Walk into any Central Texas gym or fitness club and you'll easily find well over 100 pieces of exercise equipment. Row after row of treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, steppers and rowers makes it easy to get what you want during the rush hours before and after work. But many people tire of the social scene at the gym and decide to put together a home gym occupying a spare bedroom or the corner of the garage. Both of these options have one thing in common, they come at a price.

You're either paying someone else to purchase the equipment, maintain it, clean it and to air condition and heat the gym. Or else you're paying for same setup on a smaller scale at your house or apartment. What if you could get all the benefits of a well equipped fitness club yet the privacy of your own home plus the benefit of taking your gym with you wherever you go?

"Some of the fittest people in the world use only their body weight to train," says Tatum Rebelle, Owner/Fitness Coach, Total Mommy Fitness . "Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and a long list of other highly trained individuals use their body to obtain incredible strength and fitness levels," adds Tatum.

She should know. Tatum's career in fitness began when she joined the Army at age 17. While serving for eight years, she consistently received the highest honors in physical fitness, eventually working her way up to a Drill Sergeant to lead other soldiers through Basic Training.

Benefits of Pushing Your Own Weight

The fitness club, gym, spin class, tennis court or golf course all have benefits for the user. Here are a few benefits from the non-equipment approach.

• Convenient. Your gym goes with you at all times.
• No waiting in lines for equipment.
• The cost is absolutely free.
• If you get bored with an exercise you can change it. There are hundreds to choose from.
• There's nothing to sell if your fitness routine goes in another direction such as belly dancing or juggling.
• Boot camps are popular right now.

If You Are Skeptical

Many people at first are skeptical that you can get the same workout with body weight resistance as compared to exercise equipment. Resistance is resistance. The bicep will contract the same way from the barbell curl as it will with the chin up. "Body weight exercises require many muscles to be used at once meaning fewer exercises are required in a routine to get a full body workout," believes Tatum. "By learning how to use your body for workouts, you can do them anywhere, fit into daily activities and still be effective and challenging."

Here Are Four From Hundreds

GoodHealth.com asked Tatum if, what with the hundreds of available body weight exercises, she would recommend only four to get a total body workout. Here are her choices:

Squats. "The most effective of the four exercises to get a full body workout are body weight squats," says Tatum.

Place your hips back with your weight on your heels, and squat as if sitting in a chair. Make sure your knees don't come forward past the ends of your toes. A tip to make sure knees stay behind your toes is to stand in front of something like a bench of couch and perform the squat. The barrier of the object will prevent your knees from coming too far forward. To start, perform 10 squats and repeat for 3 sets. Add to the total each new workout.

Planks

Called one of the ten best abdominal exercises, the plank doesn't look like much but it packs some difficulty.

Get into push-up position, and hold your body above the ground resting on your forearms, drawing belly button into lower back. At first, hold for 20 - 30 seconds and repeat for 3 - 5 repetitions. To add difficulty increase the time spent in the position or increase the number of reps.

Superman/Prone Row

Lying on your stomach, reach hands over head and pull arms back bringing elbows towards ribs and raising chest off of the ground, squeezing shoulder blades together. This exercise, like the plank, doesn't look like much but will bring even Superman to tears. This exercise works the entire back.

Push ups!!! Last, but certainly not least.

Place hands on floor on either side of body and in line with the chest and lower the body down, keep abs tight and body straight, then lower entire body towards the floor and push back up. Start with a goal of 10 and repeat for 3 sets. Add to the total each new workout.