In order to maintain our fitness level and muscle mass, we would need to create a systematic exercise program for ourself. Different people get motivated differently:
- going for classes to keep in shape- for example dancing and yoga classes
- sports with friends and clubs, eg play football during weekend
- going for hiking or runs in the park or hills
- exercise at home with DVDs or through book instructions
A matter of planning
Like how we get our work assignments done, we have to plan our exercise program- create some kind of structure so that there is less procrastination and deviation from the schedule.
By failing to plan, it would mean we are planning to fail. Many people stay in shape through controlling their food intake alone without much exercising- but that would get harder with time as our body metabolism goes down. If we incorporate exercise as part of our weight loss/ weight maintenance plan, we would be able to:
- burn off more calories
- improve our circulation and overall well being
- build more muscles to increase our metabolic rate
- look more toned and better in clothes- something that cannot be accomplished by dieting alone
But how to be able to get an exercise program- without paying a fortune for it?
How to motivate and obtain various exercise videos if you are exercising at home
Variety plays an important role to sustain your exercise motivation. If you are going to buy exercise DVDs, there’s only that many you can buy due to budget constraints. And after a while, you may get bored of them. So, a better way is to obtain from the also unlimited varieties of exercise videos out there….from YouTube.
Download these videos to your PC/laptop. Reason being is because YouTube sometimes can be slow and it would ruin your motivation if you keep having to wait for the video to load. And then…you may end up giving yourself execuses to surf the net instead of working out some real sweat. So, take time to download and categorize all the videos so the videos are immediately at your disposal to be played.
How to download YouTube videos to your PC
I’ve written a short tutorial in my other blog on how to download YouTube videos – first you need to download RealPlayer (they have a free version) and from there, you can download YouTube video. Even though the tutorial mentioned to convert to MP3- the video would be available in the RealPlayer Library of your PC. You can even burn it into DVD or transfer it to other laptops/ PCs using a pendrive.
For example, in the past I used to subscribe to Discover H&H via Astro- I don’t watch the channel much but only the exercise program were of interest to me then- and the problem is that the program were shown around 5.45am- which I’ve yet to get up. I find that YouTube had a lot of workouts from Gilad (featured in Discovery H&H) for example Gilad’s ABS Workout.
Just to name a few in YouTube:
- Aerobic exercises
- 15 minutes ab workout- with no equipments
- Cardio dance class, part 2
- Workout at office(can use while watching TV)
- 15 minutes office workout
- Taebo Jam/ Taebo warm up and stretching
- 10 min Pilates sculpting
- 10 minutes Pilates stretching
- Fat burning yoga poses
- Yoga for work and stress destress
- Dancing and breathing thru motion
- Graceful stretching in gentle yoga/dance
Previous posts on YouTube videos compilation:
- Videos for Injuries/ Pain
- Exercise Videos on the Swiss Ball/ Core Training
- Exercises Using Resistance Bands
- Enjoyable Exercises You Can Do at Home
And what’s good is that these videos usually have a short duration- so you can mix and match. For example:
- yoga mix with core exercises
- cardio (aerobic exercise) followed by yoga
- cardio (aerobic exercise) then followed by exercise using resistance bands or swiss ball
- yoga and pilates
- tai chi/ chi kung with yoga
You may want to plan for few weeks ahead by listing the video in a word doc or creating a Playlist in Realplayer before hand- so that all you need to do is to click on the Playlist and follow to moves. This is especially so if you are not the type who is love to exercise (well, don’t feel bad coz most folks are not exactly crazy about exercising)- and we would not want you to give yourself the perfect excuse to go back to bed or watch TV instead of exercising, rite?
Exercising can really cheer us up and brighten our day. And it makes us feel less tired (physically and emotionally) as it helps to dispel the negative stuck energies in us. For example, I was feeling a bit out lazy and out of sorts just one recent evening. And just wanted to stay in bed- but after working out a sweat from the Les Mills Body Balance workout (my favourite exercise program), my body feels fresh and I don’t feel tired- I became very productive- typing and preparing this post plus downloading exercise videos from YouTube 🙂
A word of caution though- don’t overdo it- take it easy. If you are starting out, target for 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week on working out on your favourite exercise videos. Then gradually build it up or incorporate other activities such as running or sports activities with friends/colleagues. With an improved fitness level and when you start to feel good with yourself, you may want to start hanging outdoors and buying some trendy exercise attire just to feel good about yourself and your accomplishments 🙂
