Search Results for: fitness

June 3, 2021 By Madhu Soni 4 Comments

Fun Ways To Stay Fit At Home

While we’re again in a lockdown due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, what most of us are overlooking is the impact of this period on our health. “Sitting is the new smoking” and quite rightly so! Watch your favorite shows, movie marathons, staying glued to the cellphone can all keep you occupied but can also make you mentally and physically unfit! So here are some simple and fun ways to stay fit at home! You can try these fun workouts with your entire family, including your kids!

6 Fun Ways to Stay Fit at Home

1. Plyometrics at Home
Yes! You read it right; Plyometric Exercise can be fun with all the family members. You can place 6 water bottles in a straight line with a gap of 2 feet between them. Ask all the members to form a line begin the workouts:

Do the snake walk without touching the bottles
Jump over the bottles
Jumping over the bottles again but this time turn to your right and jump and then turn to your left and jump.
Jump over the bottles and clap your hands in the air above your shoulders.
Come in the plank position such that you are in between two bottles and your body is completely on your toes and palms. Reach till the last bottle.

2. Partner Workouts

Both the partners are facing back (touching each other’s back); one partner has a bottle of water and will pass it to the other partner by just turning his waist. At the end of 60 seconds the one who has a bottle of water in their hands is the winner.
Both the partners are facing back but this time feet are shoulder distance apart and the box of popcorns will pass by bending the back and the receiving partner too has to bend down to take it.
Lie down on the floor such that both the partners are touching each other’s feet sole. Now do cycling 20 times clockwise and anti-clockwise.

3. Hula Hoop
This is favourite among children. Besides just twisting and rotating your waist, you can also do variations like a cross over the loops without touching any body part.

4. Skipping
Skipping is a great way to keep kids and grown-ups happy and engaged. You can do partner skipping, cross skipping and reverse skipping.

5. Dancing
Dancing is also a great form of workout. We live in a land of vast dance forms, so choose your pick from Bangra to Garba to Bollywood! You can have a small dance competition amongst the family members. Encourage the use of props like sticks or chairs which will need more effort.

6. Spell your name
Just spell your name and do these workouts. You can also spell days of the week.

Image courtesy @ Brightside

Hope you enjoy these fun ways to stay fit at home with your family during quarantine. Let us know your experience or your mantra to staying fit indoors, in the comments below. For more exciting and fun home workouts, tune in to GOQii Play. For more on fitness, check out Healthy Reads.

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

Stay indoors, stay safe and #BeTheForce

May 19, 2021 By Tooney John 2 Comments

Build Your Immunity With These Antiviral Foods

Viral infections are responsible for global morbidity rates across the world. With the second wave of COVID-19 hitting the country hard, It has become an absolute necessity to focus on the treatment as well as prevention of the deadly virus. While the epidemic has already claimed more than 200,000 lives in the country, people are more aware of the immediate need to take precautions than ever before by focusing more on building one’s immunity as well as overall health. One of the key ingredients for good immunity is eating lots of antiviral foods.

