fitness tips Archives - Page 3 of 6

September 28, 2020 By GOQii 1 Comment

Why Cycling Is One Of The Best Ways To Stay Active!

Cycling is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get fit, even during the pandemic. With gyms shut, it is the best way to stay active. In fact, if your workplace is at a distance of 4-5km, it’s the best mode of transport right now as well.

If you’ve been glued to social media, you might have realized that a lot of people have taken to cycling – either solo on in a group. If you’re new to cycling or if your city doesn’t have specific cycling trails, here are some measures you should follow:

Wear a helmet
Stay to the left side of the road.
Ride on well–lit paved roads and if possible, bike paths. If there are no bike paths, take the service roads.
Wear reflective clothing and have front and back lights
Use arm and hand signals to indicate turns.

Furthermore, ensure that your bike is adequately maintained. Proper clothing (t-shirt and padded cycling shorts is recommended). You also require a properly fitting helmet, padding (optional), bike reflectors, flashers and headlights, gloves, proper shoes and eye protection.

What Are The Health Benefits of Cycling?

Before we go on to the health benefits, it is important to understand the correct sitting posture on a cycle. Maintaining proper cycling posture is important not only for efficiency but also to prevent any form of injuries and aches.

Cycling is easy on the joints because you put your weight on a pair of bones in the pelvis called the ischial tuberosities unlike walking, where you put your weight on your legs. It is good for anyone with joint pain or age-related stiffness.

Regular cycling can reduce the risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke. It can also improve your mood and keep your weight under control. Adults should ride at least for one hour daily. It decreases stress levels and increases muscle strength and flexibility. It strengthens your immune system. Cycling releases endorphins, which makes you feel young at heart. Furthermore, it also improves your stamina!

It is an incredibly sociable sport. Joining a cycling club or group is an excellent way to grow your social circle and stay fit and active at the same time!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Do check out more topics like this on Healthy Reads and don’t forget to tune in to your favorite expert coaches on GOQii Play!

#BeTheForce

May 22, 2020 By Soni Thakur 4 Comments

Is This The Best Time To Make A Positive Lifestyle Change?

There are a number of people who motivate themselves to make positive lifestyle changes to eat better, exercise more, practise yoga and sleep adequately. They have tried before, probably declaring another attempt as a New Year’s resolution. After working hard for a week or two that resolution was found resting in the corner due to lack of time, energy and motivation.

Making a lifestyle change is challenging especially when you want to make so many changes at a time. It takes time and requires your full commitment and dedication once you are ready to make a change.

Some Tips To Make A Positive Lifestyle Change

Make a plan you think you can stick to
Start small
Choose one behaviour change at a time
Make some friends with the same goal
Ask for expert support

As we are all in lockdown, it’s a good break from our fast-paced life. We were complaining about not getting enough time to work out, to eat healthy home-cooked food, to meditate to relieve stress and ditch that alarm clock and sleep a little more. Well, here it is!

This is the best time to make a lifestyle change and reset our biological clock back to normal by balancing all four important components of our body which are: Balanced diet, Exercise, Adequate sleep and Stress management.

We hope this article helps you make a positive lifestyle change. For motivation, healthy recipes and more, you can check out the GOQii Blog or tune in to LIVE sessions by experts on GOQii Play for home workouts, meditation, emotional wellness, learning music, yoga and more!

Stay home, stay positive and #BeTheForce!

May 18, 2020 By Vandana Juneja 3 Comments

Overcome Hurdles to Home Workouts

With 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

May 11, 2020 By Priyanka Mangla 2 Comments

6 Tricks To Help You Make Exercise A Habit

More often than not, when you’ve begun a new exercise routine to get in shape, your intentions don’t often match your actions. You begin to realize there’s a big gap between having an intention of achieving something and actually doing the work to fulfil that intention. There’s no need to beat yourself about it. There’s always a way to bridge that gap. Let’s look at a few tricks that can help you make exercise a habit!

How to Make Exercise a Habit

Set a Goal and Send a Reminder to Yourself: I wanted to exercise because I always wanted to stay fit like a soldier – this was my goal. I set a reminder on my phone for 5 AM as “Stay fit like a soldier “. This served as my morning alarm as well. Setting a goal where you remind yourself everyday will never let you sleep without ensuring that you exercised that day.
Challenge a Friend: The day you plan to start exercising, challenge your friend. I texted my friend, “hey, in the next 30 days, I am going to increase my stamina from 6/10 to 10/10 “. Believe me, your friend will never let you forget that you need to exercise daily.
Use the 21/90 Rule: This rule says that It takes 21 days to create a habit. It takes 90 days to create a lifestyle. You just don’t skip a day for 21 straight days. In these 3 weeks, exercise will become your habit. And once you are able to do it, you will continue doing it for another 90 days.
Reward Yourself With 1 Rest Day: Keep 1 day as your ”rest day “. This is important for your muscle recovery too.
Make It Pleasurable: During the lockdown, some music of your choice will do the magic. You will love your exercise without getting bored. This is actually something I do and enjoy a lot. When the circumstances will become favorable to go out, enjoy the beauty of nature, fresh morning air, the beautiful sky as the sun shines and the chirping of birds.
Take Baby Steps: Last but the most useful trick! When I started exercising, I had full “josh”, I forgot to count the sets and reps and just exercised with lots of energy. I had in mind, the more I will do, the sooner I will get the results. But the reverse happened. I had no energy for Day 2. So, this served as a lesson – doing too much, in the beginning, leads to burnout; which may lead to quitting the habit. So, the key is, start with light intensity exercises for 15-30 minutes in the beginning. Our only aim is to be regular. “One workout at a time. One day at a time. One meal at a time“ – Chalene Johnson.

Now that you’re aware of these simple tricks, let’s aim at making exercise a habit! Enjoy your exercise to enjoy the glow of good health. For training routines and home workouts, join our experts on GOQii Play.

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