Six alternative at-home workouts for lockdown

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Like millions of others at New Year, you may have committed yourself to getting fit. However, with many of us confined to our homes due to COVID-19 and a national lockdown preventing us from visiting the gym, we may be struggling to get active. God knows we are!

That’s why we spoke to the experts at Shakti Himalaya who outline some ways to keep fit when you’re stuck indoors. Their tips go beyond standard home workout ideas and expand on daily activities you may already be doing to get fit.

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Who cares if you look like a fool at home?

Virtual Workouts

As our real-world environment is hindered due to COVID-19, why not try virtual reality (VR)? This technology lets you explore and interact with virtual worlds just by wearing a headset. VR can be a surprisingly physical activity, and many have even heralded virtual reality games as ‘exercising by accident’.

Anytime we’ve played virtual reality games, we’ve really worked up a sweat. You might be exploring a made up universe, but your body is still working hard. Whether it be a supernatural, action experience or physical boxing, VR is ridiculously good for relieving lockdown boredom and getting your sweat on. We all know just how badly we need to escape the real world right now – why not get fit at the same time?

Get yourself a walking desk

Sitting all day raises the risk of major health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity. As so many of us are working from home, the daily commute has been eradicated from our lives and we are sitting all day more than ever before.

If you spend more than a few hours per day sitting at a desk at home, an active workstation may be helpful, especially if you find it hard to take breaks. Consider investing in a walking desk – a treadmill and desk combined to get you moving while you’re working. Alternatively, walk around the room as you talk on the phone and take regular breaks every 30 minutes to stretch. Just don’t sit still all day.

Make your own fitness videos

When we think of home workouts, most of us think to watch fitness videos by popular vloggers. But why not film your very own home workout? Even if it is for your eyes only, recording your workout will help you examine your posture and position better during exercise. Once you have the correct form, you can teach others and demonstrate the best ways to stretch, build core strength and prevent muscle strains.

You never know, this hobby may become an active revenue stream if you upload the videos on YouTube, or simply remain as a fun way to improve on your existing workout skills. Personally, we’d do all we can to make sure no one saw us sweating on a yoga mat in the living room – thank technology for private folders on your phone. That’s exactly where our videos would go!

Housework

Clutter free homes lead to clutter free minds (at least that’s what our mum said), which is why it is so important to stay on top of housework. But did you know that you can burn some serious calories by keeping up with your regular chores?  In particular, polishing, vacuuming, dusting, mopping and sweeping are great for keeping arms shapely, whilst doing the laundry can improve your flexibility.

Research shows that planting in your garden for just half an hour can burn 243 calories and mowing the lawn can burn approximately 209 calories. So next time you are feeling stressed and de-energised, push the vacuum cleaner around every room and take out your garden tools.

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We always work up a proper sweat when changing the sheets!

K- Kardio

K-pop (Korean Pop) is a fast growing genre of music originating in South Korea. Making use of melodies that get instantly stuck in your head, Jessica Lim has coined the phrase K-Kardio by combining these catchy tunes with her very own home workouts. Featuring trendy dance moves associated with the famous K-Pop girl and boy bands, all you have to do is pick your favourite song, learn the moves and workout with Jessica.

Use your smart speaker as a personal trainer

Do you miss being yelled out by your fitness instructor? Or at least gently encouraged? We are definitely missing the motivation to push harder when working out at home. And while you can try streamed classes, a cheaper and easier way to get similar effects, is to use your smart speaker.

The two most popular options include Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa. However, there are plenty of smart speaker options available with fitness related integrations. Alongside guided workouts, you can use your smart speaker to set timers for reps, reminders to work-out daily and use voice commands to control the music playing during your workout.

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