A Few of my Favorite Things...

The gym closest to my house is quite busy during the hours I visit it, so lately I have been primarily working out at home. I am lucky enough to have a spin bike, barbells, bar with plates, kettle bell, medicine ball, pull up bar, TRX system and a multitude of DVDs (basically - the works) at my disposal.  Though I have all this fancy equipment, working out the same way at home often becomes boring, leaving us seeking refuge on couch potato island watching LOST reruns in our workout outfits. Thanks to a husband who has a less than reliable work schedule and a will not to set up permanent residence on said isle- I have become the queen of the ad-hoc  home work out system. Give me a toddler, a staircase and a swing set and with in five minutes I can develop  a circuit guaranteed to get your heart racing and your muscles screaming. These are some of my favorite work outs to do, esp. the ones where I include my kids. I have very distinct memories of being on family vacations and my father pulling us onto his back to add resistance to his push ups or curling us up in preacher curl "hugs", so I have first hand knowledge of how fun being included can be for a child. I have been known to do squats with one of my children riding piggy back and do pull ups on playground equipment. I have done step ups on picnic tables and lunges in community pools. I have found that once you get over the "there goes that crazy lady doing sprints around her house again" stigmata - these patchwork workouts can be the most fun. They definitely beat the rat race you often find at a health club and they often get you out of your house. So if you are stuck at home working out, with no extra money in the budget for a gym member ship or even a set of weights- fear not! There are great workouts to be had, but you have to get creative! So grab your kid, or borrow one from a neighbor! Head outside and find a park bench or a picnic table . Find a straight strip of side walk. These are all great workout tools. Lunge down a straight sidewalk, forwards and then backwards. Then sprint down it. Do step ups, triceps dips and decline push ups on a bench. If you can't find an appropriate sized kid anywhere.. (and I would have to ask you, Really? Did you look hard because the buggers are everywhere.) fill up a backpack with soup cans and do squats! You can seriously get a great work out with nothing more then your body weight and sense of adventure! (And a sense of humor don't hurt either!) However, if you do have some dough to put towards a home workout system, here are some of my favorite things:
10 LB Kettle Bell... Swing from your core- not your arms!
Pull up bar- one you put in your door way... if you can't do a pull up unassisted - help yourself with a chair (We bought ours used... and I bet you can find one too!)
Yoga Mat
Balance Ball
Three sets of dumbbells, weight that you curl the following reps: rep 15-20, rep 10-15 and rep 6-8 with
Jump rope
And there you go. If you want to get fancy I will tell you I also enjoy the Nike Training App and the Nike + ipod App...  The first has preset work outs with how-to videos that you can sync the music on your ipod to and the second will track your speed and distance which you can access while you run!
But, honestly, to get cut - you need only to get creative! So get outside and get your buff on.