You don't need to go to a gym to participate in workouts that are effective at supporting weight loss. The best types of exercises can be completed at or near your home. In addition, you may find that working out at home offers greater variety and may contribute to your workout frequency since you don't have to go anywhere to get your session in.
Exercise and Losing Weight
Working out helps to support weight loss because of the increased number of calories it causes you to burn. You lose weight when you burn more calories than you consume, so when you're working out at home, you want to structure your workout program to maximize the number of burned calories. The best type of exercise to burn calories are cardiovascular workouts, which include submaximal movements over time, such as running, jumping rope, biking and swimming.
Types of Cardiovascular Workouts
Luckily, you don't need a gym in order to complete cardiovascular workouts. There are numerous cardiovascular workouts that can be done at home, however, it's important to understand that not all cardiovascular workouts burn the same number of calories. MayoClinic.com lists running, rollerblading and jumping rope as the three most efficient activities. Running only requires shoes and rollerblading only requires rollerblades and can be done around your home. For those days that you prefer to stay inside your home, jumping rope is an effective option.
Frequency and Duration
In order to successfully lose weight you need to complete your cardiovascular workouts on most days of the week. The American Council on Exercise recommends making sessions about 60 minutes in duration for those looking to lose weight. Sixty minutes may be too long for most, due to physical or time limitations. For those who are starting out, begin with 20- or 30-minute workouts and then progressively increase time as you build endurance. Understand that the 60-minute goal can be broken into multiple shorter workouts throughout the same day. For example, you could run for 30 minutes in the morning and rollerblade for 30 minutes in the evening.
Additional Considerations
On days where bad weather prevents you from exercising outside, consider a circuit training workout in your home. Circuit training workouts include a variety of activities that are one to two minutes in duration and done sequentially back to back to add up to a complete workout. In this manner, you keep your heart rate elevated the entire time. Complete one to two minutes each of jumping rope, jumping jacks, body weight squats, pushups, dips on a chair and crunches. After you're finished with the set, take a three-minute break and repeat. Continue to repeat the sets until you've been working out for at least 30 minutes.
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