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Easy Home Workouts To Keep You Active!

easy home workouts

While India is slowly unlocking from a close to 4 months of lockdown, it brings with it a little scare and susceptibility to contract the virus. In my case, I’ve made a point to stay physically active within the 4 walls of my apartment. Initially, it was difficult to balance it along with household chores but gradually, the importance of exercise to keep this COVID anxiety and depression at bay, dawned on me. I’ve managed to chalk out some easy home workouts to ensure that getting fit never gets boring. 

Easy Home Workouts To Get Active Indoors 

  • Virtual Workouts: We’re social animals and right about now, that’s what we miss the most. Here, you can kill two birds with one stone. Create virtual workout groups with friends or distant family members via Zoom or Meet. It will not only help you connect with your family and friends but will also keep you fit and active. 
  • Dance Fitness: You don’t have to be a great dancer or know all the moves. All you need is music and your feet! Along with family members, this dance party can keep you healthy! It’s an excellent workout which helps burn extra calories.
  • Barre: This form is quite a different routine from the regular bodyweight exercises. It’s a form of workout inspired by movements from Ballet. Don’t worry, you don’t need Ballet classes to attempt Barre. You can do this at home without any special equipment. A simple dining chair for support and water bottles for weights will suffice. It’s a great blend of cardio, strength training, flexibility, balance and core conditioning. 
  • Stair Circuit: In my society, as people were barred from going out, our staircase was unused for days. So I took it up as my next workout. As the name suggests, walking up and down the stairs as a warm up, followed by a circuit routine of stair pushups, squats to step, steps up, tricep dips with variations in each for the next set. 

I hope these easy home workouts help you add some flavor to your routine. Before you begin, ensure that you’re doing some of these easy home workouts with the correct form and posture. If you’re stuck, you can tune in to GOQii Play and look for sessions on Dance Fitness, Barre Workouts and Stair Workouts as well as join LIVE classes by experts on GOQii Pro within the GOQii App! To read more on fitness, lifestyle and nutrition, you can check out Healthy Reads. 

You can also check with your GOQii Coach for more variations on home workouts by subscribing to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

How are you keeping fit at home? Let us know in the comments below! 

#BeTheForce 

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Working From Home? 5 Simple Stretches You Must Do!

5 simple stretchesWith more of us working from home now, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s bound to be excessive hours where we’re seated and glued to work, chasing tight deadlines. Long sitting hours can have detrimental repercussions on our health like stiffness in the back, shoulder, knees, ankles and low circulation leading to low metabolism as well to name a few. While the work from home routine is here to stay for a while, these aches and pains can be avoided or resolved through simple stretching. It’s like an antidote to combat the ill effects of continuous sitting. So if your chair has held you hostage long enough, here are 5 simple stretches you can do to keep yourself healthy. 

5 Simple Stretches To Do While Working From Home 

1. Chest Opener
How this helps: Extended sitting time can weaken the spine and cause dropping shoulders. This reduces upper back and neck stiffness.
How to do it: Stand with feet shoulder distance apart, firmly hold a towel or scarf with both hands behind your back. Slowly raise your arms up as far as you can and stretch your shoulders while doing this.

2. Downward Dog PoseDownward Dog
How this helps: This stretch provides relief from back ache and strengthens the arms and legs. It energizes the body and helps to reduce fatigue.
How to do it: Stand tall with both hands up in the air, bend down to touch the palms on the floor without bending the knees. The hands should be shoulder distance apart. The feet should be flat on the ground and gaze at your navel.

3. Back Bend Stretchback bend stretch - 5 simple stretches
How this helps: This helps with better posture and supports the back muscles.
How to do it : Stand tall  with feet shoulder distance apart and clasp your hands above your head and stretch back. For greater level of stretch, you can place your palms on the wall while stretching backwards and look up at the ceiling.

