Tone up without going near a gym

With brighter mornings and longer days, it's a great time of year to get serious about your exercise regime. Whether your motivation is for a special event, holiday coming up, or generally to improve your health, in my opinion this time of year is certainly a more rewarding time to get yourself in shape.

For many people getting fit is synonymous with joining a gym, but the gym can be an intimidating place if you're a newbie, as well as being expensive. So with the weather warming up, it's certainly worth thinking about ways to tone up – without spending evenings and weekends sweating it out in the local gym.

Alternative ways of toning up without joining a gym

Our Fitness Expert, Kelly Marshall has been busy filming some simple and effective exercises you can perform in the comfort of your own home. One of the best forms of resistance training is to use your own body weight. Kelly shares her top 5 firming exercise videos, starting with the 'V' Sit for the core muscles and obliques. To see all 5 videos, checkout our exercise video playlist which include targeting areas such as:

• Chest
• Triceps
• Core
• Thighs
• Bum
• Obliques
• Shoulders

Resistance band exercises

Mix up your home exercises even further by using a resistance band. Watch Kelly's series of exercise videos showing what you can actually do with your resistance band. Some require a fixture to wrap the band around and some can be performed in isolation. These exercises are great for targeting problem areas.

More resources on exercising – not at the gym

The Nutracheck Resources library has loads of articles to inspire you to get exercising. If you enjoy fitness DVD's, be sure to read our article on choosing the right fitness DVD for you. We list the most popular fitness DVD's together with how many calories you can expect to burn during the workout.

Finally when it's a lovely warm evening, make the most of the great outdoors. Cycling is an excellent way to burn calories. (Besides squash, it's my personal favourite form of exercise). It's enjoyable, gets you from A to B, saves you money on fuel and is as relaxing or taxing as you want to make it. Kelly has listed her top 10 reasons for riding a bike and the benefits that come with it. A must-read if you're thinking of taking up cycling to tone up.