People used to always associate fitness with a gym subscription, but we now know better. A person can stay in shape without paying five hundred dollars a month for a personal trainer and access to a gym. You can even stay in shape while staying at home — the knowledge of which will be beneficial if the entire country goes on lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak.
So how can you keep your body fit if, for any reason, you need to stay at home and give up going to the gym? Here are the three things you’ll need to do.
Get Creative
Don’t have a set of dumbbells at home? Not to worry. There are a dozen different ways to improvise exercise tools, so you never miss a day of your weight training. Consider the things you have at home. Empty water dispenser containers, paint cans, and watering cans, for example, will do nicely as weights. Fill these up with water or sand, and you’ll have a variety of options for your leg and arm strength workouts. Use a luggage scale if you want the weights to be precise. And if you don’t have a digital scale? Use a 1-liter water bottle to measure the weights. 1L equals 1kg — easy peasy.
Take Things Outside
Now is the best time to make the most of your backyard. Even better if you have a multi-court: at one-fourth the size of a standard tennis court, it has plenty of space for you to do full-body movement exercises. You can do front and side lunges, extend your arms and legs while doing jumping jacks, even duck-walk around the yard.
In Utah, exercising outdoors gets even better as the season shifts from spring to summer. With temperatures peaking between 72 and 83 degrees Fahrenheit from May to June, the weather will be just right for exercising outside. If that gets old, you can always shoot some hoops or practice your tennis serves in your multi-sports court or backyard.
Aim for Quality Exercise
After experimenting with improvised exercise equipment and solo sports games in your backyard, you must realize that exercising is less about the facilities and more about how you move your body. A smart approach can produce better results than mindless heavy weightlifting.
Do you have a well-spaced staircase or some steps in your backyard? A 15-minute stairs workout with arm, leg, and core stretches between repetitions can tone and strengthen your buttocks, legs, and core. This is a perfect example of how you can have a high-quality workout even when you’re at home and don’t have gym equipment on hand.
Bonus Tip: Seek Free Workout Videos on YouTube
When in doubt, turn to YouTube. Quite a few YouTube channels in recent years dedicated to fitness and workout professionals have become popular. They share videos of their own classes and workouts. These workouts range from short five-minute bursts of physical activity to hour-long instructional videos. Take advantage of the extra time you have under quarantine and follow along with these celebrity instructors on YouTube.
These are the keys to staying fit when you’re stuck at home and unable to visit your favorite gym. Make these your habits when you hunker down during the coronavirus pandemic, and you’ll see good results even after the health crisis dies down.
