How to Use the Gym Ball for Weight Loss

A good exercise plan should consist of aerobic and anaerobic activity, all of which can be done at home on a gym ball. Aerobic exercises help to get your heart rate up and burn calories. Weight loss is a result of a deficit of calories: 1 pound equals 3,500 calories. Anaerobic exercises build and strengthen muscles.

Step 1
Put the ball on ground, sit down in front of the ball and lean back on the ball for balance then slightly lift your legs off the ground and make a bicycle movement with your legs. Repeat this motion until you have reached the time goal you have set for yourself.

Step 2
Stand in front of a wall with legs shoulder-width apart. Place the ball behind your back and lean back against the wall. Lower yourself into a squat, then return to the standing position. This will help to build your glute and quad muscles. Complete three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.

Step 3
Place the ball on the floor, roll your body onto the ball until the ball is balanced under your stomach and you are in a plank position. Lower yourself into the prone position by bending the arms then return yourself to upright position and repeat. This will target the deltoid, pectoral and tricep muscles. Complete three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.

Step 4
Place your hands on the ball in front of you. Roll forward slowly, rolling the ball out as far as you can without breaking the straight line of your back. Push your elbows into the ball and contract your abs to pull yourself back to the starting position. Repeat 12 to 15 times for three sets.

Things You'll Need
Gym ball
Exercise mat

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Daily Workout Plan to Lose Weight Without the Gym

Losing weight doesn’t require signing up for an expensive gym membership. Wilting away the pounds with an at-home workout is not only convenient, but it's also effective. Whether you have your own personal home gym or no equipment at all, you can lose weight and get your heart rate soaring every day. Keeping it simple and consistent can be the difference between a successful weight loss journey and a doomed one.

Cardio Workout

Performing a daily cardio workout at home will help you melt away fat and lose weight, and the health benefits are worth their weight in gold. Any movement that increases blood flow throughout the body and revs up your heartbeat is considered cardio. Benefits include weight loss, increased metabolism, a healthier heart and an increase in those feel-good hormones, according to Weber University. Walking, running and cycling will get your heart pumping. If the weather is bad or you just feel like staying indoors, get in a cardio workout by performing exercises such as jumping rope and doing burpees (squat thrusts) and jumping jacks.

Strength Training

Strength training is crucial when it comes to weight loss. Building muscle underneath the fat will help to burn extra fat cells. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. Body weight exercises such as pull-ups, crunches, squats, lunges and push-ups don’t require equipment and can be done just about anywhere. Free weights are easy to store and can offer you even more variety in strength training. Include free-weight exercises such as biceps curls, triceps extensions, dumbbell step-ups and and dumbbell presses.

Frequency

As a rule of thumb, you should complete at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day, according to MayoClinic. With cardio exercise, 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous activity will suffice. Include at least two days per week of strength training exercises. You can break up your workouts throughout the day and still lose weight; just make sure the mini-sessions are at least 10 minutes each.

Cut the Calories

Exercising alone won’t get all the pounds off, especially if you replace the calories burned during workouts with extra food. To speed up weight loss, consider cutting calories daily. Changing your diet and reducing calories promote weight loss more than exercise alone, suggested MayoClinic's Dr. Donald Hensrud. To lose weight the healthy way, aim to lose one to two pounds per week. To drop just one pound of fat you must have a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories per week. You’ll need to burn off or cut 500 calories per day to achieve this weekly one-pound weight loss.

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How to Lose Thigh Fat at the Gym

The slang term thunder thighs is used to describe excess weight on the top of the legs. This bodily feature not only causes feelings of self-consciousness but also is unhealthy. Joining a gym is a good strategy to reduce your thigh size, provided you know what approach to take. Being that you cannot spot reduce, overall weight loss needs to be your primary goal.

Step 1
Experiment with the cardio equipment. Treadmills, elliptical machines, stair climbers, rowers, exercise bikes and ladder climbers all have one thing in common -- they burn calories. This, in turn, will promote weight loss in your legs and throughout the rest of your body. Spend five minutes learning how to use each machine and choose the one you like best. Gyms come equipped with jump ropes, which also help burn fat.

