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5 Simple Exercises You Can Do At Home

simple exercisesAmid the Coronavirus pandemic, social distancing and self-quarantine are in full swing. With everyone locking themselves up indoors, The activity levels have seen a considerable drop. Social distancing has resulted in a 51% drop in step count in the first 15 days of march 2020 according to a recent real time data study of 5 lakh users using GOQii Trackers. This drop in percentage is only likely to increase in the coming days as the fear of spread of this deadly virus is only increasing by the day. However, don’t let the lockdown make you fall into the recesses of a sedentary lifestyle. Get back up and get active at home with these 5 simple exercises!

Start Your Day Right With These 5 Simple Exercises

1.Push Ups: A great upper body exercise to begin your day. Start with lying down in a prone position, place your arms with your palms facing the floor shoulder width apart. Bend elbows and upper body to do a Push Up. Repeat the push ups for 8-10 reps.

2. Balancing Table Pose: This pose is perfect for improving balance, posture, concentration and memory. Start with a kneel down position, while breathing, lift your left arm and adjacent right leg parallel to the floor and exhale, hold for 30secs. Repeat with the other hand and leg. Do this for 5-7 repetitions on each side.

3. Butt-Kickers: As the name suggests, it is simply kicking your Glute (Butt) muscles. Start by standing with your feet about hip distance apart, bring your right leg behind your buttock contracting the hamstring muscles, and touch your Glutes with your right leg,  repeat the same with your left leg. Continue doing it by alternating the legs. Do it for about a minute and repeat the exercise for 3 sets.

4. Wall Sits:Start with sitting against a wall with your back supported by the wall and your feet about 2 feet apart from the wall. Sit in such a position that thighs are parallel to the ground forming a 90 degree angle. Hold the position for 60secs. Repeat for 3 sets. Great exercise for the core muscles, Glutes. Quadriceps and Hamstrings. It is a fantastic lower body workout.

5. Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation: We all know it, we all have heard about it. It is one of the most impactful and easiest full body stretches to loosen those tight muscles and to energize the body instantly.

Start with a standing position with hands in Namaskar position, bend backwards with hands still in namaskar position, breathing out, bend forward touching the toes, Breathing in, push your right leg back, as far back as possible. Bring the right knee to the floor and look up. Then while breathing take the left leg behind and form a straight line. Gently bring down your knees and let the chest, chin, hands, feet touch the floor with the hips slightly raised, then slide forward and do a Cobra pose, lift your body and bring yourself in an inverted V pose, then  bring the right knee forward in between the two hands, left knee should be on the floor and press the hips down and look up. 

After this pose, get into the standing forward bend position, and then breathing in, roll up the spine. Raise the hands up and bend backward a little bit, pushing the hips slightly outward. And finally end it with the starting position of a standing Namaste. Start off with 5 repetitions of this exercise everyday to yield benefits.

We hope this article on 5 simple exercises helps you stay fit at home. For more home workouts, tune in to fitness experts on GOQii Play. 

#BeTheForce 

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From couch to running Marathons

 

rajneesh-Active sunday player

It has been rightly said that you will never achieve your goal if you never try. And, this is exactly what Rajneesh Sharma of Hyderabad has experienced. Rajneesh was lazy and how and had no control over his food habits. He weighed 98kgs and had no exercise routine. Weekends were all about being lazier. Rajneesh Kumar Sharma from Hyderabad felt there was an urgent need to reverse his life but, did not know where and how to start. Last year mid-October it began with him joining the GOQii platform. He was introduced to being disciplined in life, eating right, sleeping on time, exercising etc and the direct impact of all this was that his health got better. His weight dropped to 85 kgs and from being a lazy person sitting on the couch, he is today a very active person. He works out 5 days a week. From not being able to run even for 1 minute, Rajneesh now runs 7 km in 34 minutes. His weekends are also active. His life is reversed for the better. Now Rajneesh aspires to be fitter. He is more active now on weekends as well and Sunday mornings he looks forward to attending the Active Sunday. He says, it is not about just exercising and being active on a Sunday morning, it’s also about meet and talk to people from different lifestyles and listen to their stories and get motivated. Rajneesh has started participating in various Runs organized in Hyderabad. He is happy about the fact that people around him have noticed a lot of change in him.

His fitness message to all is “Don’t give up. Nothing comes easy in life, you have to sweat it out”.

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To enjoy a good and healthy life in the future, one must exercise

Kartik Aknur

If you are not a morning person, getting up for any reason-leave alone for a workout that too on a Sunday morning can be a terrible ordeal but, for Kartik Aknur from Bengaluru, it’s a refreshing change to wake up early and go for a group workout session.

