It’s been a pretty long and cold winter and hopefully it will be over soon. I know that this winter weather makes it hard for a lot of people to get out and do any physical activity, either because it’s too cold and you don’t feel like going out of the house if you don’t have to, or because the roads are bad and you don’t feel safe going out. If this applies to you, you are not at a loss of hope. You can still get a great workout in the comforts of your own home and you don’t need a lot of space. You can even workout in your own bedroom. You can get a complete full body workout with the use of very little or even no equipment. All you need is yourself and some will power.

There are many exercises you can do with your own bodyweight whether you’re trying to get a cardio workout or build strength, or a combination of both. Some examples of bodyweight exercises you can do for your lower body are bodyweight squats, lunges, leg raises, calf raises etc. If you feel that these exercises are too easy, you can make them more challenging by going slower through the movements or holding the toughest position of the exercise for a certain number of seconds on each rep. You can also make the squats more challenging by doing them on one leg.

Some good upper body exercises to do are push-ups, rows, shoulder press, lateral raises, triceps extensions, bicep curls etc. If you are not sure how to do any of these exercises, I recommend looking them up on You Tube or hire a trainer and they can instruct you through proper technique. Some of these exercises will require dumbbells or some form of resistance but you shouldn’t need more than ten to fifteen pounds. You should be able to find a nice pair of ten to fifteen pound weights for around twenty dollars.

There are many exercises you can do for cardio also such as jogging in place, jumping jacks, high knees, jump squats, mountain climbers, jumping rope, or anything that gets you heart rate up to its target zone and lasts for at least twenty to thirty minutes. Now you don’t have to do any specific exercises to get a cardio workout. You can get a cardio workout by doing something more fun such as playing a sport, boxing, dancing, or whatever you love to do. As long as you get the heart rate up and keep it up for at least twenty to thirty minutes you will still get a cardio workout. And chances are that if you are doing an activity that you like to do you will probably do it longer and do it with more intensity.