COVID-19 is the new freshmen 15 and it is not a matter to be taken lightly. Statistics on weight gain are already bleak pre-pandemic. Globally, in 2016, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight and 13% were obese.
How to Stay Fit During the Lockdown?
Beauty standards aside, gaining body fat can have negative consequences on your health. Especially when a bad diet is paired with inactivity, health problems can pile on fast. We found a solution to stay fit during a lockdown.
Staying active will not only keep you healthier physically, but it is also great for your mental health. Here are some free ways to stay fit during lockdown when gyms are closed and the local park is off limits.
Stand Up Regularly
This seems extremely obvious but you’d be surprised what a big difference it makes. Sitting is being referred to as the new smoking. A prolonged time sitting, for example for six hours, was associated with a 19% higher rate of death from all causes.
Standing desks can be a great way to sit less, but not everyone can stand all day. Set an alarm on your phone to get up every hour or even every half an hour.
Simply getting up, stretching your legs and walking a few circles in your apartment or house will greatly impact your circulation.
Walking a few steps every hour or more will not burn a lot of calories. But an improved circulation can help with weight loss in the long run.
Plus there’s the whole, reducing your chance of dying from sitting too much as a bonus. If you don’t want so many alarms on your phone, you can get an app that will remind you to stand up instead.
Many smart or fitness watches already have this function, but a simple app for your phone can do the trick.
Consider Stand Up! The Work Break Timer for iOS or Stand Up Tracker Reminder for Android. Both are free and will help you stay active!
Yoga on YouTube
The lockdown is a great time to explore yoga. It is an activity that can help you become more flexible, strong, confident and calm.
There are many different forms of yoga and you can do most of them at home. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for the world to re-open before you try goat yoga unless you live on a farm.
The more classical yoga practices are slow and peaceful, combined with relaxing music and medication.
Consider this video for 20 minutes of relaxing yoga. This is great for body, mind and soul. Practicing yoga regularly can help reduce anxiety as well as keep your body healthy and moving.
Even though regular yoga can burn a lot of calories, you can turn it up with something a little more cardio-based.
Check out this video for 25 minutes of faster, more intense yoga that is still beginner-friendly.
You can do this while blasting your favourite music loudly as long as the neighbours are nice! Do make sure to slow down enough to get the form right to avoid injury.
Next, you can step things up with hot yoga. Crank up the thermostat, or do it in a steamy bathroom for the extra sweat. This video will guide you through 26 minutes of hot yoga. Finally, check out this video on 10 minutes of bath yoga for something different!
Turn Your Furniture Into Gym Equipment
Buying a treadmill, stationary bicycle, rowing machine and a set of dumbbells is great. But not only are these items expensive and take up a lot of space, they are also highly demanded and basically sold out all over the world.
A basic chair can give you a surprisingly good workout. Check out this video for a quick 10 minute chair workout or a longer 25 minute one.
YouTube has a lot of free videos with varying chair workouts for different intensities, time-periods and personal needs.
If you get bored with your chair, consider some wall sits, reuse bottles or cartons as dumbells and even put your doorways to work! Of course, you don’t need any equipment at all to do a variety of exercises using just your body.
You can dance to work up a sweat, by following a video such as this one. Although freestyle is always great too! For a more standard routine, check out this 30 minute HIIT cardio video.
Once again, you should take full advantage of YouTube and all the free workouts available on it! If you have a Playstation, Wii or Switch, consider playing some fitness games on them!
Stairs
Another obvious yet often overlooked piece of home-gym equipment is stairs! Keep in mind that while going up stairs has health benefits, going down can be tough on knees.
Jogging up and down the stairs is a great cardio exercise that works those glutes. However, you can use the stairs for a full-body exercise.
Check out this video for a 12 minute way to workout on the stairs. Here is another video that briefly explains the benefits of stair-climbing as an exercise.
Stretching
It is of the utmost important to stretch before, during and after exercising. It can be easy to forget in a home environment, but you can really hurt yourself if you skip this important step.
This simple video shows 15 stretches that you should do every day regardless of your level of activity. You can find alternatives to the ones that require equipment such as stretching bands.
Although if you enjoy at-home workouts, you should eventually invest in one of these cheap tools to improve your active routine.
Gyms are great for workouts because they have lots of equipment and coaches to help you. However, they also have downsides such as the price, overwhelming machines and it can be scary to workout in front of super fit people who live, eat and breathe exercise.
Working out at home is great because it can turn healthy activities into a daily routine.
There is no longer the excuse of not having time or money to get healthy. You can incorporate short exercises throughout your workday and reap the physical, mental and emotional benefits of staying active.
Did this article help you to stay fit during the lockdown?
Photos: Shutterstock
Want some more lockdown escapism? Check out these virtual getaways:
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