What Kinds Of Exercise Can You Do At Home?

Everything you do to engage in vigorous physical activity every day will help keep you healthy. Exercise improves your mood, reduces your risk of serious and chronic diseases such as heart disease and certain forms of cancer, increases your energy and promotes healthy digestion and sound sleep. These benefits of exercise are available in your own home, without a prescription.

Cardio Exercise

The Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans call for 150 minutes each week of moderate exercise, enough to cause you to sweat, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise, enough to cause rapid breathing. Gardening or walking in your neighborhood at an easy pace provide some exercise, but to move either activity into the moderate or vigorous category, speed up your pace. Indoors, try jumping jacks, rope skipping, running up and down the stairs, or jogging in place.

Strength Training

You can strengthen and tone all your muscles through the weight of your body alone. Arm raises and pushups strengthen your arms and shoulders. Lunges and squats strengthen your quadriceps on the front of your thighs and the hamstring muscles on the back of your thighs. And the plank, side plank, reverse crunches and bent-knee crunches strengthen all the muscles around your abdomen. Toe lifts strengthen the muscles at the backs of your calves.

A study conducted by Tufts University in 1994 found that a side benefit of strength training for older adults was a dramatic improvement in balance and a lower risk of falling. According to Miriam Nelson, author of "Strong Women Stay Young" and one of the researchers in the study, balance is directly related to the strength of your legs.

Stretching

Over time and with age, your muscles tend to become stiffer and your range of motion becomes more limited. Stretching increases the flexibility of your muscles, reducing tension and allowing easier movement. Bob Anderson, author of "Stretching," recommends a 10-minute warm-up before stretching. He advises spending 10 to 15 seconds in an easy stretch with no bouncing, allowing your body to relax into the stretch. Move a fraction more into the stretch and feel mild tension as you hold the stretch for another 10 to 15 seconds, breathing deeply throughout.

Anderson suggests stretching throughout the day, beginning with stretching out in bed when you wake up in the morning. He recommends a variety of stretching for all areas of your body throughout the day, from shoulder rolls and side and back stretches, to leg and groin stretches.

Equipment

An old T-shirt and sweat pants are all you need to exercise at home, but investing in clothing and equipment can make your workout more productive and fun. The American Council on Exercise recommends that you consider your exercise goals, test equipment before purchasing and carefully consider the space limitations in your home.