The trainer: John Casto, a personal trainer in Fairfax, Va. The move: Deadlift Difficulty: Easy to medium
Place a medium-size bag of dog food on the floor and stand behind it, feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your hips so that your thighs are parallel to the floor and reach your hands to either side of the bag, getting a good grip. (Your butt will stick out quite a bit; the goal is to get your lower leg and thigh at a 90 degree angle.) Lift the bag of dog food off the ground by standing up, making sure to raise your hips and shoulders at the same time while keeping a flat back. At the end of the movement, the bag of dog food should hang in front of you, arms straight. Do three to five repetitions.
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The equipment: Backpack and books
The trainer: Rea Frey, a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist The move: Weighted squat Difficulty: Easy
Throw some heavy books in a backpack and wear it while you perform a simple squat. Put on the backpack and stand tall, feet shoulder-width apart and arms extended straight in front of you or on your hips. Keep your chest up as you lower your body as far as it can go, keeping your knees above your feet as you bend them and pushing your hips back. Slowly push yourself back up to the starting position, focusing on the quad, hamstring, butt, and ab muscles you're engaging. Bonus: You can also perform a weighted plank by wearing the book-filled backpack; it'll give you an added dose of intensity.
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The equipment: Stack of two telephone books or reams of printer paper
The trainer: Jon Jon Park, the CEO and founder of Legacy Gym, a state-of-the-art personal training center in Los Angeles The move: Calf raises Difficulty: Easy
Stand on the telephone book on the balls of your feet. Slowly drop your heels so they're hanging off the telephone book, then raise your heels so you're on your tip toes. Continue lowering and raising your heels for 30 seconds, working up to a minute or more. Note: Ideally, you'll do this exercise without holding onto anything, which challenges your balance and engages your core. If you have a hard time balancing, hold onto the back of a kitchen chair for extra stability.
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The equipment: A sturdy coffee table
The trainer: Ashley Smith, a personal trainer in Oklahoma City The move: Step-ups Difficulty: Easy to medium
Step your right foot onto the coffee table. Making sure your knee is directly above your ankle, engage your quad, hamstring, and butt muscles to stand up, lifting your left leg up so it taps the table. Step down and repeat on the left side. Do three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions on each leg.
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The equipment: Golf ball
The trainer: Laurie Cole, a master instructor at SoulCycle in New York City The move: Muscle release Difficulty: Easy
At the end of a workout (or when your muscles are feeling tight in general), roll your foot around the golf ball, putting pressure on it and holding your foot on the ball when you feel muscle intensity in your body. This targets the release of tight areas throughout the body.
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.
