You don't need to spend money on exercise machines, weight systems, a personal trainer or a gym membership to pursue a personalized fitness training program. Using a variety of free resources, body weight exercises and items you find around the house, you can create workouts to lose weight, increase strength and stamina and improve heart health. Understanding the basics of fitness will help you create free training routines to meet your goals.
Target Heart Rate
As you begin exercise, you'll want to exercise at a moderate, not intense, pace. The American Heart Association recommends exercising at a rate comparable to a brisk walk for 30 minutes, five days a week, for heart health. To lose weight, walk for 60 minutes or longer. Calculate your target heart rate for this level of exercise by subtracting 88 percent of your age from 206 if you're a woman, and subtracting your age from 220 if you are a man, to get your maximum heart rate. Multiply this number by .50 and .70 to get your target heart rate for exercise.
For a 30-year-old male, the calculation for maximum heart rate would be 220-30 = 190. Multiply that by .50 and .70 to get a target heart rate range for fat-burning exercise of 95 to 133 beats per minute.
A Fitness Training Routine
Always warm up before you start a workout. Swing your arms, jog in place or do jumping jacks for several minutes to stretch and warm muscles. At the end of each workout, slow down the pace of your activity for several minutes as you lower your heart rate. Stretch your muscles when you're done to improve your flexibility for future workouts.
Weight Loss
If your fitness goal is primarily weight loss, you'll want to perform cardio exercise. For beginners, this means working at a moderate intensity level as you build cardio stamina and muscular endurance. Use cycling, speed walking or skating to create a fitness workout. Go up and down hills to vary the pace. If it's too cold to exercise outdoors, you can use a variety of exercises indoors. Combine several minutes each of walking up and down stairs, performing jumping jacks, jogging in place, dancing, skipping rope and other exercise that raises your heart rate.
Aerobic Exercise
If you are new to exercise, but in good enough condition to work at a higher level of intensity, perform aerobic exercise. Multiply your maximum heart rate by .70 and .80 to learn your target heart rate range for aerobic exercise. You should be sweating and breathing hard, but able to talk. You can use the previously described exercises and perform them at a higher pace. Dancing to your favorite music is another way to create an aerobic workout.
Muscle Fitness
Beginners should start a strength program with simple exercises, rather than intense bodybuilding workouts lifting heavy weight. Use 2-, 3-, 5- or 10-lb. dumbbells or resistance bands to get started. If you don't have equipment, fill plastic milk cartons with water, or find other weights you can raise and lower without dropping. Use body-weight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, calf raises, chair dips, pull-ups, chin-ups and crunches. Do biceps curls, triceps extensions, flyes, chest presses, rows, kickbacks, deadlifts, squats and lunges. Perform six to eight repetitions of one exercise, take a one-minute break, then start another exercise.
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