At home workout programs

[wbannatyne]

Has anybody else had success with any at home workout programs?  I have had great success but I am interested to hear from others what has worked for them.

[josephz2va]

Only in partial. Flexibility and buildup of muscles slowly, but no weight loss as I need to burn off my fat.

Workout programs are only good if you're following it to the letter including the nutrition plan, which I'm not really doing at the moment. So I'm hovering until I decide to eat their nutritional way.

[wbannatyne]

I agree with you Joseph.  Fitness is 70% nutrition.  I followed a program very closely and got great results.  Just trying to find out what other people are doing.

[slysam]

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@wbannatyne wrote:

Has anybody else had success with any at home workout programs?  I have had great success but I am interested to hear from others what has worked for them.

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Yes. I actually got my fittest ever doing home workouts. I had exercised before (so wasn't completely new to working out) and had previously took a weight lifting class, worked with a trainer, took various dance, yoga and fitness classes at a gym, etc. So I did know a little about fitness. I previously had a gym membership and mainly only exercised when I made it to the gym or went to a dance class. I wasn't totally inactive as I didn't have a car and walked everywhere. But when busy, I would sometimes go a week or more without going to the gym. I decided I wasn't going enough to justify the cost so I cancelled my membership. I then decided to spend the money I would spend on the gym to get some basic home equipment and dvd workouts. I found I was way more consistent with exercising at home. I exercised 5-6 days a week for 2 years without a gym membership. With the membership, other than walking daily, I was lucky to exercise 3 days a week. With exercise it is really what you put into it and how consistent you are over time. So I guess it depends what you mean by "success". You can get stronger, better aerobic fitness, better endurance, more flexible from home workouts equal to gym workouts (depending whether you choose challenging enough programs and do them well). For weight loss (if that is what you mean), it is mostly nutrition/diet with exercise being a supporting factor. Whether you exercise at home, in a studio, outside, in a gym, etc is really more a matter of personal preference and budget though. 

[slysam]

Agreeing with both of you on weight loss. Just adding, for general fitness (weight loss aside), I get better fitness results when I am not dieting (eating at deficit). I think this is pretty normal. If I am eating to maintain my current weight, I can lift heavier weights, move faster and have better endurance both for strength and cardio workouts. I am always amazed at how fit I feel when I am not dieting. But for the results to show visually, I do need for my body fat to be low enough to show some of my muscle and for me that does require a good diet plan. I've done some really good fitness programs where I had good fitness improvements, but didn't lose much or any weight. But when that has happened, I wasn't dieting and often wasn't even logging my food at all.  I've had good fitness results while dieting (including strenght gains), but it was harder and I had to be really careful about the quality of food I ate (getting enough protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals). So I could really only see good fitness gains and weight loss with a fairly small deficit like 250 or 500 calories, not with some of the more aggressive deficits. I have never (yet) been more than 20 pounds over my healthy BMI range though, so I suppose a slower loss is to be expected. Just mentioning, as I know a lot of popular home fitness plans do inlcude diet plans and sometimes these plans specify more food than a lot of female dieters would eat (on a diet) if they were following a more typical diet plan (these always put me at 1200 calories).  I didn't do the P90X program, but I have it and tried the workouts. The nutrition guidelines suggested 1800 calories a day for my stats and a fat loss goal--this is considerably higher than the 1200 commonly suggested to me. I do think it would work out if following this program (six days a week of one hour plus vigorous workouts), it would be like having a 250 calorie deficit with a high activity level for my stats. In such a day (high general activity and vigorous hour workout), I would typically burn 2000-2100 according to Fitbit (if I log my non-step exercise). So their nutrition plan seems right on for a slow loss with strength gains. So I can see how following a good plan to the letter (both nutrition and activity) could have good results. Whether the follower sees it as success depends what results they really wanted to see though.

[TandemWalker]

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@wbannatyne wrote:

Has anybody else had success with any at home workout programs?  I have had great success but I am interested to hear from others what has worked for them.

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Hi @wbannatyne - If you're referring to formal workout programs, never used them, because I don't like routines and I don't like being told what to do, when to do it, and I don't like counting!

So I do my own thing and try to vary my exercise regimen. For example, I don't jog or walk; I do intervals. For strength training, I do resistance bands, every second day or so; on the off days, I use the rowing machine for an hour, but never two days in a row. I will go for a one hour bike ride when weather permits or otherwise use the stationary bike. If cycling outdoors, I try ti mimick the peaks and valleys of the stationary bike workout - I will sprint as fast as I can for 2 mintues and slow down, and then peak again...

I was 213 lbs some 18 months ago or so and my waist size was in the 42-44 range. I am now 169, waist 34, and toned up - I'm not Mr. MuscleMan and have no desire to becoming one either - but I am toned up! My fitbit One played a major role in this, especially on the diet front. Tracking my food intake not only made me realize that I was eating far too much in relation to my energy expenditure needs, but my diet was completely off balance, far too righ in fats, too rich in bad carbs, not enough proteins ... I didn't see a nutritionist, because I wanted to get my house in order first.

Going to the gym never worked for me. It would be fine for a month or two, then something would happen to get me away from it for a few days; combine this with bad weather here and there, coming home tired and having to change and drive to the gym ...

[wbannatyne]

I understand what you are saying.  That's great that you are able to stay self motivated.  I did that with running but got a little bored with it.  I then moved on to p9x3 and love it.  I do it every day.  The thing I like the most is that the workouts are only 30 minutes.  I have had similar success as you.  I was 240 when I started and I am now 197.  Waist went from a very snug 38 to a loose fitting 34.  It's all about finding what works for you.

[TandemWalker]

@wbannatyne- " It's all about finding what works for you." You bet! Congrats!