Fitness

Stressed Out? Here's Your New Workout

When you're stressed, the last thing you want to do is exercise. But these 11 easy moves will help you feel better fast

by Meghan Rabbitt

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We know -- you can't make it to the gym because you're slammed at work. Or your neck and lower back hurt from sitting at your desk all day. Or you'd just rather plop on the couch and watch TV.

Don't get us wrong, we're not ones to judge. We've made these excuses too. But after talking to top trainers from around the country, we've decided it's time to put the skids on the lame-o justifications for not working out. Why? Because these trainers clued us in to the fact that it's seriously easy to create an at-home gym that'll help you look and feel better almost immediately.

"It's much easier than you might think to train your body effectively at home," says Ky Evans, head trainer at The Studio (MDR), an SPX Pilates studio in Los Angeles. Even better, not only will these moves help you tone up quickly, but they can also help ease chronic pain, fatigue, and stress. "Too often, we stay sedentary when we're stressed -- or we think of pain as a reason not to work out," says Evans. "These moves will help you feel energized -- and they'll make your aches and pains go away."

Enter this cheat sheet of simple exercises that use things everyone's got laying around the house. Grab 'em all and you can create a home workout that'll get your heart pumping and muscles working. Even better, the moves are so much fun, you might actually look forward to doing them.

Another bonus: This at-home gym "equipment" is portable, which means we're really doing a number on your cache of I-don't-want-to-workout excuses. "You can do these moves anywhere -- in your hotel room, at the beach, when you're camping, anywhere," says Evans.

So what are you waiting for? Read on for the kick in the yoga pants you've been looking for.

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