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!
