You want to be fitter and stronger, but the gym fees don’t really fit in your budget.  Or how about if you travel a lot and find it hard to fit in a workout.  How about if you are just starting to move to a fit and healthy lifestyle and you are worried about the smug “gym junkies” and the way they will look at you?  Well, this article tells you how you can work out at home with no equipment, and in just 11 minutes per day.

In the 1950s the Royal Canadian Air Force had an issue.  Many of their pilots were at remote bases with little exercise equipment, but needed to be fit to fly.  So they had a doctor develop an exercise program that required nothing but the human body.  The program for men is called 5BX, and for women it is called 10BX (BX = Basic Exercises).

The exercises are based on intensity rather than time.  So the idea is to train hard, not for long periods.

The basic exercises are:

• Stretching (warm up)
• Sit up (don’t use these, use crunches instead)
• Back extension
• Push up
• Running (this is the aerobic part of the program)

Here is a copy of the free program that you can use.

It is important to remember that this program was developed in the 1950s.  Since that time, exercises such as sit ups and touching toes are no longer regarded as safe for the spine.  You can easily substitute crunches for sit ups and use different stretches.  See a health professional if you have any issues, and before starting any exercise program.

I would also recommend stretching at the end of your workout to reduce post exercise aches and pains.

I’m a big fan of push ups.  Many people lack upper body strength, and the push up is the way of strengthening the triceps, biceps, chest and back muscles.  You can start off by pivoting from your knees, and progress to having your feet up on a chair or bed to increase the difficulty as you increase your strength.

You can also exercise using a set of dumbells.  These allow you to use more than your body weight when you are ready to progress further.

To build muscle, you will need to lift progressively heavier weights.  Lifting a small amount will not do it.

Good luck with starting your exercise program.

Tags: fitness, how to regain your freedom, subversive

This entry was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 7:01 am and is filed under Daily subversive tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.