My last Fitness related post dates Tuesday, October 14, 2008. This is also the date of my last significant fitness effort. To say that it's been a while would be an understatement. It's time to wake up and face the reality! Long story short, I don't like what I see in the mirror any more. It's time for a change!

Today I face two mayor challenges. No.1 - What do I eat?! No.2 - What do I do fitness wise?! Let's answer this questions, shall we. What I eat will be a topic for some other occasion since I haven't really decided what to do here. I'm aware that I should eliminate a lot of unhealthy things, I just have to figure out how to do that :). So that aside, lets see what to I do fitness wise - lately nothing at all. In the last few months I gained more weight than in the previous 2 years combined. This is terrible and I just have to do something about it!

When it comes to fitness I'm a firm believer that you can get great results with a carefully planned home workout rather than a long and expensive gym routine. Since I started working and my "free time" is even shorter now, I'm always striving to come up the shortest possible workout routine that actually gives results.

So, having spent some time on-line researching what's good and what's bad, what's effective and what's not, I came up with a home workout routine that is simple yet effective. It requires only one fitness "machine" - a pull-up bar, and your own body weight. It only takes about 15 minutes and sums up a total of eight elements.

Here's what you have to do!

Warm up - Do a regular whole body warm up just as you did on your gym class in high school. Make sure you're doing this properly especially if it's been a while since your last workout (like in my case)..
Jump rope (2-3 minutes) - This is my favorite cardio exercise! You can't melt the fat without cardio.
Pull-ups/Chin-Ups (12-15 repetitions) - The master of upper body exercises. It works most of the muscles in the upper body, focusing on the back and biceps.
Squats (12-15 repetitions) - A truly basic exercise that activates the biggest muscles in the body which raises the metabolism and burns the fat.
Push-ups (12-15 repetitions) - A classic! Do I really have to say anything?!
Butt Lifts-Bridge (12-15 repetitions) - Works the butt but has an impact on the lower back as well. I do it because other lower back exercises simple won't go hand in hand with my back issue. If you're feeling up to it, feel free to replace this one with a more intensive lower back exercise.
Mountain climber abs (12-15 repetitions per leg) - A interesting exercise. At first it seems like a time waster. But trust me it really works the abs without the back stress associated with the regular crunches.
Stretch - Make sure you cool down and stretch. This will eliminate the unnecessary next day pain and give the muscle a proper base "to heal".

So, warm up, do three sets with one minute breaks between sets and no breaks between the exercises then cool down and stretch. That's it. It's as simple as that. In time as you progress you can do one of two things - add another set or add more repetitions. Since I believe that several correct repetitions bring more results that a hundred wrong ones, If you feel you're up to it, I recommend you add another set. This way the 15 minutes might become 20 or 30 but it still beats going to the gym for a 2 hour workout.

There's only one catch, one magic word that will bring you the results - COMMITMENT. Yep, that's it. Make it a habit!

Stay tuned!