5 essential home-gym pieces of equipment that you already own

-----1. The broom-----

The broom is definitely one of the most common items on today’s list and there are a number of things that you can do with it. A lot of exercises that are done standing up with no equipment involve a lot of balance and I like to use the broom to keep my posture throughout. Now if you don’t have a broom this can easily be substituted with a hockey stick or even a small rake or mop!

Resting the broom on your shoulders is great to keep your balance during a quat or lunge exercise but my favorite broom exercise is the standing twist to work the oblique and surrounding core muscles. You could even use it for a bicep curl or shoulder press. Now obviously this does not provide a lot of resistance but if you go through the motion enough times you will see that eventually it does become difficult creating a nice burn in the associated muscle group.

-----2. Books-----

Every home has 1 or 2 of these and they make for a great addition to any home gym program. My absolute favorite exercise to do with 2 books is the calf raise. Simply place a 3-inch thick book under the balls of each of your feet and get up onto your tippie toes and then back down again to target the calf muscles! You can also use these as an elevation under your hands to give a new variation on the push-up or even stack up a few of them and they can act as a stand during some other floor exercises.

-----3. Soup cans-----

Some light free-weights are essential to any home gym as they provide resistance to the working muscles thereby invoking a stimulus and in return improvements are made. But in the absence of a few small dumbbells, we can substitute with soup cans! Of course the contents of the cans do not necessarily have to be soup; peas, corn or any other canned good will work too! With this in mind, you have no excuse but to provide your muscles with the stimulus required to force an adaptation and improvement. Any exercise that you find that is performed with a dumbbell can automatically be substituted for a canned good so your options here are endless!

-----4. Chair-----

The chair is one thing that no house can be without and little did you know it was packed with tons of exercise potential! My favorite exercise involving a chair is by far the dip which is performed by placing both hands on the edge of the seat with your feet out in front of you and bending at the elbow. You can also use it to perform any number of seated exercises. One thing to note is that I would recommend you use a relatively less expensive chair as it may get roughed up a bit if you are going to be standing or pushing it around a bit.

-----5. Stairs-----

Stairs are one of the most over-looked pieces of equipment found in any house or building. Right away I know some of you are snarling at this idea already but honestly, stair climbing marks one of the best cardiovascular exercises due to its intense nature. Furthermore, you can do a number of leg exercises involving a lunge-type movement. Most importantly, during cold/bad weather,it offers the safest and most intense calorie burning workout that will help to tone and tighten your muscles at the same time!
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Having all of this hidden workout gear is one thing, but knowing what to do with them is a completely different story. You can download a free personalized training program showing you exactly how to integrate these new found pieces of equipment into an organized, efficient manner here: one80.com. Just tell me what pieces of equipment you have available and I will tailor your program accordingly to match your workout needs and goals.