Step 2
Perform cardio on most days of the week to achieve weight loss. Using a machine for a few minutes every now and then will not do much in the way of thigh reduction. You must be willing to exercise long enough and often enough to promote weight loss. The Centers for Disease Control recommends at least 30 minutes a day of moderately-intense aerobic exercise. Meet these guidelines for the best results.

Step 3
Execute a thigh-toning workout with equipment at the gym. Doing weight-training exercises will give your thighs a leaner, more defined appearance as you melt away the fat. Build a workout around tools such as dumbbells, barbells and machines. Target the quadriceps and hamstrings, which are the main muscles in the thighs, in these workouts. Perform exercises such as squats, lunges, step-ups, leg extensions and leg curls. Use the cable pulley machines to work your inner thighs or adductors and your outer thighs, your abductors. Aim for 10 to 12 reps, do four or five sets and work out two or three days a week.

Step 4
Use the weight-training equipment correctly to achieve favorable results. Move through a full range of motion, never use momentum and keep your body in good alignment with all your exercises. For example, for lunges, stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing in. Step forward with your right foot and lower yourself by bending both knees. Stop when your right thigh is parallel to the floor and left knee is an inch above the floor. Step back to the starting position, repeat with your left leg and continue to alternate legs.

Step 5
Substitute one or two cardio sessions a week with a fitness class. Most gyms have multiple classes available. Choose one that involves your thighs to spice things up such as step aerobics, kickboxing, cardio dance or a total-body toning class. Attend with a friend who will keep you motivated to stay on track.

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Gym Workouts for Women to Lose Weight

When women refer to weight loss, what they usually mean is fat loss. For maximum effectiveness in losing fat, women should hit the gym. Two forms of exercise, cardio and strength training -- both of which can be performed at the gym -- can help a woman quickly burn fat to noticeable degrees. Combined with caloric restriction, the gym can be a woman’s secret weapon for weight loss.

Strength Training

For many women, strength training is the road less taken. But strength training does something that cardio does not: it builds lean muscle. The body’s act of building lean muscle leads to a continued calorie burn post-workout that requires no extra effort on your part. To start weight training, you only need to choose your method: free weights, machines or group classes. Group classes tend to be the safest option for beginners, as you will be instructed on proper form for resistance training, which will prevent injury. Ask a trainer for advice before starting an individual free-weight or machine routine. Pilates and vinyasa yoga are also options for strength training. Ideally, you should schedule three weight training sessions per week -- even 30 minute sessions are enough to see results. Perform each exercise for three sets of 10 repetitions, or reps, each. Take one to three minute breaks between each set.

Cardio

Most women are already familiar with cardio workouts, though they may not be doing them the right way. Cardio works by calling on the body to put its fat-burning system into overdrive, provided you are doing it at the right intensity and for the right duration. A proper fat-burning cardio session should be at least 40 minutes and should require you to push your heart to 60 to 70 percent of its maximum rate. Cardio opportunities in the gym are plentiful. Not only do most gyms offer cardio classes ranging from kickboxing to step aerobics, but gyms also offer individual cardio equipment as well as facilities, such as stationary bikes and swimming pools. The truth is that any activity that gets your heart rate up can be cardio, so do what you enjoy most. Shoot for three cardio sessions per week to start.

Sample Workout

The best results are seen when you combine cardio with strength training. This maximizes the number of calories burned; so, assuming that you are keeping your caloric intake constant, a workout combining these two types will lead to the greatest weight loss. Such a sample workout could consist of a weekly schedule in which you alternate strength training with cardio, taking one day off. This type of schedule is especially effective because it helps you build the habit of going to the gym. For example, you may choose to do six free-weight exercises for strength training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and take one-hour aerobics classes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Diet

While gym workouts are useful in spurring weight loss, diet is also chief to results. A number of studies have shown how caloric reduction results in weight loss -- primarily fat loss -- implying that one of the fastest ways to weight loss is through eating less food or less calorie-dense food. Other studies have shown that replacing carbohydrates in your diet with proteins leads to decreased weight and waist size. By incorporating diet with exercise, you can arrive at your goal much more quickly. But remember, if you have a health condition, be sure to consult a doctor before changing your diet or beginning an exercise regimen.

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