You may be wondering, “Who is Tanya Sylvan and what business does she have telling me how to work out?” The answer is simple: none, actually. I have no credentials. In this article, I’m just sharing what works for me.

I’m a road runner-turned-trail and ultra runner — I run marathons and 50Ks, and I am training for my first 50-mile ultra marathon. Having a strong upper body and core is crucial to maintaining proper running form for hours upon hours, and, of course, having strong legs is a must too! I do all of my strength and cardio training at home for free – no gym for me!

Let’s face it – gym memberships are expensive, especially if you’re a writer on a tight budget. If I have to choose between paying for groceries or frequenting the hottest gym in town, I’ll pick pasta and veggies, thank you very much. But unless your dream is to become a bodybuilder, you can get an effective workout at home for a fraction of the price. With a few small pieces of equipment, if that, you can easily set up a killer body circuit at home.

Here are some exercises I incorporate into my weekly routine:

Pull-ups – A pull up bar is a fun toy, I mean, a great exercise investment. Cheap ones will run you $30, and you can either create an actual workout for yourself or do as I do and try for a pull up every time you walk by. Don’t fret if you can’t do an actual pull up – try using a chair for an extra boost or just hang on it to build strength.

Push-ups and triceps dips – Another effective – and free – workout is a triceps dip/push-up circuit. I love these because they give me Michelle Obama arms and can be done anywhere. I switch from dips to push-ups to vary the engaged muscles. If you’re already a headliner at the Gun Show, try diamond push-ups or dips from a chair to get a more intense workout.

Cardiovascular workouts – Exercise videos are a great way to get in a cardio workout. Exercise DVDs are perfect because you can do them in the comfort of your own home without getting self-conscious or worrying about showing other people up. Feel free to cry, sweat, groan, curse – your pets won’t judge you. Your spouse might. With some Googling, you can find any workout your heart desires.  You can find workouts on Hulu Plus and Netflix too.

Planks – Planks are a favorite of mine. The #plankaday hashtag on Twitter has created an entire community of plankers, including myself and See Jane Write Magazine founding editor Javacia Harris Bowser. Planks work your arms, back, abs, and legs – talk about a move that does it all! I like to listen to music to distract myself as I build up my plank times.

Squats and lunges – Ah, the never-ending quest for a tight tush. Lunges and squats are an easy and free way to achieve enviable assets. Try doing lunges across the house and holding a water jug to make squats more challenging. Just don’t forget to not let your knee go over your big toe.

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You can buy cheap equipment like yoga mats, weights, pull-up bars and DVDs at places like Target, TJ Maxx, and Wal-Mart. And don’t forget to check thrift stores and yard sales for pieces of equipment that people have discarded. Their laziness can contribute to your sexy body.

Now, all of this will be a moot point if you don’t make time to work out. Do it in the morning before the rest of the world wakes up and obligations start to kick in. You and I both know that some “emergency” will always pop up and hinder your good intentions to work out, so plan for that.

If you really despise mornings, make working out a priority in your schedule. I’m talking physically writing it into your calendar, and keeping that appointment. You wouldn’t miss a meeting with your editor, would you?

And if all else fails, fit exercise in whenever and wherever you can. Waiting for water to boil? Drop and give me 20 push-ups. Putting away laundry? Lunge your way to the bedroom. Brushing your teeth? Do calf raises. If being fit and healthy is important to you, you’ll find a way to work out, even if you look ridiculous.

Tanya Sylvan,  a native of Kendall Park, N.J., Tanya currently works in marketing at CRC Insurance Services, Inc. and Moosedog & Co. and lives in Birmingham, Ala., with her husband Zack. She blogs about running at tanyasylvan.com.

Disclaimer: We here at See Jane Write Magazine are NOT doctors! Consult your physician before starting any new exercise regimen.

Sponsor Spotlight: Inspire Fitness

Looking at Kelly Creel you’d never think she has ever struggled with getting in shape or staying fit. Though she’s almost 40, she has a body most 20-somethings would covet. Creel teaches several classes a week at Inspire Fitness, a fitness studio she co-owns with her husband, Stephen Creel, and friend, Gabe Rios. Inspire Fitness is a Birminghma-based studio that focuses on Spinning, yoga, and strength training.

