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The last time there was such a high demand for something was probably for meat coupons in Rákosi's Hungary in the 1950s, compared to the current demand for a post on how to get an effective workout when one can't afford to spend tens of thousands of forints a month, or simply lives in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain where there isn't even a gym, and you can't even buy a bloody protein powder within a 70 km radius. I could easily step onto the thin ice of sentences like "you can't live normally in the countryside" right now, but in this case, it's not just about that. Outside of Budapest, excluding the larger rural cities and a few county seats, you genuinely can't eat properly or get a meaningful workout, and that's not even mentioning other social opportunities. I received many letters from new mothers raising their babies at home, asking for a post about home workouts because even though they've had a child, they are still women and have certain expectations for themselves, but if they can't leave home and go to the gym while looking after the child, what are they supposed to do? Then there are those who cannot afford a gym membership or thousands of forints worth of supplements every month, and finally, the aforementioned geographical impediment was the most frequently mentioned problem. I received the first such letter in February; five months have passed since then, which perfectly illustrates how long I've postponed writing this series of posts because it's a difficult and rather diverse topic that requires some research…

In women's circles, there's a virtual bible circulating, called bodyrocksTv, and anyone who has searched for "home workout" has surely encountered this peculiar genre of soft porn by a certain Zuzana Drabinova. BodyrocksTv offers an alternative and demonstrates exercises for home workouts, also showing that with a broomstick and two chairs, you can achieve results at home. You can achieve a big pile of crap, because anyone who actually believes that the girl in the video looks the way she does from flopping around on a mat and crawling under a chair is at least naive, but mostly stupid. Home workouts have certain upper limits. Progress requires continuously increasing load, which you can achieve to a certain extent at home with resistance bands and dumbbells, but beyond a certain level, messing around with mineral water bottles won't be enough.

Home workouts require some creativity, which I see 70% of the Hungarian population lacking, because even today, people on Facebook ask me things like, "How long is IKEA open? I don't know?" Damn it, Google is right there!!! Let's understand that in 2011, we shouldn't be asking questions while sitting in front of a computer, but rather using Google, Bing, and Wikipedia. For three months, a girl has been asking me weekly when the home workout post will be up, instead of typing the following phrase into Larry Page's gang's search engine: "home workout". Seriously, stop reading this post right now and try this groundbreaking method. The same applies to  workout plans and the exercises within them. If you don't know how to perform an exercise, or what it even is, you shouldn't be writing me emails with trembling hands; instead, open that damn YouTube and type in "bench press".

Mind-blowing, right? What the internet can do. Crazy, isn't it?

Now that everyone has received their Goblet of Fire level knowledge, we could move on because there are a few more things. No matter how little money you have, you'll still need a minimal investment, as you can't shape your body by lifting flower pots. Everyone should determine the amount of load provided by each supplement and accessory for themselves. I absolutely cannot help you with that. Sports equipment manufacturers have also thought of this, so all equipment is available in different sizes and packages, catering to both the most severely obese and the very fit and capable person.  

Equipment

You'll find everything in one place at Decathlon. I've included the prices because it's good to know how much your budget will be affected.

Resistance band

A huge essential. You simply can't live without it if you want to work out at home. The different colors indicate the strength of the band, from the Play-Doh resistance pink to the golden wire rope. If you're in very poor shape, start with the weakest, and even for those in good physical condition, I don't recommend the black one right away. The basis of home workouts is to realistically and objectively assess your limits and capabilities. My mother always says, "Today I'm going to do 300 sit-ups." I showed her what a proper sit-up looks like. If I counted correctly, after 7, she had to rush to a meeting. Returning to the resistance band, you can do all existing exercises with it, but here it's also important to mention, which I'll repeat a few times, don't worry, to choose the number of sets appropriate for your physical condition and fitness level. Start with, say, 3 x 8 leg raises with the yellow band, and if you can do it, increase the number of sets, but always be fatigued by the end of the third set. If you can easily do 3-4 x 50 of something, then buy a band with stronger resistance. The same will be true for dumbbells, but let's not rush ahead. I'll describe the exercises in a separate post; for now, just get acquainted with the items that will absolutely kick your ass in the coming months, if they don't end up gathering dust in a corner right away.

