Richard Simmons was one of the first superstar exercise instructors! He brought working out into our living rooms and it has been there ever since. The world of follow along exercise programs has exploded. Today, there are countless home-based programs; Body Beast, P90X, Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, Peloton…the list goes on and on. Some of these programs require additional equipment, some do not require anything other than your own body. What is it that makes these types of programs so popular? Do they work? Who is most likely to benefit from them?

There is one reason and one reason alone that in-home exercise programs have maintained and gained popularity over the past 30-40 years. CONVENIENCE! Now, with that being said, convenience can relate to many things. There is the obvious convenience of being able to simply press play and focus on nothing other than the task at hand. Many people just want to be told what to do and how to do it. However, there is more here than initially meets the eye. For someone that is extremely intimidated by the thought of exercising in public, being able to work out in the comfort of their own home is not only convenient but encouraging as well. A single parent of two who works full time to support their family may not have the time to get to the gym let alone the extra money to pay for a membership every month. For that individual, being able to take 15 or 20 minutes to do something for themselves and focus on something other than the obstacles of day to day life, is not only convenient but extremely important as well. A traveling business man or woman who spends most of their time living out of a suitcase should not have to sacrifice their health or neglect their personal goals. In today’s world convenience is king.

Something else that in-home exercise programs have taught people is that achieving our health and fitness goals take much less time and is way more attainable than previously thought. There was once a time when the common misconception was that in order to shred body fat, build lean muscle or to make and significant physical transform, it would require lots of time, lots of money and lots of fancy equipment. Well, that a bogus and outdated train of thought and there are millions of testimonials that say so. Over the course of the past couple decades the field of exercise science has discovered evidence and provided compelling data that supports the tremendous impact that even just 5-10 minutes of daily exercise can make. Whether it is cardiovascular or metabolic health, fat loss, muscular development, injury prevention, skeletal structure integrity, etc., you do not need to spend hours upon hours trying to achieve it. In fact, with exercise, many times for many individuals it can be a case of less is more.

So, before you read this you may have been curious about whether or not you could benefit from an in-home, follow along exercise plan. After reading this I hope that you are able to see that the answer is clearly yes! Personally, I would argue that just about anyone and everyone can benefit from 10-20 minutes of exercise per day, in the comfort of their own home, with little to no exercise equipment. Results are not the outcome of one giant and impulsive act. They are the by product of small actions implemented consistently with purpose and intent.

By Vic M.B.S. Exercise Science, NSCA-CSCS Certified