Creel recently started blogging on the Inspire Fitness website and was courageous enough to share her own fitness story. She writes:

I know what it’s like to feel a vague awareness about why I shouldn’t eat that brownie with ice cream and fudge sauce, but to somehow be unable to say no. To set my alarm clock for early in the morning, have my gym bag ready with new gym shoes begging to be worn, only to sleep through the alarm or be so dead-dog tired that I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed.  Or, equally frustrating, to get up early and lace up those brand-new shoes, only to attempt to jog around the block and be in such poor condition that I can barely walk to the stop sign at the end of my street before my lungs start to burn, heart pounding, and nose pouring snot. … To suffer sugar withdrawals so severe I sat in the stairwell eating a Snicker’s bar so that none of my co-workers would see.  To hoard and hide “bad foods” or “treats” in my side drawer in the office, so my spouse wouldn’t know. … To pay a whole year’s membership at a gym and never use it once, except to get the discount so the kids can go swimming…

As I read Creel’s story, which has a happy ending with her falling in love with fitness and seeing it transform all parts of her life, I felt proud that Inspire Fitness is a See Jane Write sponsor this month. And as I read her story I thought about all my friends who refuse to go a Spinning class with me because they feel intimidated by the instructors or the regulars in the class who seem like they’ve been fit and firm all their lives.

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Creel’s blog post reminded me of why it’s so important that we share our stories – even our fitness stories. My hope is that someone would read Creel’s story and decide to give Spinning or yoga a try. Or maybe a woman would read one of my writings about my love for Jillian Michaels’ workouts and pick up a DVD of her own.

For those of you who are current or aspiring entrepreneurs, you should know also that storytelling is good for business, a lesson Creel and her crew learned the hard way.

“In our final days of preparation before we opened Inspire Fitness, the first stand-alone Spinning studio of its kind in Birmingham, our realtor, Southpace Properties, issued a press release on our behalf announcing our studio location, our products and philosophy, and discussing what makes Inspire Fitness different from other gyms and fitness centers in the area.  I anticipated the phones would ring off the hook,” Creel says, especially since Alabama is a state plagued by obesity, diabetes, and the like.

“But instead of a big splash, the press release created barely a ripple,” she says. “It became apparent to us quickly that in order to rise above the fray and reach potential clients who may benefit from the services we provide that we had to figure out a cohesive way to tell our story, to tell it genuinely and earnestly, and to demonstrate to – in addition to telling – those potential clients how we are different.”

And Creel believes they’ve found a way to do just that through blogging and social media.

“Telling the Inspire Fitness owners’ fitness stories, beginning with mine, is telling the story of our business’ beginning, but that is only the first stone set in the path,” Creel says. “Our client’s stories will fill in the rest of the stones.  That’s the exciting part, and the reason I plan to keep blogging – it’s a living history that will be written anew with each new client, each healthy choice, each small behavior change, and each success story!”

Birmingham-based readers, join us at 5:30 p.m., July 19 for our next See Jane Move event hosted by Inspire Fitness. Learn more here. 

In December 2012 I added a fitness component to See Jane Write Birmingham, the networking organization for women writers from which this magazine was born. I called this new component See Jane Move and my justification for it was simple: “You can’t write a great American masterpiece if you’re dead.”

And I could use this same reasoning to explain why I decided to include fitness and food articles in this magazine.

But celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels has helped me realize that a commitment to eat right and exercise regularly is about much more than simply staying alive.

Last month I took on Jillian’s infamous 30-Day Shred DVD; the month before that I tried her Six-Week Six Pack workout. I refer to Jillian by first name because once a person is in your living room every day making you sweat so much that your yoga pants look as if you peed on yourself, you start to feel close.

And someone listening outside my apartment door would have thought she was really in my living room, not just on my television, because we had conversations. When she would say “I know this is hard, even I’m dying right now” I would yell “You liar!” And when she would say “I know you’re tired, I know you just want to stop and shut off this DVD. Don’t even think about it!” I would scream, “Shut up! I hate you!”

But that’s simply not true. I don’t hate Jillian Michaels. I love her and here’s why.

In level two of 30-Day Shred, Jillian says, “When you see how strong you are physically, it’s going to transcend into every other facet of your life.”

I didn’t pay much attention to this statement at first. It’s hard to concentrate on words of encouragement when you feel like you’re going to vomit up your heart. But one day when the moves started to get a tiny bit easier and my arms started to feel a tiny bit stronger, I realized she was right.

When you complete a challenging workout, when you lift more weight than you ever thought you could, when you run your first marathon, something inside you changes, and not just your cholesterol. You stare at that exercise DVD, or those weights, or that finisher’s medal and you think, “If I can do that, I can do anything.”

If you can finish that marathon, you can finish writing that book. If you can stick with that Insanity DVD for 60 days, you can stick with your blog. If you can bench press all that weight, you can press send on that pitch letter to your favorite magazine.

You can do it.

Jillian Michaels said so.