Top Antiviral Foods For Good Immunity

Fruits and Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are rich in Vitamin C, B complex, Beta carotene and plant cyclotides. It reduces the risk of infection and reinfection and protects the respiratory system. So the intake of vegetables and fruits are highly recommended as a part of a balanced diet. Plant cyclotides prevent the T-cells malfunction as well. Citrus fruits like lemon, orange, mosambi are very rich in Vitamin C content. They boost immunity. All the fruits and vegetables are rich in Vitamin C. So, it is recommended to include at least 2 portions of fruits and 3 portions of vegetables in your daily diet. Green leafy vegetables provide much more vitamin C than Normal vegetables. Vitamin C also protects our body from oxidative stress.
Spices and Herbs: Garlic, tulsi, neem, basil, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper are important spices and herbs. Neem contains lots of vitamins like vitamin E, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and B complex. Curcumin, which is present in turmeric, has been used for centuries to treat various disorders. Curcumin is a natural polyphenol. Turmeric is proved to be effective against Herpes virus, Hepatitis, Chikungunya virus and dengue virus thanks to its antiviral properties. The lyophilized juice which is extracted from the ginger has been effective against Hepatitis. It reduces virus replication. Ginger also has an effect on Influenza viruses. Cinnamon is a popular spice. It contains 2 compounds – cinnamaldehyde and eugenol, which have antibacterial and antiviral properties. Studies show that the herbal extract of cloves, Eugeniin, has the ability to simplify the virus compound. Basil leaves, Garlic and Giloy also contain antiviral properties. So try to add these spices and herbs while cooking.
Dairy Products: are rich in Vitamin D which help lower viral replication, reduce the infection rate and reduce the chances of lung pneumonia. Include any one dairy product such as milk, yogurt, cheese, curd or paneer in your daily diet. As we all know, curd is a probiotic so it can enhance the gut-lung axis related respiratory fitness also.
Nuts and Seeds: are rich in immune protective phenolic compounds as well as Vitamin E, selenium and magnesium. You can add one handful of nuts in your daily diet. Brazil nuts are rich in selenium which helps to strengthen our immune system. Seeds like sunflower, sesame, pumpkin and nuts like almonds, walnuts and pecans are rich sources of vitamin E. We can use these seeds and nuts in normal form as well as powdered form and can also incorporate them with dough, batter and salads.
Dark Chocolate: contains large amounts of polyphenols and magnesium. Magnesium is involved in lots of biochemical reactions in our body. It also has anti-inflammatory benefits. For Diabetic patients, we can use sugar free dark chocolates.

Today many viruses remain without any absolute remedies and treatments and getting rid of these viruses seems hard. However, natural products and antiviral foods play a vital role in the protection against and prevention of life threatening disease.

We hope these antiviral foods help you build your immunity! Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more on building immunity, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to experts on GOQii Play.

To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, get your subscription here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/wssu

#BeTheForce

April 17, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Take The Best Route Forward! Lakshmi Ajitha Gets Healthier With GOQii

Being healthy is a consistent effort. No amount of crash dieting or overworking yourself at the gym for a few months can resolve health issues which have piled up over months and years. Many people find it difficult to follow a healthy routine. Sometimes, all you need is a little encouragement and the right guidance to get you started – something out player Lakshmi Ajitha realized through her association with GOQii!

Life Before GOQii

Lakshmi Ajitha is a 33 year old working professional from Bengaluru. She said that she’s always been on the heavier side since puberty. Post marriage, her weight only increased due to hormonal and lifestyle changes. Since the lockdown in March 2020, she only gained another 5-7kg. When someone would comment on her weight, she would turn to crash diets and quit them with zero consistency. Junk food, indulgence in sweets with no restrictions, eating out and lack of physical activities only contributed to her weight gain and slowly, all sorts of health issues such as thyroid and PCOS began creeping up on her.

In August 2020, a fitness challenge was rolled out in her company, and all who registered, received a GOQii tracker with 3 month subscription. Being someone who always lacked the inclination to do any kind of activity, she thought this might finally motivate her. So, she registered for the challenge and then there was no looking back.

Changing Habits To Improve Lifestyle

Lakshmi says though she received the tracker and had a coach assigned, she never took it seriously for at least a month. Then in October, when she was away on a 2 week vacation, there were numerous messages on her app from her Coach, expressing concern over her inactivity and not interacting with her. She felt there was someone who was really worried about her health and wished to help her.

She then had a call with her GOQii Coach Priyanka Mangla, who understood everything about her lifestyle, diet pattern and daily routine. She then slowly introduced small changes like a basic walk everyday to complete 5k steps, increasing water intake and cutting down on her tea intake from 5 cups a day to just 2 cups in a week. These changes also included avoiding maida, all kinds of processed food, reducing rice intake while increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Most importantly, her Coach taught her how to control sweet cravings which was a major challenge.

Lakshmi Ajitha says her coach never forced anything, always gave alternatives and gently guided her to the right foods. She always gave a reasoning as to why she should or shouldn’t do something. The Coach was also strict with her logging food and activity everyday.

Lakshmi says the best thing she liked about her Coach was that she appreciated even the smallest of her achievements, understood her body and suggested suitable options.

On the physical activity front, the third month saw her completing 10k steps everyday and thereafter, she was slowly introduced to basic bodyweight exercises. Sometime during December, she experienced knee pain which turned out to be OsteoArthritis. Her coach shared exercises which would not strain her knees and now the pain is very mild and only aggravates if she does any jumping activity.

