Keep Fit At Home – Five Top Tips!

The Fitness Situation – Exercise in Covid-19

So, your gym is shut and your group sporting activities are banned. Nothing immediately springs to mind as a fun way to keep fit. You’re missing your usual activities, but even more, you’re missing the social side of life. And as much as you’re reluctant to admit it, you’ve surprised yourself by realising you even miss going to work. Your wine / beer consumption has been gradually creeping up (naturally, it passes the time!) and life has become an online mix of drama series and comedy. Or is that just me? 😀

Well, that’s all well and good for a few days, but then what?

When A Dream Becomes A Nightmare…

There was a time when we might have dreamt of an existence where we got paid for not working. Additionally, we’ve even got a “good excuse” not to exercise. But the reality is probably less enjoyable than we imagined. The current restrictions have probably hit most of us harder than we were prepared for. So, uncertainty about the future and a lack of routine and purpose to the day can either take its toll on you, or you can make a conscious decision now to keep one vital thing constant in all the craziness…

Yep, I’m talking about your health. Ultimately, this is the most important thing you can have. Forget money, as without health, it is pointless. Other than its potential power to buy the treatment to return to health – but this is not always possible and prevention is better than cure.

Whilst physical health is important, the perhaps underestimated risk of extended lockdowns to many people is the effect on mental health. It’s old news that the advantages of exercise are not limited to physical benefits, but also to mental well-being. That’s right – physical exercise helps mental health! So instead of letting your body go, with your self-esteem and mood potentially going downhill at similar rate, let’s come up with a plan to keep fit at home.

I’ve compiled these five tips which have helped me. If you’re ready and willing to take responsibility for maintaining your health, regardless of obstacles, then read on!

1. Plan Exercise Times and Stick To Them

Decide now which days and at what times you’ll exercise. Just because other aspects of your daily routine might not be applicable at the moment, doesn’t mean it all needs to fall by the wayside. Having a purpose to the day and goals to achieve is fundamental to health. Remember that feel-good factor you get after a good workout? Knowing you’ve challenged yourself and maintained, or better still, improved your fitness? Let’s prioritise that now and decide how many times a week and when. Ideally, this will be the same frequency as before, if you’re fit. Otherwise at least three times a week, if you’re new to exercise.

2. What Can You Do?

Venue and Equipment

Things to think about are what equipment you have and could use to exercise at home. Which is your biggest room? Do  you have an outdoor area you can exercise in (garden area or park if allowed)?

If there’s something you particularly want to do, are you happy to buy equipment online? If so, how long will it take to arrive and what will you do in the meantime? Equipment being delayed in the post is no more a reason not to exercise than governments shutting down gyms. You are responsible for your health, not governments, not Royal Mail and not DHL. By and large, the only thing that could stop you from exercising today is you.

Some Ideas

Walking, running and bodyweight exercises are options for most of us. Is now a good time to invest in a bike? (Be sure to learn a bit about maintenance and puncture repair while you’re at it!)

But this needn’t be expensive. If you’re prepared to invest a little money into enabling doing a lot of exercises to keep fit at home, the first thing you might consider investing is a good quality yoga mat. I found having a mat is the single most useful piece of equipment there is, as it opens up a whole host of exercise options.

 

Other possibilities are resistance bands, a TRX, kettlebells, weights, or other gym toys. See below for my shop page!

To read my story of how I kept fit at home during covid 19 click here.

If you need an extra motivational boost, treat yourself to some new workout gear. There’s nothing like the power of a new wardrobe to kickstart the motivation.

For all of this, check out the Global Gym Bunny Shop:

 

Check Out the Global Gym Bunny Shop Here!

3. What Will You DO? Exercise At Home

Enjoyment

Equipment aside, focus on what forms of exercise you enjoy. Naturally, finding exercise you enjoy is the best way to stay motivated and do it regularly. Not only the type of exercise, but would you be happier taking a class online or exercising alone? If you’re up for online classes, think about if you want to do them live (where you, the instructor and other participants can all see each other). Or would you simply prefer to watch the class without anyone directly observing you?

If your new schedule is going to work, it needs to be appealing to keep you motivated.

Above all, remember that it’s taking the first step that’s the hardest. Once you’ve got a couple of workouts under your belt in your new regime, the new exercise routine will already start to feel like habit. Easy. A little effort now will go along way.

4. Remember the Power of Positivity

This is one of the most challenging times to remain positive. Apart from dealing with your own uncertainties and sacrifices, you’re probably having to deal with significant others’ challenges and struggles too. Don’t let yourself get sucked into a negative downward spiral. Life is divided into things we can control and things we can’t. Allowing ourselves to spend too much time thinking about things beyond our control is very unhealthy. Likewise, allowing other people to drag you down isn’t going to help you.

Direct Your Thoughts… 

So, instead of thinking about the type of exercise you used to be able to do and can’t now, stop and focus on what you can do to stay fit at home. Falling into a trap of self pity is not going to keep you physically or mentally healthy. Let’s be pragmatic and direct your energies into how you can improve your situation and take control of your health today – exercise in covid-19.

Additionally, maintain social contact online or by phone with people who make you feel good. Interactions should be mutually supportive, as opposed to bringing each other down. Easier said than done. Identifying which friends and family have a positive effect on your mood is a good indicator of how much contact you might want to have with them. Reducing or increasing contact with relevant loved ones accordingly might be more of a challenge. 😉

5. Thinking of The Future – Keep Fit At Home

The key to staying fit at home is staying positive. It works both ways – stay mentally positive and you’re more likely to be motivated to exercise. In exercising, the associated feel good factor will help you keep a positive mental state in challenging times.

One day, we’ll all wake up and covid-19 will be a thing of the past. Or at least the global fixation on it will be. Whether it peters out, or we get a vaccine, one day life will resume normality, borders will open and we’ll all be able to travel freely again – yippee! I write this from my lockdown home in Ho Chi Minh, where already, things have been gradually opening for over a month.

The question is, are you ready?

Where will you go next and how will you treat yourself? We all need something to look forward to once the pandemic is over. Now we’ve got the time to thoroughly research our options. In line with point 4, it’s so important to have something positive to focus on. Check out this deal on Lonely Planet below and get planning!

Want To Know How I Kept Fit At Home?

Check out my story of how to Keep Fit in Covid-19.
And take a peek at the Global Gym Bunny Shop for original designs!

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