simple but effective exercises that you can do in front of the TV.
1. Jogging on the spot
Everyone remembers this one from gym class. Jogging on the spot is a great way to fit in some cardio. For every hour of TV, there are usually 15-20 minutes of commercials (ridiculous, I know). If you watch 2 hours of TV a night, you can end up exercising for 30-40 minutes daily.
2. Push-ups
You might hate push-ups but they are a great way to work out the chest, shoulder and tricep areas. If you find push-ups difficult you can try doing them on your knees to start off with then work up to keeping your legs straight and dare I say it, one handed push ups.
3. Work out DVD
Work out DVD's were made for exercising in front of the TV. Just pop one in and start moving along. YouTube has some great videos like this one, or you can go the paid route and buy one from Amazon. This one is my favourite.
4. Exercise ball
However tempting it may be to sit down on your couch, use an exercise ball instead. Your body has to respond to the instability of the ball to remain balanced, engaging more muscles. This leads to your abs and back muscles getting a good workout.
5. Exercise machine
An exercise machine like a treadmill, bike, rower or stair stepper all offer a great workout. They used to be very expensive but nowadays anyone can afford one. Here is an inexpensive one.
An exercise machine is the easiest, most convenient way to exercise in front of the TV.
6. Jumping Jacks
Relive the time when you were a kid and had to do jumping jacks in gym class. They get the heart pumping and offer a great high intensity workout. You can burn 10 calories a minute simply by doing jumping jacks. 2 hours of TV a night with 3 commercial breaks per hour lasting 5 minutes leads to 300 calories burnt, all without a minute of missing your favourite TV show.
7. Shadow Boxing
During the commercials, get up off the couch, keep your feet moving and start to throw some punches. It is a great way to tone your arms and lose some calories.
8. Crunches
The best exercise to strengthen and tone your abdominal muscles are crunches. Start off with only 10 (you should feel the burn) and work your way up to 50 without stopping.
If you hate doing crunches then tense your abs and then release them while sitting on the couch. Do 50 repetitions every commercial break and you'll be on your way to a six pack in no time.
9. Switch it up
To keep you from getting bored of doing the same exercises, switch it up. When you watch a comedy, jog on the spot, a drama show, do some push-ups, a reality show, work the abs. This will make sure you don't get bored and all the muscle groups are worked.
10. Lay off the snacks
Lucky for us there are 2 ways to lose weight; exercise and eating less.
Nights will come when you can't seem to work up the motivation to exercise, lay off the snacks as an alternative to exercising that night.
There is no need for your body to suffer though. You can still get a good workout in front of the TV.
There are several simple but effective exercises that you can do in front of the TV.
1. Jogging on the spot
Everyone remembers this one from gym class. Jogging on the spot is a great way to fit in some cardio. For every hour of TV, there are usually 15-20 minutes of commercials (ridiculous, I know). If you watch 2 hours of TV a night, you can end up exercising for 30-40 minutes daily.
2. Push-ups
You might hate push-ups but they are a great way to work out the chest, shoulder and tricep areas. If you find push-ups difficult you can try doing them on your knees to start off with then work up to keeping your legs straight and dare I say it, one handed push ups.
3. Work out DVD
Work out DVD's were made for exercising in front of the TV. Just pop one in and start moving along. YouTube has some great videos like this one, or you can go the paid route and buy one from Amazon. This one is my favourite.
4. Exercise ball
However tempting it may be to sit down on your couch, use an exercise ball instead. Your body has to respond to the instability of the ball to remain balanced, engaging more muscles. This leads to your abs and back muscles getting a good workout.
5. Exercise machine
An exercise machine like a treadmill, bike, rower or stair stepper all offer a great workout. They used to be very expensive but nowadays anyone can afford one. Here is an inexpensive one.
An exercise machine is the easiest, most convenient way to exercise in front of the TV.
6. Jumping Jacks
Relive the time when you were a kid and had to do jumping jacks in gym class. They get the heart pumping and offer a great high intensity workout. You can burn 10 calories a minute simply by doing jumping jacks. 2 hours of TV a night with 3 commercial breaks per hour lasting 5 minutes leads to 300 calories burnt, all without a minute of missing your favourite TV show.
7. Shadow Boxing
During the commercials, get up off the couch, keep your feet moving and start to throw some punches. It is a great way to tone your arms and lose some calories.
8. Crunches
The best exercise to strengthen and tone your abdominal muscles are crunches. Start off with only 10 (you should feel the burn) and work your way up to 50 without stopping.
If you hate doing crunches then tense your abs and then release them while sitting on the couch. Do 50 repetitions every commercial break and you'll be on your way to a six pack in no time.
9. Switch it up
To keep you from getting bored of doing the same exercises, switch it up. When you watch a comedy, jog on the spot, a drama show, do some push-ups, a reality show, work the abs. This will make sure you don't get bored and all the muscle groups are worked.
10. Lay off the snacks
Lucky for us there are 2 ways to lose weight; exercise and eating less.
Nights will come when you can't seem to work up the motivation to exercise, lay off the snacks as an alternative to exercising that night.
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