No excuses

Those trying to get in shape have no excuse to put it off.

For former 2004 Miss Alabama contestant Liz Spiller, fitness doesn’t begin and end at the gym. It goes wherever you are.

In addition to her work as a personal trainer and nutritionist, Spiller is also the mother of twins and wife to Shane Spiller, president of Tuscaloosa’s Spiller Furniture.

So it would be a natural fit that Spiller developed a new fitness program that incorporates furniture into her routine.

“I’m so busy and can’t always make it to the gym but I do have the fitness background. I can take what I’ve learned as a fitness instructor and apply it to everyday furniture,” Spiller said.

Spiller first turned to fitness after overcoming an eating disorder at an early age. Now a certified fitness instructor, Spiller has helped a number of her clients, who range in age from 15 to 60, get fit. Spiller works as a personal trainer and teaches a number of group fitness and boot camp classes.

“There’s furniture everywhere. Your kitchen table. There are so many different things, and that’s what I enjoy doing. I like being able to go into different furniture stores and feature how you can make your furniture work for your fitness,” Spiller said.

Spiller works with Nutrition and Aerobic Training Services president and Total E Fit inventor Natalie Heckert, whose E Fit gym is a traveling gym that people can use in conjunction with Spiller’s furniture fitness program.

Spiller designed a fitness program that works out the entire body, with specific workouts for certain parts of the body.

“When Liz had the idea of putting the E Fit into her furniture program, I thought it was a natural fit. It’s a great idea that brings fitness into the comfort of people’s homes,” Heckert said.

“I think home fitness is increasing in popularity, and I expect to see more interest in the middle of these economic times. It fits into people making cutbacks and is a good alternative if people are in a crunch.”

In her Furniture Fitness plan for working out at home, Spiller designed several different core movement workouts. One exercise using a bed tones the entire body while offering some back support. In the workout, Spiller makes a superman pose while gently contracting the back muscles to raise up. The idea is to hold the pose until the muscles are fatigued. Also using a bed, another workout reverses the original workout and uses the core to bring her arms and legs towards each other to make a V. Both a sofa and bed can be used for this particular workout.

Another total body workout that can be done on the floor involves placing the feet underneath a sofa and a pillow between the knees, which works the inner thighs and abdominals. The workout can be reversed by placing the hands underneath a sofa and raising the legs toward the ceiling, then making scissoring motions by moving the legs back and forth.

Spiller also designed a series of exercises that can be done while cooking or cleaning, including lunging while cleaning out the fridge and while pulling things out, making sure to hold the lunge and contract the abdominals. She also suggests doing squats against the wall or refrigerator and rotating from side to side to work the lower body and abdominals. Another strength training exercise uses milk cartons or laundry containers filled with water or sand.

There are also exercises people can do using an office chair, such as push-ups and dips that are designed to work out the upper body. For the lower body, Spiller does squats using a chair to ensure proper form. Additional lower body exercises using an office chair include the bridge and hamstring curls. For the bridge, Spiller places her feet on the seat of a chair and arches her back to make a bridge. And for hamstring curls, Spiller pulls the chair back and forth like she would a stability ball. The closer the ankles are to the chair, the harder the exercise, and the closer the knees are to the chair, the easier the exercise.

Meaghan Murphy, fitness director for Self Magazine, also supports using furniture as a means for fitness. Self’s Turn On, Tune In and Tone Up workout is similar to Spiller’s Furniture Fitness program with several workouts that can be done at home. Murphy adds that push ups, lunges, arm curls and squats, some of the Self workout’s featured moves, are some of the best ways to stay in shape.

“At Self, we’ve always had the philosophy that you can work out wherever you are. Our workouts can be done anywhere. Why splurge on a gym membership when you don’t need money to stay in shape?” Murphy asked.