Search Results for: workout

July 12, 2021 By Mubasheera Chaiwala Leave a Comment

How To Create A Full Body Workout At Home!

It has been over a year since I wasn’t able to visit the gym or go for my swimming classes. To continue being active, I had to plan a full body workout at home! A full body workout can provide overall toning and help you achieve your goal – whether the goal is to gain strength or to lose weight! A full body workout doesn’t require any machines so it’s a routine you can follow anywhere.

How You Can Plan A Full Body Workout At Home

To begin with, I divided my workout into three parts – Stretching, Abs and Cardio. Let’s see why these are important.

1. Stretching
There are many benefits of stretching regularly. It not only increases your flexibility but also corrects posture, reduces stress and body ache. I believe this is a must during a lockdown, especially for individuals working at home as continuous sitting hours affect posture drastically. So stretching should be an important part of your routine. Stretching before a workout prepares the muscles for an activity. It improves performance, blood circulation, blood flow to the muscles and reduces muscle soreness.

Types of Stretching include:

Dynamic: Usually done before an exercise to get your muscles ready for movement
Static: Done after exercise to reduce risk of injury

Stretching exercises include: neck stretches/rotation, shoulder stretch, arm stretch, chest stretch, stretching your wrists, standing stretch, ankle flex, etc.

2. Core Strengthening
After getting in a few good stretches, I begin with core strengthening because with long sitting hours, I’ve observed my belly growing in size. To curb that, my full body workout also includes core strengthening.

Abdominals or Abs are that part of the body which help in generating power for functional movements. To avoid injuries that may occur from day to day activities, it is very important to keep the core of the body strong and flexible.

There are varied benefits of core strengthening. It is not just about reducing belly fat. Some of the benefits of training your core include:

Balance and stability to the body
Improved posture
Helps in alleviating back ache
Better performance in sports and related game activities
Strong core is very important for women during pregnancy
A strong core minimizes the chances of injury caused by undue stress on some parts of the body
Core strengthening leads to muscle strengthening and this, in turn, leads to bone strengthening

Some simple exercises for core strengthening include:

Forward Crunches
Reverse Crunches
Bridge
Plank variations- Front plank, side planks, plank walk
Air cycling
Leg pull-in/push-out

3. Cardio

Eventually, I increase the intensity of my workout by including a few cardio exercises. Cardio exercises are aerobic exercises of long duration (more than 3 minutes at a stretch). It works on your cardiovascular strength (heart health), stamina and muscular endurance. Examples of these exercises are walking, brisk walking, jogging, running, swimming, cycling, stair climbing, etc. In lockdown or while self-quarantining, I include spot jogging, spot cycling, jumping jacks, march pass and stair climbing to my daily routine.

Few Things To Keep In Mind While Planning Your Routine

Workouts should be developed around a person’s age, goals, nutritional strategy, free time, etc.
How much time can you devote to exercise? If you can do an hour a day, that’s fantastic. But maybe you have a wife or husband, three kids, a dog, two jobs, and no robot butler… then maybe you only have thirty minutes, twice a week.
Break up your workout! According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), if you accumulate three 10-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day to a total 30 mins of exercise, then that is as effective as someone who does one 30 mins bout of exercise

How to Build a Full Body Workout?

Now comes the tricky part—putting all this together.

Full-body workouts should be fairly simple! Always begin with a dynamic warm-up and finish with a cooldown.
Add a variety to your exercise routine by including one new exercise every week to avoid boredom
As a beginner, you can start your full body workout slowly and once you get used to the routine, you can increase the intensity for better results.
Rest is also required to ensure complete recovery of the body. So do not forget to give one day rest to your body – it deserves that!

Finally, the favourite that I never miss doing is Surya Namaskar! At least 1-10 rounds depending on my workout. Surya Namaskar postures are a good blend of warm-ups, asanas and burn out. It helps to tone and shape the body and it also improves body function, improves flexibility, strengthens muscles and helps beat stress. Add this to your routine to stay active always and it’s best done in the morning hours.

Hope this article helps you plan and create a full body workout at home. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to live classes on GOQii PRO where our experts will guide you on correct form, posture and make sure that you are guided well and motivated. You can book a class now from the GOQii App.

To get these workouts and tips directly from your GOQii Coach, sign up for personalized coaching now: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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May 29, 2021 By Mrinali Dwivedi 4 Comments

Pre & Post Workout Shots You Can Try At Home

Whether you’re working out indoors or outdoors, hydration is imperative throughout a workout and especially before and after! Since you’ve been working out at home all this while, here’s how you can improve your hydration game to the optimum benefits on your performance and outcomes of exercising with these pre & post workout shots!

Pre & Post Workout Shots For Home!

1. Shot of Beetroot Juice for Pre Workout
Beetroot Juice is a supplement with a high nitrate content, that is said to improve physical performance secondary to nitric oxide, which is a component of human blood that helps dilate your blood vessels and aid faster blood circulation, as to provide greater oxygen supply. Supplementation or dietary ingestion of nitrates is known to reduce oxygen requirements during exercise and reduce VO2 max (which indicates better stamina). In measures of time taken to reach exhaustion, beetroot juice showed an association with a fatigue delay effect and exercise performance enhancement.

A short term supplementation with beetroot juice may reduce VO2, giving an ergogenic effect, at less than or equal to VO2 max intensity that makes it possible to enable increased time-to-exhaustion. In addition to improving efficiency and performance, chronic supplementation with beetroot juice may improve cardiorespiratory performance as well. Consumption of Beetroot juice should be initiated in a period of 90 minutes before athletic effort, since the peak value of nitrates occurs within 2-3 hour after ingestion. At least 6-8 mmol of nitrate i.e. juice of 5 medium sized beetroots intake is required to observe an improvement in athletic performance.

