Throughout my years of seeking the perfect body, the countless hours I have spent in gyms working on said body, and my present life that makes getting to a gym on any kind of a regular basis difficult, I feel qualified to give my thoughts on this subject.  First off, if your fitness goal is to bulk up as much as you can muscularly, or if you require the motivation of being in a specific setting to exercise, than by all means, regular visits to the fitness club are what you need to achieve this.  Most of us though I am guessing are wanting to either get or maintain a toned athletic figure.  This goal can be easily realized on your own time in or around our home with very little cost.  The time and money saved working out on your own versus a monthly gym membership are significant and can happen as follows:

What you need

A pair of hand held dumbbells along with a small assortment of weights to add to them.  This really needs to only be the sole expense and everything should be able to be purchased for under a hundred dollars, or, give or take, one month’s gym membership if you look at it that way.  Alternately, you might try your local thrift store where there is often an assortment of used weights to choose from (I was able to get everything I needed for forty dollars at one).  These dumbbells not only give great versatility in the numerous exercises that can be performed, but they take up very little room; even someone living in the famous closet-sized New York city apartment can easily stash them under their bed.

A couple props are necessary in order to perform some of the exercises.  Make sure you have a sturdy chair that can be used for seated weight lifts, such as the seated curl or military press.  Additionally, a flat bench will be needed (a picnic table bench is more than sufficient) in order to perform bench press and fly exercises.

An optional purchase could be a yoga ball.  This is not necessary, but I like it for the versatility it adds to exercises along with its ability to allow you to target muscles better.  It can be laid or sat on while doing appropriate weight exercises to give a greater workout as the full body is utilized in balancing while doing the lifts.  Also, it offers a great number of sit up or lower back work out opportunities.  A good sized yoga ball can be had for thirty to forty dollars, but again, it does not hurt to check your local thrift store first.

Bringing it all together

We just covered what you will need to get, if you don’t already have, in order to start on a home fitness regimen.  The other added aspects just require your body and room enough to stretch out.  Some of the most effective exercises are push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and dips.  Push ups and sit ups can be done on any floor surface in the home.  Pull ups and dips require a bit of creativity.  I have been able to find suitable sources in my neighborhood park to perform these: The support bars for one of the eight foot basketball hoops for pull ups, and a point on the playground where two railings are close enough together for the dips.  If you look around your yard or neighborhood park with an eye towards these exercises, you should be able to find something that will work suitably.

Venturing out to do either pull ups or dips can be coupled with the necessary, but generally unloved, cardiovascular aspect of the workout.  Running is generally the quickest and most effective way to raise the heartbeat and involve the entire body.  It can be done just about anywhere, such as around the neighborhood park for instance.  Of course biking or rollerblading, among other activities, can be just as effective and, more importantly, often more fun.  Even walking, if done often (should you live in a city and spend a lot of time traveling places on foot) is a very acceptable option.  The key is to at least spend a half hour a day moving your body via one of these means.

Scheduling your workout regimen

My recommendation is to workout four days a week (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, or two on, one off, two on, two off however you like).  Five days a week (Mon-Fri) is also acceptable if you want, just give your self a couple days in a row to relax between it all.

Three separate routines seem to target everything best: 1) chest and upper legs, 2) shoulders/back and lower legs, 3) arms/butt.  Do one of these routines each day and follow the given order so that there is at least two to three days between the same routine and no one is done more than twice in a week.

What each workout regimen should look like

1. Chest and upper legs
- push ups, sit ups
- flies, leg lifts
- bench press, lunges
- outside for dips, 30 min. of cardiovascular

Tip: pair two exercises of separate muscle groups together, such as push ups and sit ups.  Alternate sets of each.  This allows for a fluid workout while giving muscles time to recover from each set while the other is being performed.

2. Shoulders/back, lower legs
- military press, sit ups
- shrugs, leg lifts
- shoulder raises, calf raises
- outside for pull ups, 30 min cardiovascular

Tip: Each exercise needs only to contain three or four sets.  The amount of repetitions should be determined based on how many you can comfortably complete for each set.  If you can do 10 repetitions of an exercise for the first two sets, but only eight on the third, cut back to eight repetitions for each set.  When that becomes easy, increase each set to nine, and so forth.

3. Arms/Butt
- standing curl, sit ups
- kneeling tricep extension, back raises
- two-handed curl, squats
- overhead tricep extension, leg raises

Tip: I believe the core area (abdomen, lower back) can be worked daily as is seen by their presence in each workout group.  It is important however to do modifications on these in order not to just solely work the same spot each time.  For instance, coming only half way up on a sit up targets the lower abdominals, putting a twist into a sit up or leg lift works the obliques, etc.

Overview

Follow this workout guide from your home four to five days a week and you will be as lean and muscular as you wish to put into it.  Regimen one and two should be an hour each: half an hour of weights and exercises and half an hour of cardiovascular activitiy.  Regimen three should be a half hour of weights and exercises.  Rotating through these three plans should give you three and a half to four and a half hours a week of working out, depending on if you choose four or five days to do it in.  In the course of a week’s time, that is not asking much.  The ability to do it from your own home, on your own schedule, and with virtually no cost is all an added bonus.  Happy body sculpting!