Home fitness hacks
Use common household items that can help pump up your fitness routine.

Gym memberships and home-exercise equipment can be expensive and time-consuming, which can be a reason to skip workouts altogether.  And when your operator or enabler is deployed or on temporary duty and you're running the household alone, both time and money might be in short supply.  Rather than spending time traveling to the MWR gym, get creative.

Use common household items that can help pump up your fitness routine.  Here are just a few home-exercise hacks for a full-body workout that are good for your fitness and easy on your wallet:

• Perform calf raises, single-leg raises, or squats on your stairs.

• Use a sturdy chair for tricep dips, step-ups, push-ups, or squat jumps.  See videos below.

• Make your own ab roller using a hand or kitchen towel on your tile or hardwood floors, or switch to paper plates for use on a carpet (see video below).

• Use a gallon (or half-gallon) jug—filled with sand to desired weight—for bicep curls, overhead presses, or tricep extensions.

• Use a 72 fluid ounce detergent bottle—which weighs about five lbs—for two-handed lifts such as split squats or front squats.

• Fill water bottles with water or sand for a variety of dumbbell-type weight exercises, including bicep curls, weighted lunges, and shoulder presses.

• Make a medicine ball:  Cut a slit in an old basketball or soccer ball, fill with sand, and seal with duct tape.
  

Remember there are other creative ways to work out at home.  Check out the videos below and more videos for other at home-exercise ideas.

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