Prices may also vary depending on the length of the bands, and it's good to know that handles are available for an additional 2,000 Ft.

Fitball

An indispensable item for abdominal exercises. It's a very useful piece of equipment, and if you learn to use it correctly, you'll be able to train much more effectively than just lying on a mat on the floor. That's also good, but why just grab the girl's ass when you could lay her down? I feel I've illustrated the essence of things with this example, so I'll write down the prices. This will require a bit more of an investment, but believe me, it's worth getting one.

If this is too much, seriously, look for another job, or buy a yoga mat for 1,290 Ft.

Dumbbells

The other unavoidable factor. Unfortunately, you really can't save money on this. Rather don't eat for 2 days, but you absolutely must buy these. For women, I would recommend weights between 1-5 kg, and for guys, 4-9 kg. Dumbbell exercises are an important part of home workouts. When I say "get creative," I meant it for the workouts themselves, not for grabbing a 2-liter Fanta bottle, taping it to your hand, and starting to do bicep curls. It's a good joke, but you shouldn't go completely insane. For lateral raises, it might be conceivable to start with a half-liter drink bottle or lifting a 3-kilo Persil, but I don't think it would be effective to use a cat for front raises, as such activities usually end up with one of the neurological institutions or membership in the democratic charter.

These are the basic equipment, and from then on, everyone can customize what else they want to get for home or what they can afford. For example, a simple gym bench is available for 26,000 forints, or a complete bench press bench without a bar for 119,000, which can be nicely set up in the garage. We've seen this from Kevin Spacey in American Beauty.

Aerobics

Forget about home aerobics. Seriously, there's no point in it, believe me. The body is a memory center that helps you survive by adapting.  This is how people living extremely strenuous lives can adapt to loads that would kill us in hours.  Pay attention because this is important.  The body adapts to workouts, and after a while, the workout will have no effect if you don't change or vary the intensity. If you buy an aerobics DVD for home, you'll be exhausted and out of breath during the first workout, but by the 5th or 6th day, you won't even get tired because the same disc is playing with the same exercises. You get used to it, and it stops being effective. That's why you can work out at home to a crappy movie for years and see little to no change. If you ran for 1 hour every day at the same pace, after the 3rd week your heart would get used to the load and strengthen so much that your pulse rate would barely increase, meaning it would be as if you were walking, even though you're running a lot.

So, burn all aerobics DVDs at the stake. If you go to classes, vary the types. If you want to do aerobics three times a week, then do it, but make sure they are three different classes. Preferably, go to the same class no more than twice a month. This applies to spinning, step aerobics, and everything else. Women tend to fall in love with a class or an instructor, or maybe only go to aerobics because of the good company. It's a huge trend right now to go to that screwed-up Zumba, which in itself is an ineffective piece of crap, but if we add the habituation factor of the same workout, then you get the answer to the question, "why am I not losing weight when I exercise so much?"

If you have an exercise bike at home, feel free to throw it out or sell it and buy a proper bicycle with the money. You can't live in such a remote place that you couldn't cycle or run. You can run anywhere, and it costs nothing. If you're a new mother, the stroller will be your cardio machine. Take long walks, look for inclines, and push your child at a faster pace. There are boundless possibilities, you just need to look around, and a bit of imagination and creativity wouldn't hurt. You're sitting in front of the computer right now. Look around, and within half a minute, you'll find something you could start training your triceps with, for example. I've been reading about "convict conditioning" lately, which is basically about how people who spend 23 hours a day in a 6 sqm cell bulk up as if they were professional bodybuilders. Yet, all they have is a bed, a metal toilet, and 1 hour of walking in the yard. You can train anywhere and achieve spectacular results, just don't expect someone to also tell you that after doing crunches, you should get up off the floor.

That's all I planned for the first part. If you want, buy these items because the continuation is coming, where I will write complete sample workout plans for home, specifically for women and men, and it will also be about how to develop your running and what mental points will help you improve…