2. Shot of Amla Juice for Post Workout
Amla Juice is a reservoir of Vitamin C and essential electrolytes that are of utmost importance for post workout recovery. Post workout is an immunocompromised state where the body is concentrating more on muscle recovery and storage. This makes it imperative to supplement with immune boosting nutrients and electrolytes that may be lost due to sweating, right after a workout session.

Supplementing with amla juice has shown to reduce infection rate in athletes and heavy working out individuals. It also lowers down duration of muscle soreness significantly, which aids early mitigation of muscle cramps. Vitamin C being an antioxidant, reduces inflammation in the body, which is a common after effect of exercising. Chronic supplementation with amla juice is shown to build stronger immunity and improve gut health as well as strengthening the respiratory system.

Intake of amla juice should be initiated within 20 minutes of finishing physical activity as that is when the recovery and restorative activities of the body begin. Juice of 4 medium sized amlas ensures the supply of adequate amounts of Vitamin C and electrolytes.

We hope these pre & post workout shots help you get the most out of your exercises! Do let us know your experience in the comments below. For more on workout out and fitness, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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

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February 22, 2021 By Mariam Hussain 2 Comments

Can You Workout On An Empty Stomach?

Up until a few years back, it was considered a very risky practice to eat before swimming. Fortunately, this theory has been proven wrong. For any activity, be it swimming, cycling, running/jogging or strength training, on an empty stomach the fat does burn at a faster rate but the energy reserves will only last for a short span of time. Lesser energy = less intense training. Hence, the workout will also last for a short period and there might also be a greater risk of strains and other injuries due to exercise related fatigue. Working out on an empty stomach also increases the chances of overeating post workout, thus, all the benefits of the workout will be lost.

Why You Shouldn’t Workout On An Empty Stomach

The main reason for having something before a workout is to make sure there is constant energy from the start to the end of the workout. The body does not need a large meal, it can even be a small carb rich snack to kick start the metabolism. Carbs are easily digestible and quickly provide energy. Proteins and Fats also provide energy, but not as quickly and as much as carbs. Hence, the best thing to have is a carb source. If it’s a large meal, it has to be taken 2-4 hours prior to the workout. If it’s a small snack, it can be taken 15-30 mins before the activity.

Some examples of a small pre-workout snacks are:

Banana or any other fruit
2 dates along with some nuts
Fresh fruit juice
Vegetable salad (small bowl of non-gaseous veggies)
2 Slices of bread with peanut butter

Post workout, muscles are tired and fatigued and need some proteins as well as some carbs. Here, proteins will help in repairing the worn and torn tissues and strengthening muscles, whereas carbs will help replenish the energy reserves. One can choose to have a meal if it’s meal time or opt for some snacks post workout. But, we should always make sure there is at least one source of protein in the meal.

Some examples of post workout snack include:

A glass of skimmed milk
Boiled egg whites
Boiled grams/Chana chaat/ Chole/Rajma
Sprouts
Oatmeal
Sattu drink
Besan cheela
Boiled/Grilled chicken or Fish
Yogurt (sugar and fat free) with choice of fruits and nuts

In conclusion, intake of food before and after workout is favourable to maintain better health and fitness. However, there are no specific rules for sports nutrition. If your goal is extensive weight loss and working out on an empty stomach works for you, then do what’s best and listen to your body. Also, make sure that you’re hydrated. For proper guidance on nutrition and fitness, subscribe to personalized coaching by visiting www.goqii.com or the GOQii Health Store within the GOQii App. To read more on workouts and fitness, check out Healthy Reads!

We hope this article helps you. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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January 11, 2021 By Aruna Bhatia Leave a Comment

5 Biggest Workout Mistakes You Need To Avoid

The importance of good exercise is known to us all. Some of the benefits of regular exercise include improved heart health, bone and muscle strength, improved immunity, better digestion and sleep among others. But let’s also throw some light on five basic and common workout mistakes that most of us usually make while beginning on an exercise regime.

5 Workout Mistakes To Avoid

1. Ignoring Warm Up and Skipping Cool Down
A warm up routine increases blood flow to our muscles. It’s purpose is to prevent injuries by increasing core and muscle temperature. A good warm up also increases the range of motion. In its absence, we may place unnecessary strain on our heart and lungs, risking injury. It’s the same when we skip a post workout cool down. Cool down allows body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate to return to normal, reducing the chances of fainting and dizziness. Also, cool down stretches allow the muscles to stretch and relax.

2. Being Inconsistent
People are very enthusiastic at the beginning of a new workout regime and with this enthusiasm, they tend to go too fast and burn out. Instead, one should progress slowly and gradually, starting with exercises that are suitable and aligned to their current fitness level. It’s important to maintain consistency.

3. Not Getting Enough Sleep
Sleep is majorly underestimated. A good six to eight hours of sleep doesn’t just energize your body but also helps muscle growth, recovery, strengthening the immune system and virtually all aspects of health. It definitely is worth adjusting your schedule for.

4. Not Analysing Progress The Right Way
Not monitoring and listening to your body cues is probably the biggest workout mistake you can make. Always keep a tab on checking body part measurements as muscle growth may not be visible on a scale. Paying attention to how you feel throughout your workouts and checking results will make your workout more effective and meaningful.

5. Improper Hydration
In an hour of exercises, the body loses almost one fourth of its water content. This may lead to muscle fatigue due to lactic acid build up as well as cramps. One should be careful not to drop hydration levels and take small sips of water between workouts as well as pre and post workout. Drinking enough water (2.5-3 liters a day) helps in better absorption of protein, vitamins and minerals from food.

We hope this article helps you avoid these common workout mistakes. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on fitness and workouts, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play.

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