Quick exercises where no equipment is no problem

Here are some exercises that you can do while at home, at the office, or while in a hotel on the road where the only equipment necessary is yourself.

Ab crunch – This is a good abdominal exercise that you can perform while watching TV. Lie down on the floor with your face upward. Bend your knees and keep your feet on the floor. Join your hands behind your head. Now, curl your torso upward and lift your shoulder blades off the floor. Make sure to keep your abs tight and do not use your hands to pull your head and body upward. Keep your elbows facing out. Return slowly to the starting position, and repeat. Avoid resting with your back on the floor for too long, because you want to work your abs as much as possible.

Pushup – Get on the floor, face down, and place your hands around shoulder width apart. Put your legs and feet together and extend your arms into the starting position. Lower your body until your chest touches the floor, then push up back to the starting position with your arms extended. Avoid pointing your buttocks too high into the air. Make sure to perform the movement slowly to get the most out of the exercise. If you cannot do a standard pushup, try doing so with your knees touching the floor until you build enough strength to do them normally.

To work different parts of your upper body, you can change your grip during pushups. A close-grip pushup will work your triceps more. To do this, bring your hands together and form a triangle by touching your corresponding thumbs and index fingers. Go down until your chest barely touches your hands, then come back up. You can also do a wide-grip pushup by placing your hands farther apart than usual. For an advanced pushup, grab a chair, get into the standard pushup position, place your feet together on the chair, and perform your standard pushup movement until your arms go down to about a 90 degree angle.

Squat – Fold your hands over your chest or place them on your hips. Place your feet shoulder width apart and stand up straight. Next, squat down as if you were going to sit in a chair and bend your knees to a 90 degree angle. When squatting, keep your head up and arch your back slightly. Use the various muscles in your legs to push yourself up back to the starting position. Make sure that when squatting that your knees do not extend past your toes. Avoid this by moving your glutes further back when squatting.

These three exercises can be done at any time and work a variety of muscles. Try doing 2 sets of each exercise, with 10 to 15 repetitions per set. As you get in better shape, increase your sets and repetitions.

Stay tuned for more advanced fitness and lifestyle tips to come in the future.