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Reimagining Corporate Wellness after COVID-19

corporate wellnessThe impact of COVID-19 and the measures taken by organizations to contain it were unprecedented. Work from home, following guidelines, and a hybrid working model were few of the changes that we saw in our work life. With offices slowly opening up, additional measures need to be taken to ensure that employees are safe and healthy. 

Reimagining Corporate Wellness 

Here are some measures corporations can take to ensure that their employees are happy and healthy! 

  1. Access to On and Off-site Fitness: After spending over a year working from home, everyone needs to move! The couch potato lifestyle doesn’t cut it. Having an effective program or access to activities that incentivise movement in the form of walking, yoga and exercise can greatly benefit the health of everyone in the organization. 
  2. Challenges: There’s no better way to improve team spirit and camaraderie than issuing challenges that help employees bond after spending months working in isolation. 
  3. Promoting Healthy Eating: Proper nutrition plays a big role in building immunity. Good health begins from the gut. Knowing what to eat, the timing, portion sizes, healthy snacking options, etc. can go a long way in improving health and avoiding unwanted sickness. 
  4. Focus On Mental Health: Introducing meditation techniques can help employees beat stress, anxiety and help them clear their heads and focus better on their assigned tasks. Given the stress of work and the looming pandemic, mindfulness practices like deep breathing can help a person relax and be more present. 

How Can The GOQii Corporate Challenge Help? 

The GOQii Corporate Challenge, a 60 day inter-corporate challenge, where corporations can get their employees to participate on an individual, team and corporate level, can significantly improve employee health, engagement, team spirit and performance at work! 

The challenge consists of a 30 day steps challenge, daily social media spot challenges and also includes daily fitness sessions starting with yoga, health talks and workout sessions that can help improve the overall health of an individual.

What’s In It For A Corporation? 

  • Remote Fitness: As places are still not completely open, it can be difficult to take your employees off-site for team building activities. More so, the cost to the company reduces as you might have to hire external trainers, book a venue, et al. GOQii has the tech and resources to take this entire module from on-site to online where your employees can train with certified experts, take guidance for nutrition, sleep, stress management and more in real time. 
  • Incentivizing Participation: By participating in the GOQii Corporate Challenge, 1 in 4 players stands a chance to win exciting prizes such as hotel stays, luxury watches, smart phones, gadgets and exclusive merchandise that can incentivize employee engagement. 
  • Healthy Employees: With various activities that promote healthy habits, you can be sure that your employees will be healthier. It increases individual accountability which in turn reflects on their work and productivity.  

You can register your corporation and get on board starting 13th December. Let’s improve and reimagine corporate wellness together! For more information and to sign up, check: https://gcc.goqii.com/ 

#BeTheForce 

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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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Exercise Hacks To Stay Fit At Home

exercise hacksWith gyms re-opening slowly, it is understandable if you’re worried! With no gym to get you pumped and the general lethargy of being indoors might be getting to you now. If you’re worried about getting that workout burn, we’ve got some exercise hacks that will get your blood pumping! 

Exercise Hacks to Consider 

  • Brooming & Mopping the Floor: With no maids to aid you, this is a task you’ll have to do yourself. Sweeping and mopping has its own benefits. For one, it can be used as a workout if done in a squat position and two, cleaning the whole house will keep your activity levels up! 
  • Water Bottles: can be used as dumbbells for your regular exercises. Exercises which simply can be done with water bottles are squat with a front raise along with lunges. Ensure your knees don’t go beyond your toes when you squat or lunge. Then biceps can be trained by doing front raises, side raises, curls, etc.
  • Wall Sits: Walls of your living room can be utilised to train or tone the body. With the back flat against the wall, arms straight, try to sit as if sitting on a chair and hold yourself for 30-60 secs or more if possible. Slowly and gradually increase the holding time. This is a good exercise for glutes.
  • Staircase Workout: Now, with the staircase, we have a number of exercises that can be done: 
    1. Stair Jogging: Start climbing stairs as if you are jogging, then come back down but keep your knees soft. Repeat for 3-4 times.
    2. Box Jump: Keeping feet shoulder-width apart, jump off the ground with both feet on the step into a squat position (knees should be bent to better absorb the shock of that jump), step down one foot after the other. Do 10 reps or more if needed.
    3. Bent Knee Push-ups: Simple push-ups by assuming yourself in a push up position with bent knees and feet crossed at back. Keeping your head, neck and back in one line. Slowly lower yourself towards the stair bending your elbows. Then push back to the starting position. Inhale as you go down and exhale on your way up.
    4. Mountain Climbers: In a plank position with hands firmly on the stair and head, neck and spine is in a straight line. Bring each thigh towards the chest one by one, keeping knees towards the elbow.
  • Blanket Battle Ropes: Hold the both ends of your blanket in each hand and move your arms in an up-down motion for a minute by bending your knees. Ensure your knees don’t extend beyond your toes. Keep your head, neck and spine in a straight line.

