Do You Want Your Family to Get More Exercise? Look to These 9 Home Gym Tips and Ideas
Adopting good habits of exercise and physical activity will last forever. To encourage your family to get more exercise, look to these nine tips and ideas regarding the addition of a gym to your own home.
Benefits of a Home Gym
Children spend too much time these days sitting in a classroom or in front of the television with movies or video games. It is proven that inactivity prevents kids from engaging their motor skills and strengthening their hearts, muscles, and lungs. It also sets them up for a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to obesity in adulthood.
How can you get your child to exercise when you cannot motivate yourself to do it? First of all, rethink your idea of exercise. It doesn’t mean you need to run five miles daily, lift weights for several hours, or swim laps. Simply think of it as leading an active lifestyle.
Set up a small home gym at home. It would be much less expensive than a gym membership and much more convenient. If you combine working out in your home gym and going for walks in the park or biking on local bike trails, your entire family will get all of the exercise they need.
If you are a young man wanting to save money to buy an engagement ring, don’t waste your hard-earned money going to the gym. Build your own gym at home. Or if you are an unhappy woman thinking of divorcing your significant other, get more exercise! It can improve your outlook on life and be a form of stress relief.
Renovate for Electronics Usage
Remote access to servers is any combination of software and hardware that enables a person to connect to a host computer. So why not purchase some exercise videos for the family to enjoy together to get more exercise? You may need to update the electrical hubs in your home to accommodate the power draw, but it will be worth it.
Keep It Clean
When you add a gym to your home, you must keep it clean. If you decide to add one to your basement, the area can get musty. Be sure to dust and wipe down all areas of your home gym at least once a week.
Add a Bathroom
There is nothing like a renovation to get more exercise. Tearing apart plumbing, removing tile, ripping out cabinets will make the body sore in no time. Also, adding a new bathroom with updated cabinets, tile, plumbing, and water solutions can give everyone the chance to work together, exercise together, and have a beautiful new bathroom to enjoy. Having a shower to utilize after a workout would be convenient, and you may choose to keep extraneous bathroom products in it as well, such as shampoo, conditioner, balding treatment, and a hairdryer.
Invest in High-Quality Machines
If it is within the budget, go shopping for some exercise machines. It isn’t quite as much fun as shopping for a new car, but it can be enjoyable. There is any number of exercise machines on the market today that you could use in your home for the benefit of all of you. A few include elliptical machines, rowing machines, stair steppers, stationary bicycles, and treadmills. Each machine has its own set of benefits.
A good quality piece of exercise equipment can be expensive. If it is not within your budget to purchase new, look for a high-quality used piece of equipment. Either way, it will be worth the money so you and your family can get more exercise.
Purchase Weights
There are many benefits of free weight training. It builds lean muscle, helps to boost bone density, improves hormone health, can significantly lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and is useful for stabilizing blood sugar.
Free weights are classified differently than machines. They are not subject to single fixed movements as a leg press, or pull-down machine would be. While a machine will complete the exercise it has been designed to perform, a free weight, like a dumbbell, can be used in various movements and planes of motion. If your home doesn’t have space for larger pieces of equipment, the use of small free weights that are easy to store and take up little room is the solution.
You can purchase dumbbells, barbells, or kettlebells. All can be effective. Just make sure you are careful about the weight you are buying. If they are purchased for the family, there are probably younger and older individuals that will use them. They will have different strengths and abilities, so be mindful of that.
Add Features Based on Your Kids’ Interests
If you want your children to take an interest so they can get more exercise, provide them with things that will encourage it. A trampoline is an excellent way for a child to exercise. A rebounder is another fun piece for a child to use and could also be used by an adult.
If you have a room in your home that can be made into a home gym, have the kids decide what color of paint to use in the room. If you like wallpaper, have them choose the print or design to make them want to exercise more. Kids will find that exercising is yet another thing they must do to maintain their health alongside visiting the childrens dentist and doctor.
Buy Decorations from Small Local Businesses
Decorate the exercise space in your home by purchasing decorations for it. Local shops often have exclusive types of décor items that you don’t see in other shops. Try shopping where the owner has an MBE certification. It is much more fun than shopping at a big-box store, and the items you will see are much more unique. You may purchase motivational posters so everyone will be more encouraged to get more exercise.
Consider a Hot Tub for Relaxation and Recovery Purposes
Soaking in a hot tub may be just the therapy needed if you are recovering from a personal injury or need minor fracture treatment. It not only helps you relax but can provide other benefits as well. The potential benefits of using a hot tub vary depending on a person’s overall health and how they use the tub. Here are seven possible benefits to using a hot tub.
