For students (and the rest of the world), all outside life came to a halt in March 2020. Our daily activities had to relocate to the confines of our homes to limit as much public activity as possible. Our kitchens became our coffee shops, and any space we could find became a gym. While we waited for gyms to reopen or if we did not want to attend them any more for safety reasons, exercising from home became a way to keep healthy and fit in the absence of gyms and the outdoors.
Following fitness channels on YouTube is one way to keep fit from home. YouTube contains a plethora of fitness channels to choose from, with videos to follow along to, whether you want to learn something new or grow an existing fitness regime. From yoga to Pilates and everything in between, there is no shortage of fitness options on YouTube.
“It is possible to exercise without gym equipment“
Even without frequenting a gym, it is possible to exercise without gym equipment. There are plenty of workouts where the only equipment you need are space and a floor. Resistance exercises can include squats, push-ups, or crunches. If you are a beginner to fitness, bridge exercises, lunges, and planks are just a few of many exercises you can try from your own space.
Should you want to use equipment for your workout, household items can be an interesting substitute. A full laundry detergent bottle can be used as a kettlebell, a packed backpack can double as a weight to carry around as you do regular exercises, and a cushion serves as a balance tool in which balancing exercises performed on them can increase the difficulty of the exercise.
If your home has stairs, they can be a useful tool to incorporate into a home fitness routine. Running up and down a flight of stairs increases your heart rate and engages muscles in your legs and core. This can be a great way to start home practice if you are new to working out. Stairs can also be used in stretching exercises for warm-ups or cool-downs.
“Should you want to use equipment for your workout, household items can be an interesting substitute. “
If regular exercises are not your cup of tea, dancing is an effective full-body workout. Dancing improves heart health, balance, coordination, and joint mobility. Whether you put on your favourite song and go wild with your own moves, or if you prefer to learn a specific style of dance from an online tutorial, dancing is a great way to exercise your whole body and release mood-improving endorphins.
In these times of lockdown, some normalcy of our daily lives can be transferred to our home space. In respect to exercising from home, there are countless possibilities to keep fit and improve your health. There is also the lack of an audience in a gym or onlookers from the outside in a home practice, which can additionally ease any worry of embarrassment. With good music, an empty space and a floor, exercising from home will keep you healthy, and most importantly, safe.
