The trainer: Ky Evans, head trainer at The Studio (MDR), an SPX Pilates studio in Los Angeles The move: Ab "crawl" crunch Difficulty: Hard
Get into a standard plank position, except place your feet together on the skateboard (placed vertically on the floor). On an exhale, keep your back flat and pull your navel to your spine, flattening the lower abs, as you pull the skateboard toward your chest for a count of four. On an inhale, press out through your toes, straightening the legs, so your feet come back to the starting position, again also on a count of four. Do this for one minute, or until complete muscle exhaustion.
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The equipment: Old nylons or tights
The trainer: Mariana Abeid-McDougall, a personal trainer in Ontario, Canada, and co-owner of Two Sister Fitness The move: Seated row Difficulty: Medium
Sit on the floor with your legs straight, back upright, shoulders squarely in front of you. Place your old, holey tights or nylons around your feet, holding an end in each hand (keep the legs of the tights together, so you'll be holding the control top of your tights in one hand and the feet of your tights in another). Keep your elbows close to your sides as you pull each end of the tights back, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Return to the start and repeat 10 times, working up to 15 (or until complete muscle fatigue).
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The equipment: Honeydew melon
The trainer: Tom Fabbri, a personal trainer and expert climber who's currently climbing the world's seven summits The move: Seated Russian twist Difficulty: Medium
You'll use the honeydew melon in place of a weighted medicine ball for this move. Sit on the floor with your knees bent, feet and knees together, heels pressing into the floor, and toes pointing up. Holding the melon in front of your chest, lean back until you can feel your abs start to engage. On an exhale, rotate your torso (shoulders and chest) to one side; on your inhale, come back to center. Repeat on the other side to complete one full repetition. Do 15 reps, working up to 30 (or until your abs are completely fatigued).
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The equipment: An office chair with wheels
The trainer: Nicole Glor, a New York City personal trainer and group fitness instructor at Crunch The move: Plank to pike Difficulty: Hard
Get in the standard plank position (hands shoulder-width apart on the floor, feet hip-distance apart, back flat) except place your feet on the office chair. Engage your deep abdominal muscles as you slowly lift your butt to the sky, forming a pike (or upside down "V") position. Lift into the pike position for a count of four, and lower to the starting position for a count of four. Start with five reps, working up to 20.
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The equipment: Beach towel
The trainer: Rona Lewis, a personal trainer in Los Angeles The move: Roller abs Difficulty: Easy to medium
Lie on a beach towel with your head slightly lower than the top of the towel. Grab the corners of the top of the towel in your hands and bring your fists right by your ears with elbows pointed towards the ceiling. Your head should be cradled by the towel. Now, using your abs, crunch your elbows up towards the ceiling; you'll feel it in your abs (without that telltale strain in your neck). Do 30 reps, working up to 50 (or until your abs are completely fatigued).
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.
