If you are totally averse to the idea of sweating it out at the gym, then you are not alone. The good news is - you can actually burn your calories while watching television by doing some simple exercises without using weights. Bodyweight training is a time-tested technique that has been used to tone your body, increase muscle power, and get rid of body flab. Listed below are top five sedentary exercises that can help you reduce weight and gain a perfect body figure.

a) Squats – Squats are very easy to do and extremely effective. They are especially good if you want to exercise your thighs and buttocks. If done properly and consistently, squats can help you shape your buttocks, increase your stamina, and strengthen the thigh muscles. To do squats, you need to stand up straight, stretch your arms so that they are parallel to the floor, and then bend your knees in a way that your thighs are parallel to the floor. You typically use your thigh and buttock muscles for doing this exercise.

b) Lunge - Static lunges are a great way of exercising all major muscles such as hips, glutes, and thighs and are much easier than weighted lunges. Instead of stepping forward or back, you simply drop your knee to lower your body towards the floor. You can start the exercise by keeping your right foot forward ensuring that it is behind the toes, keep the torso straight, and then slowly lower the other knee to bring it close to the floor. Depending on your fitness level, you can begin with one to three sets of at least eight – sixteen reps.

c) Step-Up - Most people wonder if they are actually burning any calories when they do step ups. But the truth is they work the glutes and the hamstrings and increase your stamina as well. In order to activate these muscle fibers you need to step up on a platform that is at least 15 inches high. The exercise is really very simple - just stand behind the platform, place your right foot on the step, come onto the step by moving your weight to the heel, and then step back down to repeat all reps for the right leg while using the left leg only for balance. Then repeat this exercise for the left leg as well. You may perform 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps but make sure that you do not exert yourself.

d) Push ups –Push ups can be performed to work all the major muscles of your body. You can work your chest, shoulders, triceps, abs, and back using push ups. In order to do push ups, you need to position yourself face down on the floor and keep the body in a straight line from head to toe while maintaining the balance using toes/knees and hands. The next step is to slowly bend your arms to lower the body to the floor and stop for a few seconds when the elbows are at 90 degrees. Then exhale and push back up and repeat the exercise.

e) Ab crunch - Ab crunch can be very easy though it is important to maintain the right body posture while doing it. All you need to do is lie down on the floor on your back, and position your hands behind the head while doing ab crunch. You can work your abdominals by bending your knees, and raising your shoulder blades one or two inches above the floor. While coming up, exhale and keep you chin up and neck straight.