Well, here's my 2 cents. You obviously do this at your own risk and it's just my opinion. Don't blame me if you get hurt.
What I've always found to be inexpensive and something I can make time for is lifting weights while watching DBZ. It's motivating, it's interesting, it doesn't cost that much upfront, doesn't cost anything over time, and you don't have to drive somewhere to do it. And by lifting light enough weights, you can make the activity into an aerobic workout where you'll sweat and lose weight while building muscle. You can easily get in the routine of doing one 22 minute episode of DBZ every morning, and eventually you'll get to the point where you won't have to take a break during it. A 22 minute episode is pretty good motivation to push yourself to keep going too.
Depending on your strength and size, buy some dumbells from Target or some place that has them at reasonable prices. Target no longer sells the same type I have, which have rubber handles, but their current version has chrome handles and they look durable and good. The only problem with chrome handles is they will last forever... but your skin on your hands won't. Here's
10 lbs ones for $17 USD each. Here's
15 lbs ones if you feel up to it for $25 USD each. You'll need 2 of them no matter what weight you decide on. 15 lbs is often too heavy for a lot of guys to do a large variety of lifts with, if they haven't been exercising regularly. Standing shoulder flies will be impossible with 15 lbs dumbbells if you haven't been building muscle and you're using 15 lbs weights, for example.
I would assume 10 lbs is generally ok for most men who are 25+ years old, and you can buy a set of
wrist weights to increase the amount of weight you're lifting if you eventually feel the need to. I don't have those particular wrist weights I linked to, and they don't seem to rate great, so just shop around for those IF you eventually need more weight. It's cheaper (generally) than buying new, heavier weights. I bought my wrist weights at Ross Dress for Less for like $8 and they weigh 3 lbs each I think. I lift 15 lbs dumbells. And I assure you, 15 is too much if you don't have a fairly active lifestyle and do some athletic stuff. When I first started lifting a few years ago, I had a very hard time with the 15s and they were all I owned back then. I haven't worked out 5 days a week in a couple years now, so I can't comfortably do Shoulder Flies with my 15s with my wrist weights on anymore, it's too much stress on me because I'm not as fit as I was.
You're going to want to wear gloves when you use dumbells or you're going to give your palms terrible calluses that hurt a lot. You don't have to get workout gloves without finger tips in them, but they are probably helpful. I just went to Walmart and bought some mechanic gloves or work gloves or whatever that were like $10 for a set of 3 pairs and 1 pair has worked for me for many years. You want something that isn't made of lots of leather (they won't bend well enough) and has a padded palm. Leather palm is ok as long as it looks like suede. I think mine are something like
this. You just want something padded enough on the palms and knuckles on your fist that the weights aren't going to hurt your hands as much.
So anyway, you can look up dumbell exercises. I don't know the names of them, I just do them. Men's Health magazine typically has a lot of bodyweight and dumbell exercise instructions in them, usually 1 per issue. That's where I learned a lot of mine.
When I get tired of doing lifts, I lay on my back and do leg lifts while I either clap/flap the dumbells together with my hands or lift them from behind my head to straight up above me. I also do squats while standing up and holding them.
Eventually, when you are fit enough to do them, look up manmakers. They are an incredible workout that uses a lot of your muscles, and they are super hard to do a lot of. If you aren't fit though, you could easily hurt yourself doing them, so wait a few months... or do them without any weights at all. I think you'll be surprised how much effort it takes to do 10 or 15 of these in a row with or without weights.
I forgot what it is called, but I have an issue where I burn through my amino acids or something and my muscles end up burning up instead of building up when I do a tough workout. It results in a lot of pain at my inner elbows. So I take a few supplements or make a protein shake that I drink/take before/after/during exercise so I don't get incredibly sore afterward. I get
BCAA and
L-glutamine from
www.puritan.com and I see if they have any protein shake powder made by
Healthy N Fit on sale for around $30. The L-glutamine is fine enough to prevent my muscles from hurting a lot, so it's the minimum I take. I have the Healthy N Fit Anabolic Amino 10,000 pills too, but I regret buying such a large container of them from
Vitacost. Because it's taking me forever to go through all of them. BCAA has a lot of those amino acids in it already as well. This is my favorite
shake powder (add it to water and shake it in a container). It tastes like Swiss Miss hot chocolate and I drink it at room temperature just fine. My wife doesn't like the smell of it, but I don't mind it. Healthy N Fit makes the best stuff as far as I know. There are a lot of powders that have a TON of calories or a TON of sugar in them, and Muscle Milk has even tested for having a lot of mercury in it, if I remember right. Healthy N Fit is the only brand I'll use. I recommend you avoid all others... especially Muscle Milk. You have to be careful of what you are putting in your body. You also have to make sure the type of protein powder you use isn't derived from something you are allergic to. This one is whey... there's egg ones... pea ones... etc. The egg ones are good and a lot smoother tasting than the whey ones, but if you have an egg allergy, you will get hella bloated.
Of course, I don't know what your body type is and I'm not a doctor. You may not need/want supplements at all. This is just what I take and do.
It's great.