At Home Exercises for the Obese and Shut-In

One of the hardest things to do is to exercise when you are obese or really overweight. The last thing you want to do is to go to a gym and exercise with all the 95 pound, twenty year old gym rats! Moreover, it can be embarrassing to work out in front of people (I know, I've been there). Furthermore, swimming is a great exercise but who wants to don a swim suit when you are 100 pounds overweight? And walking is also good exercise but sometimes the weather just will not cooperate. So what's a fat girl or guy to do?

Here are some exercises that will work if you are obese or overweight that you can do in the privacy of your own home and at your own pace that will help you to get your heart rate up, avoid injury and lose weight.

1. 20 minutes on a stationary bike, treadmill or elliptical machine: After you have stretched do your 20 minutes on a stationary bike, treadmill or elliptical machine. Go as slow as you need to go in the beginning and listen to some fast paced music while you are doing your exercises (in fact I have music on the whole time as it helps me to enjoy the time). If you don't have a machine of any kind walk around your house for 20 minutes. I know this sounds weird but do it, no one will see you and you will feel great. Once when I was younger and I didn't want to exercise in front of people I actually jogged inside my house for 20 to 30 minutes. I finally got to the point where I felt comfortable jogging outside, but I jogged inside my home for about a year before I found the courage to go outside!

2. Stretch: I either stand and touch my toes (or go as far as you can) or get on the floor and touch my toes and then try to hold the position for about 60 seconds. I do this with each leg and each day try to stretch a little more.
Then I stand with my legs apart and touch my toes from side to side again holding the position.
Next I sit and spread my legs out as far as I can and bend while trying to touch my toes and hold that position for about 60 seconds.
After that I continue sitting and do each leg while one leg is bent and I am bending towards the other leg. These exercises really help to strengthen your legs if you've had any leg or knee injuries not to mention limbering you up for the day's activities. I find that when I don't do them I am stiffer all day long.

3.     Calisthenics: Next I do leg lifts. I do as many as I can but when you begin start out slowly. I do them on each leg and then do a scissors split with both legs of course. I would recommend that you purchase a book on calisthenics. Do the upper body calisthenics and lower body calisthenics on alternative days.

4. Weight Training with a Kettle-bells and barbells: Then I use a kettle-bell and bar bells. I have an 18 pound kettle-bell and I do 75 kettle-bell swings (see video) and I use the bar bells for strength training for my arms. You can use either the kettle-bell or bar bells but I like both and kettle-bells and bar bells are very inexpensive items if you don't have them and need to run out and buy them. When you do start out with the lower weight ones and build up.

5. Band otherwise known as Resistance Training: Finally I do several band training exercises. You might have to run out and get one of these as well, but they are still cheaper than joining a gym and you can use them in the privacy of your own home. See the video next to this paragraph on how to use a band for exercise.

One last thing that I would highly recommend and that is purchasing a body-media FIT Weight Management System Armband as seen on the TV show "The Biggest Loser". This armband will tell you exactly how many calories your are using up during the day. After syncing it with your computer you can record your calories for the day and see exactly how many calories your are using up each day. I don't know about you but having that information helps me to reach my goals.

And that's it! I do these exercises every morning and feel great AFTER I've done them. I won't lie and tell you I like doing them while I'm doing them because I don't. But, the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience and it's nice to be able to roll out of bed and work-out in the privacy of my own home. After you have done these exercises for awhile you may feel more like working out in front of people and/or joining a gym. But until then, home exercises for the obese will help jump start you towards your weight loss goal.