If you want to work out at home, I'd honestly invest in some free weights and a bench. Though, honestly all gyms aren't THAT expensive, so I wouldn't rule gyms out completely. Shop around for something affordable.
But I can't stress enough how important strength training is. Not just for aesthetics, but it also improves your quality of life. And as far as "toning" (I hate this word with a passion...) you can't "tone" what you don't have. Cardio is important for endurance, but strength training really goes the extra mile.
Whether you use weights or simply bodyweight, a very important rule to achieve results: go to failure. This means, whatever exercise you're doing, do it until you couldn't do another rep even if you wanted to. Going to absolute muscle failure is very important because if you're not breaking down that muscle tissue, it will not grow back stronger.
Another extremely (if not THE MOST) important part is your diet. You need to be consuming at least 1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight. Make sure you're eating healthy carbohydrates, and make sure you're getting reasonable portions of healthy fats. You can work out and work out and work out, but your body won't reward you unless you're giving it the good food it needs to grow. Avoid processed foods, choose things with minimal ingredients but IDEALLY cook everything fresh.
My favorite resource is http://www.bodybuilding.com/
It has workouts, trainers, recipes, articles, an extensive exercise database that you can use to search exercises for specific body parts (and they include videos to show you how to do them
), forums to ask questions, a store to purchase equipment and supplements (I get all my protein powder from here, best prices!) and basically ANYTHING you could use to figure out how to start your journey.
Stay hungry for your goal, remind yourself that every decision you make either works TOWARDS or AWAY from it.
"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you."
But I can't stress enough how important strength training is. Not just for aesthetics, but it also improves your quality of life. And as far as "toning" (I hate this word with a passion...) you can't "tone" what you don't have. Cardio is important for endurance, but strength training really goes the extra mile.
Whether you use weights or simply bodyweight, a very important rule to achieve results: go to failure. This means, whatever exercise you're doing, do it until you couldn't do another rep even if you wanted to. Going to absolute muscle failure is very important because if you're not breaking down that muscle tissue, it will not grow back stronger.
Another extremely (if not THE MOST) important part is your diet. You need to be consuming at least 1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight. Make sure you're eating healthy carbohydrates, and make sure you're getting reasonable portions of healthy fats. You can work out and work out and work out, but your body won't reward you unless you're giving it the good food it needs to grow. Avoid processed foods, choose things with minimal ingredients but IDEALLY cook everything fresh.
My favorite resource is http://www.bodybuilding.com/
It has workouts, trainers, recipes, articles, an extensive exercise database that you can use to search exercises for specific body parts (and they include videos to show you how to do them
), forums to ask questions, a store to purchase equipment and supplements (I get all my protein powder from here, best prices!) and basically ANYTHING you could use to figure out how to start your journey.Stay hungry for your goal, remind yourself that every decision you make either works TOWARDS or AWAY from it.
"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you."