4. Glute BridgeGlute Bridge - 5 simple stretches
How this helps: This reduces lower back pain, provides a good stretch to the hamstring and activates the glutes.
How to do it: Lie on the mat on your back, legs folded at 90 degrees and feet firmly placed on the floor. Now lift your hips from the floor till your lower back is above ground. Hold on and gently come down.

5. Reclining Back BendReclining back bend
How this helps: It stretches the shoulders, chest and abdomen. It also strengthens the spine and soothes the sciatica nerve.
How to do it: Lie down on your stomach, with palms placed firmly on the ground next to your chest. Lift your upper body till the navel and look at the ceiling.

That’s it! That’s all you need to do. You can try these 5 simple stretches while taking a break from work. You can do these anywhere! We hope this article helps you and you try these stretches. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you feel like sharing these stretches, take a video, upload it on your social media channels and tag us! 

For more on fitness and home workouts, check out Healthy Reads or join our fitness experts on GOQii Play or get your pass for a LIVE GOQii PRO workout class – all within the GOQii App. 

To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu  

#BeTheForce  

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Overcome Hurdles to Home Workouts

hurdles to home workoutsWith most of us working from home and no options to go out to gyms/parks for our daily workouts, it can become challenging to stay motivated, to do regular workouts at home. No matter what your current situation, home is the best place to do a workout right now! If you are finding it difficult to set a routine, are not motivated enough, or don’t know how to keep yourself active, here some solutions to overcome the hurdles to home workouts! 

Solutions to Overcome Hurdles to Home Workouts 

1. Lack of Time
How many times have you thought of working out and suddenly you realise you’re running out of time and you tend to skip it altogether? Most of us are under the impression we need to exercise for at least 60-90 minutes for it to be effective. But the truth is that we can get good results with workouts like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), even if you have 15 to 30 minutes with you. You exercise with your maximum effort for 15-20 minutes, and get better results than a moderate intensity workout that you would have done for twice as long! You’ll build a leaner, stronger physique, and your routines will always feel fresh.

It’s always better to know your schedule for the day and squeeze workouts based on that schedule. If you have online meetings/ conference calls, lined up for the day, do a workout early in the morning or late evening. If you couldn’t do that, you could probably eat lunch while you work and utilize the lunch time to do a sprint workout or HIIT session in your living room.

2. Lack of Equipment/Heavy Weights
Most of us who are used to working out at the gym do not find it fulfilling or don’t get the “kick” when not able to lift the heavy gym machinery or weights. To our surprise, you can get comparable results if you can use your own body weight correctly as we do in Yoga, pilates or simple exercises like push ups, pull ups, lunges, etc. Alternatively, if you have a set of resistance bands or even a set of water bottles, it can be effectively used for weight training as well. Use your treadmill, Static cycle or resort to spot jogging/ running, skipping etc , for your cardio workout.

 3. Lack of Motivation
It is very natural to lose motivation and this can become one of your biggest hurdles to home workouts. There are days you just don’t feel like it, you’re either too tired, too bored or just want to relax. If this is happening too regularly, you need to work on developing your – Instigation Habit! These are simple habits or cues that give signals to the body that it is time for a workout. For eg- ringing of the alarm, getting into workout attire, placing your mat on the floor, etc. Stick to a fixed schedule for a few days (Monday to Friday), either first thing in the morning or in the evening and by the end of the third week, your body will automatically crave to get into action and this will keep you motivated.

It is important to keep changing your style of workout. Doing the same workout over and over becomes boring and stale for your mind and muscles. Not only do you lose motivation, you may not get the desired results as well. So look for variety, watch and follow online classes, there are so many options available, these days. Don’t forget to reward yourself from time to time but avoid indulging too much. 

 4. Too Many Distractions at Home
There are so many more distractions at home than there are in a gym or an outdoor environment. You’re constantly being tempted to watch television and if you start a series, you will not realise where the time has flown. You may even have to check your emails, finish household chores and all this leaves you with no energy and time to do a workout. Here is when you ought to be disciplined and exercise some self control. Do not start your day with checking your phone and switching on the TV. It’s always better to complete your workout first thing in the morning. But if you are really obsessed, you can put on your favourite show and do a cardio workout or complete a bodyweight circuit during that time. And if you have a treadmill or a stationary bike, no excuse to sit down and watch TV, keep moving on the machine!

