Maybe you travel a lot and don’t have access to a gym. Maybe you’re sick of the typical gym crowd. Or maybe you’re tired of spending $100 a month on a gym membership.

Whatever the reason, leaving the gym doesn’t mean you can no longer push yourself to achieve your health and fitness goals.

Because the myth that you can only lose weight and get fit by going to the gym is just that: a myth.

If you know what you’re doing, exercising at home can be just as rewarding as going to the gym, and you’ll save time and money in the process.

Here are 5 exercises you can do at home for an effective home workout:

1. Pull-ups

Pull-ups are one of the best upper body exercises out there. In fact, I’ll do pull ups on any lat machine pull down or other back machines with fancy equipment any day.

They build shoulders, lats, traps, biceps, triceps, and even abs, and they’re tough, even for the strongest of us. Also, you can get a pull-up bar for your home at a cheap price.

If you can’t do a pull-up, it doesn’t matter: get stronger by jumping onto the bar first and slowly lowering yourself down. If pull-ups are easy for you, add a weight belt, wear a heavy backpack, or strap a dumbbell around your waist.

2. Push-ups

Push-ups are another upper body exercise that you can do at home without any equipment. They are great for the shoulders, back, arms, chest, and abs.

You can do pushups anytime, anywhere, during commercials while watching TV, as part of high-intensity interval training, even right before bed.

When you’re doing a push up, it’s important to make sure you have the correct form: back straight, abs tight, chest touching the floor. For an easier variation, start with your hands on a raised surface, like a counter or chair, or simply lower your knees to the floor and push up from there.

For variations on the classic pushups, try the dive bomber pushups, reptile pushups, double touch knee pushups, and pike pushups.

3. Jump rope

If you’re looking for a cardio workout to get your heart pumping and burn mega calories, look no further than jump rope. Classically used as a training method by boxers, it’s now big in fitness fads like CrossFit because it’s so good for building your fitness level quickly.

You can buy a jump rope at any sporting goods store or online, and they’re cheap; most cost less than $10.

Try jumping rope while watching TV or listening to a podcast to make the time go by faster.

Or, for a quick and effective jump rope workout, try high knee jump rope like a Tabata workout: 8 rounds of 10 and 20 seconds. Work hard during the 20 second intervals and rest during the 10 second intervals.

4. Burpees

Burpees are another fantastic bodyweight exercise to get your heart pumping. Here’s how to do a burpee:

• Start in a standing position.
• Get into a squat position with your hands on the floor.
• Extend your feet toward the ground in a quick movement to end up in a plank
• Return to a squat in one swift motion.
• Jump straight into the air as high as possible, add a little clap to show enthusiasm!
• To repeat.

For a challenging burpee exercise, try doing 100 in a row. That will beat the elliptical any day!

5. Aerial squats

No weights? No problem. You can still do air squats at home and give your legs a great workout. Just remember, since you don’t have weights, you’ll need to do more than you would in the gym to get the same level of training.

For an added challenge, try doing squats with a sandbag or holding weights at your side.

Try doing overhead squats as part of a Tabata workout (8 rounds of 10 and 20 seconds), or incorporate them into high-intensity interval training to burn your legs.