Karthik Aknur credits GOQii for his change and him achieving his health and fitness goals. He has been exercising for the last 5 years but, to no avail. His weight never changed and he was not mindful of his eating habits. Having a personal coach who through her constant monitoring and guidance helped him bring about a discipline in his food habits and daily fitness activities. The results were there for all to see-Karthik lost 10 kgs in 6 months. His daily step count currently varies from 10000 to 12000 steps daily. The one aspect that comes out clearly is one cannot achieve their health goals if they are not disciplined and self-motivated. Karthik’s idea of going for a community workout session on a Sunday morning is to meet with other active and fit people. According to him, it’s a good way to learn new exercises, meet people from varied walks of life and break the monotonous exercise regime that he was following. His message to all is, “Nature has created this fantastic concept called LIFE. Respect your body, feed it only when it is required. Be cautious in your food intake with regular exercise”.

 

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Being Active on a Sunday

 active sunday on the beach

Active Sunday on a beach 

Sunday’s are generally considered the day to laze around. But, did you know that it is actually the first day of the week and not the last day. Yes! You heard me right Sundays are the first day of the week. Hence, being active on the first day of the week keeps you going for the rest of the week.

GOQii introduced the concept of ‘Active Sunday’ 3 years ago. In Active Sunday, GOQii players are invited for a one-hour active work out session in the outdoor with the expert trainers and coaches of GOQii. This movement is not only for the players but it is seeing active participation from GOQii employees and the CEO Vishal Gondal himself being present and exercising with all. The movement caught on and we had many users who resonated with this thought process. This prompted us to get some of our regular attendees to take charge and start their own Active Sunday chapters in their vicinity.

Swarup Chougule, a regular at Active Sunday for the last 2 years says, “Active Sunday is the most fruitful way of engaging yourself on a Sunday. The nice chill in the air and gentle sunlight sets the mood for a good training routine. We meet many like-minded people and the group keeps motivating each other to stay healthy. The concept fits perfectly into the idea of a ‘Healthy Community Life’”.

Sundays have never been better Swarup training with Goqii at Active Sunday

Sundays have never been better Swarup training with Goqii at Active Sunday

Similarly, Anitha Rao, an active GOQii player in her 50s can give youngsters a run for their money. She is more active and energetic than most half her age. While in Mumbai Anitha, used to look forward to Active Sunday session where she could meet likely minded people. “This is much needed. Most people are too stressed out and at times lonely and shy too. They just need a bit of push and motivation to get out of their comfort zone. Also, each one is unique and one can learn from one and other. Anitha has been leading active Sunday’s in Bengaluru and is our first woman GOQii Champion.

anitha 1

Anitha’s Active Sunday ranges from walking, running, swimming, yoga and trekking 

Research indicates that exercising is good for health. As per ACSM (American College of Sports and Medicine) guidelines, a person must involve himself in physical activities at least 3 days a week. The benefits are divided into three categories Physical, mental and social benefits. Exercise helps to strengthen the heart and the cardiovascular system. It improves blood circulation, as a result, it lowers the risk of heart attack and strokes.

For the regular like Swarup and Anitha, it is their self-motivation to remain healthy and fit that drives them to be active even on a Sunday. Anitha has been championing the cause of Active Sunday in Bengaluru and has already conducted two active Sundays with GOQii players there.

The early start on Sunday morning creates ample time to connect better with the family and the community at large. The benefits of Active Sunday are many. “It is not just a workout session, but a complete package with deep interaction with people aspiring for a quality life,” says Swarup.

Being active on the first day of the week brightens and cheers you up. Everyone attending the Active Sunday is pumped up and raring to go for the rest of the day/week. “The other advantage is that it is a great way to meet like-minded people with similar or some varied interests, there is an exchange of ideas and you can learn from one another and expand your horizon,” says Anitha.

Bhavik shah

         Bhavik from Pune loves cycling as an activity on a Sunday  

Bhavik Shah, an active player of GOQii from Pune who is a runner and a cyclist thinks that active Sunday is a great kick-start to an otherwise lazy Sunday. He adds,”There are many reasons why I like being active on a Sunday as well, one of the primary reason being ‘Self Love via Self Care’. Apart from the obvious benefits, most people are already aware, exercise has been touted as a cure for just about anything that ails you. Frequent colds? Exercise. Poor digestion? Exercise. Feel depressed? Exercise”. Bhavik has taken the lead to conduct active Sunday workout session in his vicinity.

Lastly, the other big draw of Active Sunday is the picturesque locations where it is conducted. Sometimes it is a large park, sometimes on a beach and sometimes on the promenade along the sea. With a lot of positive energy all around, the benefits of working out in such locations multiply exponentially and more people are likely to join the regime. “There is a lot of physical and emotional contentment when we conduct an Active Sunday and encourage others to be active,” concluded Swarup.

Give their enthusiasm to help others and motivate others to get active on a Sunday, Swarup and Anitha have been inducted as GOQii champions to take this positive movement of forward in their respective cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

So if you have not been a part of Active Sunday, now is your chance to join the movement in the city of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

 

 

 

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