by thegriefreality

Quarantine Tips: Exercise

Hello! I hope this post finds you safe and well.

With this segment, I want to focus on how we can maintain our health and wellbeing. At the point of writing this, we are allowed one hour out of the house for exercise a day.

If this changes, or if walking or running isn’t enough for you, I would like to provide you with a few ideas of things we can do in our living rooms to help you out.

  1. Fitness apps: At the time of writing this, one app which I really like is the gymshark app. It has free living room workouts which can strengthen your whole body! You can custom it and track your progress. Other apps include: BeFit (specialising in exercise at home), Nike Training Club or 30 Day Fitness.
  2. YouTube workouts: These are very simple and easy to find. All you have to do is type in ‘full body workout at home’ and hundreds of results will come up. Or you can type in specialised workouts and there will be some results. As a regular gym goer I was reluctant to look at workout videos because I wanted to continue with what I was doing, but machines etc. can’t be replaced and this is a great way to try new things.
  3. Zumba: One of the things I really want to try is Zumba! It’s really good for your body, full of cardio, and it’s a lot of fun! You will be guaranteed to be puffed out by the end. YouTube is a great resource for Zumba exercises.
  4. Yoga: Yoga is a wonderful activity to do. It can be as gentle or as intense as you want it to be, and there are lots of easy to follow tutorials online. One of the most followed yoga channels is Yoga With Adriene.
  5. Exercise Ball: A lot of my quarantine exercise early on in quarantine came from our exercise ball. It is easy to find many different exercises for it, and makes exercises you already do more difficulty, ie. planking, press-ups or sit ups. This is also really great for strengthening your core! It is worth noting that the diameter of an exercise ball depends on your height.
  6. Resistance Bands: These are an easy way to make your home body workouts a bit more difficult so that you can still see results.
My tiny tiny gym!

Exercise has been one of the only things to get me through the quarantine days. When I used to be able to go to the gym, I would do lots of activities on the machines, stairmaster, treadmill, rowing machine and I would do a lot of mat workouts.

When the gyms became a hot pot for the virus, I began to ask my other fitness friends to show me easy to do exercises, that dont need equipment. I also gathered some workout ideas from the Gymshark instagram, where they post workouts, or watching workout videos.

At the beginning I only had a yoga ball and some small weights which I tried to work as best as I can with. My best purchase has been resistance bands, as it is such a simple way to make your workouts harder, better, and for you to get stronger.

One other thing I have started to do is to track my workout progress every week. I evaluate and change my workout every week if certain exercises aren’t as effective, or I am just bored!

I have also started helping Katie with her workouts, and we have started to track her workouts.

As a family, we also go for long walks or cycle rides. Another simple thing I have been doing, is doing workout activities on the walks, such as tricep dips on benches, press ups, lunges, sprinting, squatting, monster walks etc. Its fun and simple! (Don’t forget your handsanitiser if you do any of these though!)

Katie taking a rest on one of our walks
Taken on the Nikon Coolpix P900
13/04/2020
Me on a rope swing!
Taken on the Nikon Coolpix P900
13/04/2020

I hope this makes your exercise a little bit better/harder and that it enables you to try something new. I have seen a few people online using fitness YouTubers for PE lessons for their young kids (such as Joe Wicks) for at-home-learning! Maybe this will help.

Stay safe, sane and smiling!

Messages we found.
Taken on the iPhone 11
13/04/2020
A message we left!
Taken on the iPhone 11
13/04/2020
Messages we found.
Taken on the iPhone 11
13/04/2020

Evee x

30 thoughts on “Quarantine Tips: Exercise”

  1. Great ideas! I’m sorry you’re so restricted. 😐 Here in Canada the restrictions aren’t so tight. We don’t have any limitations to our time outdoors, but it’s always great to have indoor options for those miserable rainy days as well. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  3. It depends on the country where you are. In Chile open spaces for receration are prohibited. But the recommendations are very accurate and very easy to follow. Everything that leads to lowering the quarantine tension is positive for physical and mental health.
    It is a very generous contribution on your part
    Manuel

    Reply

  4. Unfortunately confinement, lockout or ghost city is total and no possible sports in the streets… could be in future , nice ideas and best therapy are in order to strong mental health. Take care readers and stay well!

    Reply

  8. Thank you for this. So many great ideas. I miss my runs over the trails. Like you I would stop at gates and do a few exercises. Just having to find ways to do them at home. I guess the most odd one is filling the wheelbarrow with weights and just pushing it around the garden. You could do your own workout guides. They would be fun. x

    Reply

  12. I’ll defo try those apps and look into the yoga idea. I’m a total beginner with yoga but I’d like to give it a go. I’ve been running but I need something else I can do in the home. Thanks for the ideas.

    Reply

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