How to Get Active and Stay Active
Exercise is a great way to boost mental and physical wellbeing. With the pandemic forcing us to stay inside, it can be a lot harder for us to stick to or create an exercise routine.
I want to share some exercises that are great for getting active and staying active while at home. These exercises are free, require little or no specialist equipment, and are less than an hour long!
1. Yoga
Mindfulness has always been incredibly important, but even more so now that uncertainty surrounding the pandemic can make us feel more anxious than usual. Yoga is a fantastic way to practice mindfulness while working out too.
Yoga originated around 5,000 years ago in ancient India and has become a popular way to improve flexibility, strength and mental wellbeing[1]. If you are new to yoga, it’s important to avoid injuries by not overstretching or following workouts that are too difficult.
You can start doing yoga using apps, such as Yoga for Beginners | Mind+Body which is completely free, or following online videos such as ‘Yoga For Complete Beginners - 20 Minute Home Yoga Workout!’ [2] from Yoga with Adriene.
Pro tip: Don’t have a yoga mat? Don’t worry – a towel, a large piece of fabric or a folded woven blanket will work well too.
2. Cardio Exercises
Getting your heart rate up is important to keeping yourself healthy. Your normal cardio routine may have included running, cycling or swimming, which may be difficult to keep up at home. Or maybe the last time you did cardio was running for the bus (me!).
Doing cardio at home means there is something for everyone. From kickboxing to Latin dancing to HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) – if you’re breaking a sweat, it’s cardio. You can check out ‘30-Minute Cardio Latin Dance Workout’[3] or ‘30-Minute No-Equipment Cardio Kickboxing Workout’[4] by Popsugar Fitness, and ‘HIIT Home Workout for beginners’[5] by The Body Coach, Joe Wicks.
Pro tip: Always warm up before you do cardio and cool down afterwards – a good workout video will build the stretches into the overall workout.
3. Strength Training
Strength training is important to building balance and flexibility – so yoga is one form of strength training. If yoga isn’t really for you – and you don’t have weights at home – using your own body weight is a great way to build muscle strength.
Common exercises include planks, squats, push-ups and lunges. You can check out ‘20 Min Beginner Body Weight Workout at Home - Easy Workouts without Weights - Bodyweight Exercises’[6] by HASfit, along with the free app. You can also try ‘Total Body Strength Training Without Weights for Women | Home Workout (No Jumping) | Joanna Soh’[7] by Joanna Soh Official.
Pro tip: Strength training can be intense so make sure you rest during the workout when you feel you need to and give your muscles time to recover during your week.
Bonus: Motivation
While not strictly an exercise, keeping yourself motivated enough to exercise is still hard work. It can be difficult to make time and headspace for exercise. So, to keep yourself motivated, consider:
· Creating a playlist just for exercising
· Scheduling your exercise session into your daily routine
· Keeping a diary of every time you exercise, what you do and how you feel before and afterwards
· Rewarding yourself for exercising
· Creating a group chat to encourage your friends
It’s a strange and uncertain time right now, but physical activity can go towards relieving anxiety and boosting wellbeing. Look after yourselves and have some fun exercising!
[1] https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/guide-to-yoga/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7AYKMP6rOE
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DZktowZo_k
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oLg5fFe5ww
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q20pLhdoEoY
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W9B2ffnO5c
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUns8O4YL5M
—
Blog post by Amirah Muhammad, London Head Coach