by Karen Wilmot

Created on: March 01, 2011

Two years ago when I was laid off, I lost my gym membership in the deal. I wondered how I was going to stay in shape without this membership. I thought my fitness would suffer and it did. The first three months of being at home, I tried to go running a couple times a week but the consistency of a daily workout fell out of life. I easily put on 10 pounds during that first three months of being home. My sister introduced me to a home fitness program that changed my life. I was devastated when at Thanksgiving that year, I couldn’t keep up with an at home fitness program. My ideas about at home DVDs stem from the Jane Fonda DVDs of the 80s, the Richard Simmon’s of the world and basically something you can master in a few weeks then set aside. This fitness revolution was different; challenging and hard. It was P90X.

The premise of P90X is that you will confuse your muscles into performing the way you want them to perform. You will challenge your muscles with weight training, cardio workouts and yoga. The entire body gets worked out from top to bottom in a very systematic way that creates amazing results. Now I wasn’t a believer. I know you are rolling your eyes saying to yourself no way can an at home DVD series do all that. Well, I’m here to tell you that it does. The system comes with bands and you have to purchase the chin up bar. I got mine for $19.99 at Target so I bet a Play It Again Sports would have it for even less. Your total up front money is $130 which is about 3 months of a gym membership; however the best part is these DVDs are yours to keep. As you go through rounds 2 and beyond your cost per session goes down tremendously. But I digress; this is an article on training at home.

I do have a few tips that will help with your success of at home training:

1. Find a partner in crime

My husband and I work out together daily. We hold each other accountable. When one doesn’t want to work out the other encourages or says let’s get the warm up in and we can see what we want to do from there. Now that we have completed 3 rounds of P90X we know that if we are time constrained we do the CardioX program because it’s the shortest in the series. We know that if we are stressed we do Chest & Back because you really get out your aggressions. It is critical to have support when you work out at home. This will ensure your success.

2. Use social media

I used social media as another encouragement. When we were deciding on whether to purchase the program or not, I searched P90X on Twitter and Facebook. The amount of devotees to the program encouraged me to purchase the program. When something has a following like P90X, you know it’s legit.  Research your at home product to ensure you are getting one that works and you won’t be bored with in a few months.

3. Get a coach

With the purchase of P90X you get a free Beachbody coach, they are a source of encouragement and can answer just about any question you have. This was a god send to me because as I was working the program I had a million questions and my coach had the answers or could get the answers for me. This really helped in working the program.

With these three things in place and a great program to work, staying home to stay fit is easy. In the end you will congratulate yourself on a healthy body and you will have money in the bank. Now is the time; go out, find the program that is right for you, get a partner, get a coach and get healthy.

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