One benefit is stress relief. The hot water helps ease tension. The warm water and massaging action’s soothing effect helps to relieve physical, mental, and emotional stress. Listen to some soft, calming music with low lighting or aromatherapy to add further stress relief to the experience of soaking in a hot tub. Another benefit is muscle relaxation. The massaging action of the hot water and the jets can be an effective way to relax and soothe tight, tense muscles. After a strenuous exercise session, this is just the thing to alleviate aches and pains that will surface the next morning. Also, soaking in a hot tub will reduce the risk of injury prior to exercising.
A third benefit is improved sleep. Studies show that the simple relaxation gained from a soak in a hot tub may be just the thing to help you get a more peaceful night’s sleep, as it promotes significantly deeper and better quality sleep. A fourth benefit is the effects of hydrotherapy on physical functioning and sleep quality for fibromyalgia patients between the ages of 30 and 65 experienced improved sleep quality and other improved fibromyalgia symptoms. Pain relief is another benefit. Soaking in a hot tub may relieve certain types of pain by relaxing tense muscles, tendons, and joints. Those with arthritis can benefit from the heat and massaging action that will ease the stiffness and inflammation that cause pain. As water supports your body weight, it takes stress off of the joints, improving flexibility and range of motion. Perhaps you can gain some of these benefits by taking a warm bath as well.
Another benefit is better cardiovascular health, which will help you get more exercise down the road. Relaxing in a hot tub can raise your heart rate while lowering your blood pressure. Hot water immersion has robust effects on blood pressure and vascular functioning. Heat therapy can lessen cardiovascular risk and mortality, especially among those who have limited ability to exercise. Hot tub immersion for ten minutes may lower blood pressure and is safe for most people treated for hypertension. Hot tub use can also improve insulin sensitivity. Regular thermal therapy using saunas or hot tubs may improve impaired insulin resistance and is beneficial for managing diabetes. It is found that a hot tub or sauna therapy is also good for obesity.
Hot tub usage also burns calories. It has shown that participants who soaked in a waist-high hot bath for an hour burned the same number of calories as a 30-minute walk. Soaking in a hot should not take the place of exercise, but it is a great alternative for those who find it challenging to exercise.
Some people should not use a hot tub. Discuss with your doctor if you have the following conditions before using a hot tub. Heart disease is one. If you’re pregnant, think twice. Because it is so easy to get overheated while pregnant, it can be harmful to you and your baby. It is probably better to abstain from soaking in a hot tub at this time. If you have skin injuries, such as open sores, rashes, or cuts, wait until they have healed to reduce the risk of infection or irritation. If you have low blood pressure and are prone to fainting or lightheadedness, avoid the hot tub as it could lower your blood pressure further. Finally, hot water exposure when you have a UTI could make your symptoms worse.
Whether you use the hot tub at your local community center, your health club, or if you own a hot tub, ensure that the tub is properly cleaned and maintained. The water should be tested and cleaned regularly. If a hot tub is poorly maintained, it can cause skin infections and other skin issues.
Movies, television, and social media regularly show people lounging in a hot tub for long periods with an alcoholic beverage in their hand. This is not safe. Avoid very hot water. The maximum temperature should be 104 degrees F. or 40 degrees C. Also, make sure you stay hydrated. A hot tub can make you sweat and leave you dehydrated. Drink lots of water, but avoid alcohol prior to or during your soaking time.
Be sure to limit your time soaking in the tub. Make sure you do not stay in too long, especially if you are used to it. If it is at the maximum temperature, the time limit in the tub should be between ten to fifteen minutes. If the water is cooler, you can stay in longer. But use caution. If you experience dizziness or lightheadedness, nausea, redness of the skin, or shortness of breath, get out of the tub immediately. Make sure you remove your bathing suit and wash with bacterial soap and lukewarm water. Do not go from the hot tub to very cold water, as this could cause your blood pressure to spike.
Suppose you are among the fortunate few who can have a hot tub in their home as an addition to their exercise regimen. In that case, it is a great way to warm the muscles up before an exercise session or for relaxing those muscles to ward off the aches and pains you can feel the next morning.
A home gym may be something you can add to your own house to encourage everyone in your family to get more exercise. Consider these tips and ideas as you set one up. Consider the benefits, renovate if necessary, keep it clean, add a bathroom if you can, purchase quality equipment and weights, decorate according to your family’s likes, and consider a hot tub. Happy exercising!