Certified personal trainer and COO of Health and Fitness at Xplor Technologies Michelle Furniss gives Capsule her best five tips to keep up fitness at home if you’re looking for a motivation boost.
We’re in a weird time, with lockdown restrictions affecting people across the country, it can be easy to slip into bad fitness habits. While there is nothing more demotivating than your favourite boxing class no longer being available (because how many of us have a punching bag or similar at home!?), it is really important for your mind and body to continue to stay active however you can.
Here are my five top tips for staying active in lockdown:
- Prioritise your fitness by putting it in your calendar. Set aside an hour during your day, and commit to it. Try and keep this at a consistent time across the week if possible, so it becomes a more integral part of your routine.
- Get creative. There are so many adaptations around the house you can use to replace equipment – think bottles of milk (or wine!) or canned food as a replacement for dumbbells, use steps or stairs for a cardio workout, and ditch the treadmill for a walk or run outside.
- Stay motivated. If restrictions allow, find a buddy that you can exercise with. It can be a lot more motivating to exercise with someone and there’s nothing like a friend or partner to hold you accountable. If not, find a killer playlist, and motivate yourself with music.
- Rest days are just as important as your ‘on’ days. But if you find your motivation waning, and you’re considering taking a few extra rest days then say the week before, remember how good you felt after that last workout. Visualise that sense of accomplishment, pop on your runners and go. You’ll feel incredibly satisfied after, I guarantee it!
- Switch it up when you can and keep it fun. Try and vary your workouts so things stay fresh and it doesn’t become laborious. Keep an eye out for what your local gym or fitness centre is offering throughout this period. Lots of facilities are turning virtual, so if you can, support your local fitness centres and community by incorporating them into your routine. There are so many tools out there, like PTMinder and TrueCoach that enable fitness professionals to assign workout plans, nutrition plans and record workouts remotely, so that everyone can remain fit wherever they are.
