While there is a light at the end of the tunnel in regards to Covid-19 with multiple vaccines having been announced, many countries are still in lockdown.
With people stuck in their homes and winter rolling in, it is very important to learn how to keep fit while locked down in your home.
You might have been enjoying the free pass to laze on the sofa watching trash television but that is not doing your body, mind or immune system any favours. Did you know regular exercise can give your immune system a boost?
Apart from the obvious, keeping fit does wonder for your mental health, it gives you a sense of purpose and a boost of energy and accomplishment that might be hard to come by while you’re locked up in your home for days on end.
Yes, exercising in your house doing the same workouts with the same weights can get boring, and that is why it is important to mix things up every now and then.
Be sure to pay attention to local lockdown guidelines as you may be able to leave your house once a day to exercise.
Read on to find out how you can easily keep fit while in lockdown.
Create a Fitness Plan
Before you start exercising it’s important that you spend some time planning out your workouts and fitness journey to ensure that you stay motivated and stick to your goals.
When deciding on your goals, make them achievable and be specific. It’s important to have something to strive towards and to be constantly measuring yourself against in order to stay motivated. Whether this is a time you’re trying to beat or the number of pushups in a minute.
Choose a time that suits you. Don’t put your workout a time when you’ll be thinking about other things or trying to rush to get it finished. Have a look at your calendar and pick a time when you will be completely focused and ready to workout and achieve your goals.
Running, Jogging or Cycling
Your gym may be closed but that is no excuse to take a break from keeping fit. Most countries that have imposed a full lockdown are allowing citizens to go outside once per day to exercise.
A good place to start if you’re not already an avid runner is by downloading a run tracking app such as Strava or Couch to 5k. These apps have easy programs for beginners that are designers to slowly build up your fitness safely, gradually taking you on longer and more intensive runs.
If you find running boring this is a great way to motivate yourself to get out of the house for half an hour a day.
Yoga
Yoga is often overlooked by people hoping to get fit that want to exercise. Yoga is actually very physically intensive and can even burn around 250 calories a session. The combination of balancing, flexibility and bodyweight strength is definitely enough to keep you fit during the lockdown.
This is the perfect lockdown exercise as it is gentle and non-intrusive and all you need is a small space on the floor to do the bodyweight movements.
There are thousands of websites and free videos online with workouts that can be followed that also teach you how to perfect the yoga poses.
Home Workout
This may not be viable for everyone depending on indoor space, but if possible, doing a high-intensity cardio workout in your home can be very beneficial to your fitness and health.
Whether you have actually dumbbells or not, home furniture and backpacks filled with objects can be used as props to intensify the workout and mimic a real gym.
There are thousands of workout videos online that you can follow. A favourite in the UK during lockdown was Joe Wicks daily workouts that he live-streamed on YouTube while raising money for charity. This is also a great way to get the kids involved and keep them active.
Conclusion
It can be daunting at first, but starting to exercise is the biggest step. Regular light workouts will do your body a world of good by helping you keep fit in lockdown. Remember, the workouts don’t have to be perfect, you just have to get your body moving.