5. Lack of Knowledge
When you train randomly, you get random results. Set a goal and work towards achieving it and if you are not too sure, seek professional advice from a fitness expert, or watch online videos/ join classes and build a roadmap to your fitness journey. The lockdown has brought the entire world together and there is nothing that you cannot gain knowledge about, be it your workout routine – Setting a goal, planning, execution, type of workouts that interest you and will suit your fitness goal.

The hurdles we create for ourselves are often the most difficult to overcome. I hope this article helps you overcome your hurdles to home workouts and you will make full use of the time you have in hand to improve your fitness levels!

If you’re confused where and how to start, tune in to our fitness experts and join their LIVE sessions on GOQii Play. You can also read more about fitness on Healthy Reads. 

Stay home, stay safe, get active and #BeTheForce

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Turn Everyday Chores Into Workouts

chores into workoutsSocial distancing can be really hard and not being able to burn all those calories while lying around at home is just unfair. Many of us don’t have any exercise equipment at home, so it’s all the more difficult to get a good workout. Well, a great way to kill two birds with one stone is to turn your daily chores into workouts. 

If you haven’t seen it already, our GOQii Play coaches did a fine job of turning some of their chores into workouts. You can find those videos on our social media pages but for now, let’s see how we can turn household chores into workouts! 

  1. Sweeping & Mopping: Tune in to music and turn up the heat! Grab that mop and start dance cleaning like some good ol’ cliché in a movie, yes? NO! Instead throw away that mop, get down on your fours with a washcloth and start scrubbing those tiles. Now, this is where the gut wrenching part comes in. So all done yet? Well, Congratulations! You have successfully burnt 145 calories per 15 minutes. And for sweeping you don’t need a vacuum cleaner! Use a broom for that extra burn! 
  2. Cooking: Considering the fact  that you are on a preventive healthcare platform, I assume that you are not on any fast, pre-cooked or any kind of junk food. If you aren’t then it is good for you, especially in this situation it’s good for you 2X times! As working on a good home cooked meal can help you vaporise 75 calories including all the cutting, pounding, whisking, stirring etc.
  3. Dish Washing: Now that we have gone through the gut-wrenching part, let me introduce you to the back-bending section. Washing the dishes is a comparatively peaceful activity and needs to be done with a peaceful mind. Although you wouldn’t notice your stiff back until you are done with your chore. It is completely worth it when you finish your washing and crash on your sofa having burnt a total of 100-120 calories within 30 minutes. But don’t worry about your stiff back; it’s just your lazy muscles bent over the sink continuously.
  4. Laundry: Doing the laundry will never feel the same once you know of its health benefits. You can burn up to 78 calories in one hour by just loading and unloading the washing machine, including hanging up the clothes for drying, which equals to 50 sit-ups. Those who prefer washing clothes by hand, you’ll be surprised to know that you can burn anywhere between 100 to 220 calories in 30 minutes. Besides, your arms will get toned from all that scrubbing, rinsing and twirling. Squat while washing clothes, your quads and calves will get a good workout too. 
  5. Ironing: With laundries in lockdown, you’re going to have to iron clothes yourself. There are some perks in it! Apart from burning 60 calories in  20 minutes, it tones your biceps. Also, note that standing rather than sitting while ironing your clothes will help you burn calories as well as wake those core muscles.

Now that you have read how you can turn your household chores into workouts, you’re all set for a healthy lockdown. You can help us a little by sharing these tips to your close ones and also by letting us know your thoughts in the comments below! 

If you want an extra burn, you can also try these 5 workouts you can do at home.

Stay home, stay safe, get active and #BeTheForce! 

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