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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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How To Create A Full Body Workout At Home!

Create A Full Body Workout 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 

  1. Workouts should be developed around a person’s age, goals, nutritional strategy, free time, etc.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 

  1. Full-body workouts should be fairly simple! Always begin with a dynamic warm-up and finish with a cooldown.
  2. Add a variety to your exercise routine by including one new exercise every week to avoid boredom
  3. 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.
  4. 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  

#BeTheForce 

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