THE DAYS ARE finally getting a bit longer and with that comes the thought of getting in shape for the holidays.

But you don’t have to sign up for a gym membership straight away – there are plenty of easy exercises you can do at home to get started on your path to better fitness. Here are seven of them.

On your marks…

1. Squats

A squat is a great exercise for working out the legs and getting some abs in there too.

It can be used as the basis for lots of other exercises so it’s important to master it and not hurt your knees.

2. Jumping jacks

If you’re looking for some cardio to spice up a weights routine, you can’t go too far wrong with doing some jumping jacks. So easy to do, and very effective for raising your heart rate and getting you sweating.

That’s a good thing.

3. Crunches

If you want to focus on your core muscles, then crunches are the way to go.  This is another exercise with loads of variations to hit different parts of the abdominals. But for now, stick with the basic crunch and master that.

4. Lunges

Lunges are a great way to work the legs while also helping to increase flexibility and strengthen your core. To work out your arms at the same time, you can throw in some dumbbell curls too.

5. Dumbbell curls

If you don’t have massive weights like in the video there, don’t worry. Any weight will do, especially when you’re just getting started. You could even grab a tin of beans in each hand and start from there.

6. Burpees

Moving into slightly more difficult territory here, but burpees are a full-body workout and you even get a bit of cardio in there too, with all that jumping around. Just make sure your form is good and you don’t injure yourself.

No injuries, please.

7. Push ups

If you really want to push yourself, then a push up is the way to go. Being able to do push ups is a real measure of your fitness. If you want, you can start on your knees and work your way up to a full push up.

You can do it. We believe in you.

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