Staying Fit While Staying Home

More than likely, with schools, bars, restaurants, and gyms closed, you’re choosing to self-quarantine in hopes of “flattening the curve,” or further spreading the virus. With this unprecedented time at home, you’ve sanitized your house twice over, organized closets and spice racks, and have probably found yourself missing your daily exercise routine at the gym.

Even though it might feel like confusion and uncertainty are floating above our heads like rain clouds, committing to your daily fitness routine is a perfect way to stay grounded during this time. If you find yourself lost on where to begin your at-home fitness journey, check out these ideas for staying fit while staying home.

Setup for the exercise that’s right for you
Before closures and social distancing, you may have been an avid gym-goer, daily yoga class attendee, or a committed Crossfit member. So, what do you do now that your gym or studio is closed?

Picking up your fitness journey at home starts with a fitness activity that you genuinely love to do. If you’re a gym or Crossfit buff, then investing in some weights is a great way to keep up with your routine at home. If buying weights is out of the question, then you can get creative and do some heavy lifting with your house-hold items. Gallons of water, books, cans, and even kids work great as weights!

If, on the other hand, you’re a yoga or fitness class lover, then there’s plenty of free online resources to keep your practice going. Reach out to your local studio and see if they are live-streaming any classes. Fitness studios have made it easy to keep moving: you can now join their live-streamed and recorded digital classes for free. Blink Fitness, Orangetheory’s, Gold’s Gym, Planet Fitness, Crunch Live, CorePower Yoga all host virtual workouts that you can access from any smart device.

Since we are all experiencing the reality of self-quarantine, leaders in the fitness industry have offered discounted prices on their fitness apps and free fitness sequences. With a quick Google or Instagram search, you can find an array of resources that will give you plenty of ideas to stay fit while in lockdown.

Set yourself up for success
Whether you’re working from home or are on a forced hiatus from work, it’s safe to say that we are all spending more time at home than usual.

Even though sleeping in later may be tempting, staying committed to your normal sleep routine is essential. Create a daily schedule with blocked out times for work and exercise so you can stay accountable for your responsibilities. If you can manage to keep your regular schedule, then you’ll be able to bounce back and hit the ground running when life gets back to normal.

Create target fitness goals
As of right now, it is uncertain how much longer we will be in lockdown. Regardless if it is the next couple of weeks to the next couple of months, it is a substantial chunk of time to move closer to your fitness goals.

If you’ve wanted to incorporate an abs or booty challenge into your workout routine, then now is a great time to start. If you’ve wanted to pick up jumping rope or improve your plank time, then what are you waiting for?! Set a fitness goal now and stay committed to it over the next few weeks. You will definitely see progress and experience growth!

Give yourself rest when necessary
It’s easy to get caught up in the rat-race of productivity. We constantly feel pressure to achieve the next big thing, which can make any amount of spare time feel like an anchor.

News flash: you don’t have to write a book, become a sudoku master, or knit your entire family scarves just because you now have free time.

Celebrate the little wins like finishing your work and smashing out a workout, but try not to get caught up in filling every second of your day with a meaningful task. Rest and relaxation are necessary and definitely well-deserved during this stressful time.

As a reminder, before making any changes to your exercise routine, please check with your healthcare provider first to determine what is right for you.