Apart from these easy exercise hacks, you can also try yoga, surya namaskar and other body weight exercises to keep yourself active. Variations and other home workouts for everything mentioned in this article can also be found on GOQii Play – demonstrated by fitness experts. 

You can also read up more about home workouts on Healthy Reads or tune in to live classes on GOQii PRO where our experts will guide you on the correct form, posture and make sure that you are well 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 

#BeTheForce 

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Top 5 Effective Workouts For Weight Loss During Lockdown

effective workouts

Visiting gyms, joining classes for yoga and zumba have become troublesome because of the COVID-19 lockdown. With limited options, it is natural to get bored and stumble back into a sedentary lifestyle. Don’t put on all the weight you’ve worked so hard to lose. We have some effective workouts to help you lose all that unhealthy weight. 

5 Easy and Effective Workouts To Lose Weight

1. Walking/Running:
There’s nothing better than running outdoors – the fresh air and all but the problem is that the lockdown prohibits anyone from stepping out… so how do you do it? There are many ways, in fact, it is easier if you have a treadmill. If you don’t, try spot jogging and taking frequent breaks in between your work from home schedule to walk around the house and unwind. 

2. Jump Rope:
Do you want that sleek, slender body? Jump Rope is your answer! It is one of the most underrated yet effective workouts. If you’re new to this, start with a 2-5 min warm up, then do the traditional rope skipping with 30-50 reps. Then, you can run up and down your building stairs, do the rope again for 30-50 reps and end with a cool down. It is high intensity, low cost, doesn’t consume time and is still one of the most effective workouts for weight loss.  

3. High Intensity Interval Training:
As the name suggests, it is periods of High Intensity exercises coupled with Low Intensity exercises/rest. The aim for HIIT workout is to target 80% of VO2 Max (Max Oxygen Consumption) for maximum results. 

Your typical HIIT session can be: 

  • Warm Up
  • Lunges for 1-2mins at a stretch
  • Walk/Jog in place for 30secs
  • Pushup for 1-2mins
  • Walk/Jog in place for 30secs
  • Squats for 1-2mins
  • Walk/Jog in place for 30secs
  • Abdominal Crunches for 1-2mins
  • Walk/Jog for 30secs
  • Cool down

You can add more exercises and modify the exercises as per your fitness levels.

4. Weight Training:
Yes, this might be impossible since most of us don’t have dumbbells and other gym equipment at home but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem. You can still use your daily household equipment as weights. For instance, water bottles filled with water as dumbbells or a bucket of water for your deadlifts. In fact, you can also use your own bodyweight. The key idea here is to undergo a process called Hypertrophy of the muscles, wherein the body increases the size of the muscles and reduces the fat around it. Weight training helps in burning fat 24×7 as opposed to burning fat only during the workout. A beginner can start with 20 reps + 3 sets of deadlifts, squats, lunges, bicep curls, etc.

5. Boot Camp:
This is one of the most intense and effective workouts which alternate between aerobic activities of sprinting/running along with strength exercises and drills. It simultaneously works on your endurance and strength. 

You can start a typical routine as: 

  • Warm up
  • 1 min each of Push ups, Lunges, Pull ups, Crunches, Buttkickers, spot jog
  • Repeat the exercises 
  • Cool down.

To make things easier for you, you can find all the above effective workouts for weight loss on GOQii Play. You’ll be guided by fitness experts in LIVE sessions. More so, you can also subscribe to GOQii and get tips, guidance and motivation from a certified GOQii Coach. 

We hope this article helps you choose your workouts and lose weight during the lockdown. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more tips on fitness, do check out Healthy Reads within the app as well. 

Stay home, stay safe, get active and #BeTheForce 

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