In the summer and fall I was walking outside for 30 minutes in the evening after dinner. Now it's cold, icy, and dark so I don't get outside. What can I do for indoor exercise if I don't have any equipment?

Hi Lynn

For strength training you could do:

Wall push-ups- Just stand in front of wall with your hands on it and move back and forth in a push up motion.

Use unopened vegetable cans to do:

arm curls

Lie on your tummy and put the can at your knee bend and lift your leg.
You can use the cans as weight to do other movements.

Arm Lifts(not the right name)
Arms by side holding a can in each hand. Lift arm at elbow.

Anything you do with handweights or dumbells you can do with cans.

Milk Jugs:
You can use these like the veggie cans.
Fill them 1/4 full with water and do your strength training with those(arm curls, etc)
When that becomes to light increase the water. I'm told that you will reach a point when you can use them completely filled with water.

Cardio:

Stairs:
I don't have them but if you do you could use them for cardio.
Your fitness level will dictate how many times you want to do them in the beginning.

When your outside steps aren't icy you could use them like your stairs or just use the bottom step or stair to step up and down on.

Create a walking path in your house:
I did this several years ago and it worked out very well.

Do you have a walking DVD or video if so then use one of them.

When channel surfing I occassionaly see a channel with exercise going on. I don't do those but you might really like exercising with a program on TV.

Other stuff:
push ups
sit ups
toe touches either standing or sitting
Dance to music
If your joints are in good shape then jumping jacks.
Leg lifts.
Think about those group exercise times you did in gym and there might be some other stuff you can add.

Flexibility:
Don't forget to stretch.

Do a web search and I bet you'll find lots of great ideas for an at home exercise program w/o equipement.

Some cheap stuff you might want to purchase:
You don't really need equipment but if you have some money to spare you might want to think about one of these.

Exercise band
DVD or Video
A step
Mini tramp. These use to be really cheap and I used one when I was much younger and my joints and back were in good shape.
A ball.

Good luck
bren

Wow! You listed a whole bunch of great ideas. I really like the ones that use soup cans and empty milk containers. You definitely gave me a lot to think about.