Don’t use being at home as an excuse not to start, or even to lose your current fitness level. Instead, make it your goal plan to work on it, get motivated and start on it with enthusiasm and dedication. Get yourself in gear and step it up from home. There are lots of advantages – you can choose what to do in the comfort of your own home, you can do it at times that suit you personally, and when you are feeling energetic, you can pick the exercises that you feel comfortable with and enjoy doing and you can choose the music that makes you feel dynamic, with vigour and vitality.
Set yourself longer sessions 2-3 times a week, or if you prefer, a shorter burst of daily sessions. You can put together a workout plan for yourself that is realistic and sustainable. As you progress, you can step it up a little, making it a fraction harder than before by adding more repetition and/or more resistance in bands or weight.
Find your workout plan You may remember exercises you have done previously, possibly in classes you attended; Refresh yourself in the correct body alignment of it all to avoid injury due to bad positioning. You can check this out online with professionals in the field. Once you have seen and acknowledged the correct posture and movement of each exercise, prepare your workout program.
Plan your program effectively If you are training every day consecutively, you should avoid working the same muscle groups. The body needs 48 hours to break down the muscle and repair itself in stronger form. Allow for this to avoid continual muscle breakdown without repair which may inevitably lead to injury. This is especially important in weight training, strong resistance exercises. This is why many bodybuilders split their workouts and do chest and back on one day, legs on another, then biceps and triceps and another day for abs etc.
Some people find it helpful to have a pen and notebook to jot down their current exercise regime with the sets of repetitions of each exercise – for example, you may do 3 sets x 8 repetitions of sit ups or bicep curls.
Prepare your area With safety in mind, make sure you have enough space to fully stretch out while standing or laying down, that there are no objects that you can fall into or accidentally hit, and no slipping rugs that you may slide with. If you have a yoga mat or non-slip rubber backed rug, this may work as an exercise mat for static exercises. Do not use mats for any kind of aerobic exercise. Make sure you have water available to drink during your work out, as you may perspire and need to top up on fluid and keep hydrated.
Warm up Warm up with an aerobic form of exercise that gets your heart rate going. Put some music on that gets you moving, whether you dance around a little, jump up and down frantically, do a boxer’s jog back and forth, side to side, or run on the spot.
Start with gentle exercise Begin with the easier exercises and gradually work up towards the harder exercises as you warm up and prepare those muscles and joints for more rigorous activity. For example, a round of some gentle squats to start with, then add a round or set where you can add a kick in between each squat. Another would be starting with an on the spot jog, then on second set, add a jog with alternate punches forward. These are just basic warm up exercises to ease you into proper full motion resistance exercises. The basic idea is that whatever your full range of exercises are, say with weights or resistance bands, do without first and then follow by adding the band or exercise with the resistance.
If you are not so confident in setting your own program, go online and see some professional workout plans. Follow the correct technique of the individual exercises that appeal to you and put your plan in progress accordingly.
Basic exercise workout plan
Warm up = dance, jog on the spot, side to side jog.
Start-up exercises = squats, forward punches, punching up, wood chopping (axe free) exercise technique, single leg kicking up.
Main exercises = squats with single leg kick up in between each squat, jog and stop with punching forward with light dumbbells repeatedly, wood chopping technique exercise with dumbbell, punching upwards with light dumbbells, press ups, sit ups.
Improve your strength, by adding a heavier weight as you progress and the work feels too light for you.
Get active and keep fit and healthy. Count your repetitions and sets and it works your mind too at the same time.
Love and Sparkles
Samsara x
