Eco Home Gym - by Dave Hedges

Get in shape with an eco home gym. I want to introduce you to a way of keeping fit, strong, lean and healthy AND carbon neutral. That’s right, no more driving to an air-conditioned, fluorescently lit, noisy gym loaded with electronic equipment and plasma screens. Instead we are going to go back to nature and discover the finest home gym ever invented; your own body and homemade equipment.

I’m talking about bodyweight training or calisthenics. If you want superior results in strength, stamina, muscle endurance and a lean physique, quit the gym and ignore all those fitness gimmicks and gadgets. Let’s get back to nature and employ the methods used by the Spartans of legend to create the kind of bodies that were immortalised in marble.

Eco home gym - Environmental advantages

Reduce the use of non renewable virgin materials for construction, material, products & equipment
Reduce the demand for purpose built commercial gyms
Reduce carbon emissions, water waste & water contamination through manufacture of new products
Reduce the demand on fossil fuels to run gym equipment
Train at home and avoid poor air quality in an air-conditioned gym
Train in the garden and avoid indoor air pollutants and triggers of indoor allergens
Protect your respiratory health by avoiding exercising in a plastic filled gym (carpet tiles, paint, ceiling tiles, plastic casing, plastic panels, plastic furniture......toxic nightmare)
Reduce transport emissions by training at home
Reduce your bottled water intake by training at home – use the tap

Eco home gym - Bodyweight training advantages

Lean, defined muscles without the bulk. Our bodies are built to run, walk, lift, throw, carry, climb, crawl and fight. Bodyweight training will strip away unwanted weight, while maintaining and building muscle, you’re body simply won’t want the extra weight.

Mobile and efficient movements. In all bodyweight drills you have to stabilise and balance yourself. Not only will you involve more muscle groups by doing this, but you will also train the body to move as a unit. Think of the grace of a dancer or the integrated power of a fighter and you’ll know what I mean. Being strapped into a machine with a seat to support you and a single, fixed movement pattern robs the body of the need to stabilise and move properly, calisthenics can and will re-educate you.

Unbelievable endurance. Forget the step or spinning classes if you want stamina and staying power. Instead try knocking out timed sets and multiple drill circuits with bodyweight. An entry requirement to some of the world’s toughest combat sports requires entrants to perform 500 bodyweight squats to show their mental fortitude. Most people I know, including several huge muscular bodybuilders can’t even manage 50 with good form.

Reduce pain and stiffness in the body. Russian academic, doctor and fitness guru Nikolay Amasov realised that taking a joint through its natural and compete range of movement it will smooth itself out, stimulate the release of nutrient rich lubricants and keep itself healthy well into old age. He developed Mobility programs based around callisthenic exercises that utilise high repetition, full range of movement drills practiced daily. As a testament to his research, the good doctor resembles an elderly, yet spritely Russian version of the legendary Bruce Lee, lean, wiry, strong and mobile

The ultimate advantage of using our own body is the convenience. You can perform Pushups and Squats anywhere, pull ups only require something to hang from, be it a swing set, doorframe or tree branch.

Eco Home Gym - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Bodyweight has its limitations, but with imagination we can create external resistance to further skyrocket our progress. Homemade and improvised gym equipment can be made up of various items, most of which would end up in some rubbish dump if you weren’t breathing a lease of life into them.

Take that old holdall you’re about to chuck out. Save it, fill it with sand or gravel (you may want to put a liner inside), you have just built a sandbag. Anything you can do with a barbell you can do with a sandbag with the addition of throwing and carrying. How about using an old car tyre, now you can flip it, drag it, push it and hit it with a sledgehammer, all these drills will take your conditioning to a new level, stripping away fat and building a rock solid core.

The eco home gym doesn’t stop there, you can improvise equipment out of almost anything and in doing so will bring your strength, condition, mobility and physique to whole new level. I dare say you’ll enjoy doing it a whole lot more than by going into some fossil fuel using, VOC emitting, soul destroying, expensive commercial gym. Keep the sessions short (45 mins or less), vary them, eat well, get good sleep and become the envy of your friends. Now get out there.

Author

Dave Hedges - Personal Trainer, Fitness Coach, Self Defence & Martial Arts Instructor
Co Owner of Wild Geese Martial Arts Academy
Doce Pares Ireland / Kenpo Karate / Self Protection / Security Training
www.wildgeesema.com
Wild Geese Blog
Email info@wildgeesema.com
Tel +353 87 672 6090

No Equipment, No Excuses EBook

Dave Hedges is also the author of this newly released Eco Home Gym Ebook. It's full of effective bodyweight workouts to use at home, in the office or out and about. Learn to how shred fat, pack on muscle, increase fitness, maintain health and gain extra mobility and flexibility.

NO GYMS. NO EQUIPMENT. JUST YOU & YOUR BODYWEIGHT

Your own body becomes a gymnasium - saving money & the protecting the environment. All you will need is some floor space, time and determination. No more excuses!