Home workout tips to get your fitness in action!

So you are at home due to the corona virus advisory! Not to worry, in fact, this is an excellent opportunity to invest in your health and boost your immune system.  Better immunity means better protection against this virus and its good for your health in the long run anyways!

Did you know that exercising just 20 minutes daily can-do wonders for your immune system and improve your health? Doesn’t matter if you do not have access to the gym now, you can still stay healthy by following a health regime at home.

To ensure you optimize your time at home, here are some useful tips for your home workouts:

1.      Define your health goals

 What do you want to achieve and by when? Is it overall fitness, to get lean, to build muscles or participate in an event or anything else?  Identify this first so you could have a focused health plan. The objective is not to feel anxious whether you’ve been able to achieve your goal or not but to have a clear direction. The chances of achieving your health goals are higher if you know what they are.

There are various plans on the web and on apps based on the kind of workouts you could pursue based on your goals.

2.      Commit a specific time

 Even though you are home and most likely have all the time in the world, it’s important to dedicate a time for your workout. Maintain this discipline and do not let anything get in the way. It’s easy to procrastinate when you are at home. The best time to allocate for your workout is early morning when there are minimum distractions. However, this is an individual choice but maintaining a fixed time is key. Unless you commit a specific time for your workout, it’s not gonna work!

3.      Stay away from distractions

Keep yourself off distractions such as checking messages or answering your mobile phone or attending family chores during your workout. Do not get sucked into multitasking other things at home. You may be a great multi-tasker, but this is not a good time to demonstrate these skills!

4.      Create clutter free space

 Ensure that you create a good amount of free space if not a dedicated room for your workout. A thumb rule is to have clutter free space equal to the size if you were to spread your arms and legs straight and sideways lying down and of course a ceiling height that is good enough for you to jump up (and not hit the ceiling!) if you are skipping. The room must be airy or if you would like to keep the air conditioning on, that’s your choice.

5.      Keep these items ready

Have these items ready BEFORE you begin your home workout- floor mat, dry fit clothes, face napkin, clean shoes, (optional if you are comfortable wearing inside your home), weights or accessories like bands, skipping rope if you are using them, fitness watch or fitness app on your mobile, water, music system. Keep these items organized at a close distance before you begin your workout. Avoid television or any such visual medium for entertainment, this could be quite indulging and a time waster.

6.      Record and Monitor

Use health apps or gadgets to record and monitor every workout, this way you can keep a record of your exercises. These apps and gadgets have many features such as duration, distance, calories burnt, speed, heart rate etc. If you are doing strength training, you can input the type of exercise, weights, reps etc. You could also record your video or take a picture on the first day and moving forward, to gain visibility of your progress.  It’s motivating to see one’s past workouts when the chips are down. You can review your progress on a regular basis, at least once a week. For many, it would be a pleasant surprise on the amount of progress being made just by keeping a tab on your workouts.

7.      Follow proper nutrition

Staying at home might lead to binging! So keep your nutrition under check and remember to follow few simple rules- reduce/eat less of sweets and oil based/fried foods, more of fresh and home cooked food. Eat on time and do not skip or delay your meals, for example, do not have late dinner or skip breakfast. Keep hydrated on a regular basis.  Before you begin your workout, have some light snack like a fruit or an energy bar but not anything heavy. Learn to have a healthy meal post workout to replenish your body on time

Hope you find these tips useful, stay at home and stay healthy. This is the perfect time to invest in health and a great opportunity to define and redefine one’s health priorities!