The coronavirus symptoms are not just inconvenient. Contracting the virus can be fatal, which is why governments worldwide had to place restrictions on businesses, even fitness gyms! Still, that’s no excuse to mope and binge. You can still create exercise routines for working out at home, with or without equipment.
1. Prioritize Exercising
Whether you’re an on-site worker or working home-based, it’s important to workout at home to keep your energy levels up. You don’t even need to procure equipment as you can use your body weight for resistance instead. It’s like posting about the workout on your calendar like you would a meeting or a dentist appointment.
Prioritizing a workout means you care about your health. You can set 30 minutes to an hour for working out at home before going to work. If you’re at home unemployed, that’s also not a reason to stop. You’ll need to be at your best when you’re looking for work as well.
2. Look For Exercise Videos
You may be a powerlifter, in a basketball team, a runner, or a yoga practitioner. Canceled events or classes should not stop you from exercising. You can adapt routines right off the Internet even if you’re limited to your yard or your apartment. There are many video platforms with fitness coaches and enthusiasts sharing videos of various exercise routines that you can also do within a limited space.
3. Set A Regular Workout Time
If you want to add exercise to your lifestyle, it’s important to try working out at home at the time and pace that’s comfortable for you. Those who maintain a regular workout schedule are most likely to keep it in the morning. You can choose to start early before working or during your break when you feel that you need to get your blood flowing to boost your brain for tasks.
4. Plan Workout Variations
Depending on the restrictions in place in your area, you could be lamenting on the restrictions of public places other than the gym. While you can’t stay long at the community pool, state park, playgrounds, or outdoor gyms, you can still jog around or ride your bike. You can also write down various exercises that you can do for the different areas of your body. You can do weight training with filled water bottles or jugs, cool down with yoga, and add resistance training to your next schedule. You can do calisthenics or resistance training. The goal is not to get bored with working out.
5. Stay Active Through Hobbies And Chores
Any physical activity keeps your body moving. You don’t have to be exercising all the time, but you can stay active by doing the things you love and keeping your home in order. You can do gardening, go up and down the stairs, take up dance lessons virtually, or do backyard sports. Stand and walk around while on the phone, or play old exercise DVDs like TaeBo (Taekwondo-Boxing) and other similar workouts.
Why not plan activities for the whole family and involve them as well? Go hiking, build an obstacle course in the yard, or do boxing if you can get a punching bag and gloves for the kids to help build stamina. When you find a sense of fulfillment and joy in movement, you’re most likely to do it without thinking about it.
6. Record Your Progress
One way to motivate yourself for working out at home is to record fitness gains. By gains, it can mean changes that you’re experiencing while exercising. Like, do you have more energy during the day. Are you trying to lose weight? Record both the weight and the inches you’re losing. If you’re worried about losing sizes, but not weight, don’t worry about it so much. In fact, it’s also a positive change because you’re losing fat from your body. When you see a record of your progress, it tends to give a sense of accomplishment, and you’re likely to continue working out.
7. Set A Dedicated Workout Space
It can be a spacious bedroom, a garage, the yard, the living room, or anywhere you’re comfortable with and likely not to bump into anything. It must also be a space where you can relax and must always be ready when you’re scheduled to work out. That way, there’s no need to rearrange furniture or ask people to move to another location when you need that specific space.
8. Set Aside Enough Time For Yourself
You don’t need to set a whole two hours for working out at home. You can have as much as 20 minutes, and that would be enough. Work on the right intensity and number of repetitions that you can do. Take care that you follow the right forms so that you can benefit more from each exercise. If you’re using weights, at the most, the session should only be around an hour. Beginners can do up to 20 minutes, and it’s 60 minutes for those who regularly workout.
9. Tell People About Your Fitness Goals
You can also stay motivated to workout at home by telling family and friends. Do post it on all of your social media accounts. When people know about your fitness plans, they will see what you’re doing, and you’re more likely to commit. Friends who work out and want to encourage you to succeed will also give you feedback and suggestions. You can also work out with people you know. A workout buddy will help you be accountable and reach your goals and vice versa.
In Conclusion
Working out doesn’t always have to be at the gym. When you can’t make it to your favourite establishment, opt to work out at home instead, even if you don’t have gym equipment. If you’re a beginner, search for exercise videos to follow. You have various information waiting to be discovered online. You may also find that keeping active doesn’t have to cost you a great deal. Best of all, physical activity also means you don’t have to be alone. Get your family and friends involved in keeping active to keep healthy despite the pandemic.
