I don’t have time. Do you have time to work out? This is the most common excuse, I mean reason, why most people cannot workout. So in theory, if we can lower the time required, some of us could workout. This is what I did; I lowered my time and adapted to the time I have available.

work out at home with weight

I have some time to work out, but I do not have time to go to the gym. That was my realization a while back. I work from home, I needed to get ready to go to the gym, then drive to the gym, workout and come back. The whole thing took almost 2 hours. Working out time was about an hour. So I reduced the time to 30 to 45 minutes, less than half, by working out at home.

The key to be a Winner, find your WHY

Oh, I cannot workout at home. This is a very common expression and it may be true for some people, but I convinced myself that I needed to workout. I found my WHY. What is your why? Why do you need to work out? Do you do it for yourself, for your loved ones? For your children or grandchildren?

How to work out at home

I needed to work out because I want to be healthy, I want to control my weight, I want to have energy, I want to age healthy, be agile and independent, I want to travel, I want to live life to the fullest and I do not want to spend money on medical treatments. I cannot reach any of those goals if I do not work out. That is my why, it is my health, my body, my eyes, my mind, my hormones.

I do not like to work out, I prefer to watch YouTube videos or read, or just sit somewhere. Unfortunately, I cannot afford not to workout.

For many people, including me, to find our WHY is the most important decision to workout. After 30 a lot of body functions slow down, every year they slow down more, and around menopause they change further. Around menopause, our body requires more attention, our hormones need help to keep in balance, we need movement. Being active is important, not being active has a heavy cost on our quality of life and on our bank balances.

Once you find your why, you will find time, you will find the way to workout either at home, in the park or in the gym. Every time you feel like not working out (as I generally feel every day) just think of your WHY and you will find motivation.

wourk out after 50

You do not need to create a gym in your home in order to workout. You can follow YouTube videos, subscribe to special services, do what you already know, hire a trainer (online or in person) to design a routine you like or need or check books and magazines. I think a mini-trampoline, treadmill or stationary bike are great for cardio and for quick workouts.

I recommend caution with online services designed for younger people. These workouts with a lot of jumping are not safe for anybody, at any age. Many well-known fitness programs like LesMills, Beachbody and others have many online offerings suitable for women in their 40s and 50s. There are also a lot of apps and online services to work out. I am not giving you a list, because it changes by the minute.

Keep yourself accountable

Write in your calendar every day if you worked out or not. Reward yourself if you workout certain number of day in a row (without food preferably). You can compete with your husband or friends or at least share your successes with them. If you like gamified things you can join apps like Fitocracy, where you can track your progress, achieve levels, keep accountability and compete with other people.

Make it fun

You can prepare music lists, movies, TV programs etc. While I work out if I can I watch TV, by TV I mean Netflix or another streaming service (I do not like standard TV because I do not want to get sick watching ads for drugs). I workout in my pajamas if they are not too loose, but if you want you can dress up. If I do belly dancing I sometimes wear my scarves.

Keep it simple

Have a set simple workout for when you only want to work out for a short time or when you feel like not working out at all. It can be just walking fast, a few minutes on your cardio equipment if you have it, or a short video. For me this is my mini-trampoline, I put it in front of the TV, get an episode of a decoration program going and tell myself I can stop after 10 minutes if I want to, but usually I keep going until the program ends in about 20 to 30 minutes.

It is better to work out ten minutes than zero minutes, but ideally your work out should be longer.

My personal workout

I use YouTube videos, a mini trampoline (mini rebounder) and my own programs that include weights and exercises using my body weight and a lot of yoga and dancing. I may not be getting the perfect workout, but I workout almost every day, and that is a lot for me. Usually I do 3 days of cardio (mini-trampoline, 30 to 45 mins) and 2 of cardio and weights (45 to 1 hour); sometimes I do yoga or dance in weekends.

Do you go to gym, workout at home or do not workout?

Photos by Heather Ford h Gades Photography on Unsplash