Results After 6 Months Of Making a Lifestyle Change

Her weight reduced by 14kg over the last 6 months. In October and November, where her monthly cycles used to be completely unpredictable, now they have regularised and that too without any medication. Her TSH which used to hover between 7 and 12 until October last year, has come down to 1.4 when she last checked in February.

Lakshmi says what she liked about GOQii is that they focus on giving the best routes for the user rather than constantly nagging them about different plans and subscription renewals. She feels that’s the reason why she preferred to stick to GOQii rather than switch to competitors. She also finds GOQii Play as a huge repository of interesting and varied content.

In her own words, “Taking the first step is the most challenging and Priyanka did manage to break through my laziness and pulled me on the track to good health! Her concern seemed genuine and she was well qualified which further gave me the confidence to follow her instructions”.

Does Lakshmi Ajitha’s story inspire you to make a lifestyle change? Then download the GOQii App and subscribe now! To read more inspirational stories, check out Healthy Reads.

#BeTheForce

April 3, 2021 By GOQii Leave a Comment

Shreyans Ravrani Shifts From Illness to Wellness!

At the age of 38, Shreyans Ravrani led a lifestyle which wasn’t very different from the working professionals of his age group. As a Gujarati, his diet involved regular consumption of oily food and sweets, something he never realized can be detrimental to his health. He didn’t maintain portion control nor eat a balanced meal. Physical activity was almost nil and to add to it, his stress and sleep were negatively impacted due to work pressure and traveling.

He had joined GOQii in 2017 as he found the personal coaching feature appealing but did not stick to his plans or take being healthy seriously. In June 2019, Shreyans Ravrani was diagnosed with high cholesterol and fatty liver disease. He was faced with 2 options – either live with the prospect of lifelong medication or adopt a healthier lifestyle. He chose the latter and his life changed since then.

Making Positive Changes

Shreyans Ravrani realized he had to reduce his weight. He weighed 77kg with a BMI of 29. In order to get healthy, he renewed his subscription with GOQii in July 2019 and got more serious about utilizing personal coaching. He already was consulting a dietitian and he started to validate all her suggestions and inputs with his GOQii coach.

These were the changes he incorporated:

Took sugar and fried food off his diet
His breakfast included oats or idli.
For lunch, he reduced his chapatti intake to 3 and included lots of salad and buttermilk
For dinner, he mostly had soup or a light khichdi.
He stopped snacking on processed foods and shifted to fruits, roasted chana or makhana along with green tea.
He began walking for 2km every day but that wasn’t enough to burn fat. So he began running in August. Initially he felt breathless after 350m. By November, he could run 5km a day. From a strenuous activity, his running time now became his “Me-Time”.

As a Jain, he was used to fasting which helped him control his hunger pangs even as he reduced his meal portion. He says, fasting gives you mental strength and distracts you from the thought of food, which he was able to do successfully.

Levelling Up The Game!

By November 2019, Shreyans Ravrani participated in and completed his first 10k run within 65 minutes. In December 2019, he did it again but completed it in 60 minutes. He was happy that he managed to beat his previous time so quickly.

Between July – November 2019, he had reduced 14kg. Seeing this, his coach had to ask him to cut down on his running and add some strength training routine to his workout. He ensures that he completes his quota of running by spot jogging at home even during lockdown!

He regularly participates in health challenges organized by GOQii with the GOQii App from time to time including the current 30 Day Quarantine Burn Challenge.

What Does Shreyans Ravrani Have to Say About His GOQii Coach?

Shreyans is extremely thankful to his GOQii Coach for her contribution towards his transformation. He thinks the best part is that he can ask questions as and when they arise in his mind and get them answered by an expert quickly. She is also a constant motivator, following up with his habits, progress as well as guiding him in the right direction. He feels it helps when you have someone monitoring your habits and giving you timely feedback.

What Changes Does He See in Himself?

Apart from weight loss and his vitals returning to normal, he says the complete change of mindset towards health and fitness is worth it! His entire family is now more aware and diet conscious. Every member makes sure to burn off extra calories as and when they indulge.

Do you want to make a lifestyle change as well? Download the GOQii App and subscribe now.

For more inspiring user journeys, read here: https://goqii.com/blog/category/user-stories/

#BeTheForce!