Are you struggling to stay active while you’re cooped up and wondering how you can stay healthy and fit while in quarantine? You are definitely not alone. In the current circumstances of lockdown, working out may sound like a farfetched idea.
But there are exercises you can do at home without the need for fancy equipment. Before we get started, let’s address the “Achille’s heel” in your fitness agenda and how to overcome them.
Can You Really Maintain a Work-Life Balance While Working From Home?
You might think that you just received a gift from the stars by getting the opportunity to work from home. You can work in your PJ’s all day long with your dog/cat curled up at your feet with flexible hours (you work when you want as long as the work gets done). Your partner and/or child(ren) is in the next room over. And there’s no commute! It looks like your job and life finally integrated…
But wait. You start sleeping later and later. Eventually, you lose track of the day, the time, and the hour. Your face has become glued to the screen and you think, “OMG. I haven’t left my computer other than to sleep in 11 days.”
The lack of a routine is a silent killer of the work-life balance for people who work from home, which also includes exercise. Ironically, the lack of actvity also kills motivation and productivity.
This lack of motivation can also translate to more hours sitting behind the screen because you didn’t use your time efficiently — maybe due to those bouts of “brain fog” because you haven’t been active.
A sedentary lifestyle can lead to all sorts of health problems from excessive fatigue to weight gain to muscle and joint problems; which will inevitably cause you miss out on life going on right in your house.
Bottom line: You need an exercise routine for your health, your family, and your friends.
How working in an exercise routine can improve your job performance
You might think that some people are more naturally “on” than others. But chances are, this appearance of productivity, wit, and enthusiasm might have more to do with a healthy lifestyle than innate talent.
Regular exercise can help you:
- Improve your mood and mental health: When you exercise, your body releases chemicals like endorphins, dopamine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, serotonin, and more. These help you regulate your mood, energy, focus, stress levels, and motivation to keep you going strong. You can even get the coveted “runner’s high” from a chemical called anandamide, which also happens to be a chemical linked to your endocannabinoid system.
- Keep your brain structure and function strong: Exercise has been shown to stimulate the body’s release of proteins and other chemicals that support learning, thinking, and judging.
- Improve your sleep: If you’re not sleeping, you’re definitely not going to think as sharply. A little exercise in your life can certainly help with this.
- Strengthen your bones and muscles: You may not immediately see the relevance of bone density and muscle mass to work focus, but it’s there. If you’ve ever experienced a “bad back” and had to sit at a computer all day, you know the importance of this. If you’re bones and muscles are strong, you’ll decrease the chance of aches and pain in your muscles and joints that can hamper your work efforts.
There are plenty of other benefits of keeping active, but these are the most important aspects that directly pertain to your work performance.
<<Soothe Your Sore Spots and Get a Deeper Workout>>
Best practices for working in an exercise routine while working from home
It’s never too late to start some healthy habits. Here are some tips to help you work exercise into your routine:
- Set a time (and stick to it) for exercise: Procrastination is your worst enemy when it comes to exercise. Just because we can’t go to the yoga studio at a set-time, does not mean we can’t schedule it. Set your calendar with a day, time, and hour for exercise with a link to your favorite exercise video. If you only have 15 minutes, you can even schedule an office break stretch session.
- Include exercise as part of your day: If you have a choice between the elevator and the stairs, take the stairs. Alternate between running and walking while taking your dog out. Or hang laundry by hand during one of those “I must take a break to do chores” procrastination moments. You name it, you can find a way to make it “exercise.”
- Make work workstation an exercise station: You don’t have to set up a fancy standing desk or bicycle desk to stay active, but you can make it more active. You can stack books on a table, desk, or other raised surface to make a standing desk that you can step back and forth from in order to keep your body engaged as you work. If you can set up two screens with a splitter cable, that’s an added bonus– as you’ll be forced to regularly turn your head and twist your body slightly as you work.
- Make yourself accountable: Got a workout buddy? Schedule a zoom workout session together or create an exercise diary together. When someone is part of your routine, it is easier to make yourself do the work.
- Have fun: Do you like to dance? Love music? Try cranking on the music and dancing a little. Or do the repetitive exercises while watching a TV show or listening to a podcast. If you’re having fun. You’re more likely to stick to it.
To get started, check out the video below, featuring celebrity trainer, Harley Pasternak. He demonstrates three simple exercises you can do from home to get those kinks out.
You can also try the short exercises below to learn some basic exercises that’ll get your blood flowing and your joints moving.
Five Exercises You Can Do at Home Without Equipment
There are exercises don’t require anything but you. Do these exercises alone or team up with your friends on Zoom, those hanging out on neighboring balconies, or isolating with you. Crank on the music and get moving.
1. Core extension
This exercise gives your core a great workout. It also helps stabilize and strengthen your back muscles, arms, legs and spine. It improves your balance, posture, and coordination. Here’s how to do it:
- Start the exercise by positioning yourself on your hands and knees.
- Slowly, extend your right arm straight in front of you and your left leg directly behind you.
- Hold this for two seconds and bring in your extended arm and leg slightly, and then re-extended, balancing on your limbs that are still on the ground.
- Repeat on the other side.
- This is one rep. Repeat for 7 reps.
2. Kneeling on four
This one might require some practicing and balance. It is a perfect exercise to keep you in good shape as it improves your upper body strength, your back, your glutes, and your legs.
- Kneel on your arms and knees with the palms on the floor.
- Now lift one of the legs and try making a circle, starting from one elbow to the other using your knee.
- Now repeat this with the other leg.
- A rep of 10 on each side will be sufficient.
3. Bear crawl
This exercise is great to help improve your stability, strength, and balance.
Get on the ground and balance yourself on your hands and feet.
Move four steps to the left and then four steps back to the right, keeping yourself on your hands and knees You can also try moving forwards and backward.
Start with 5 reps on each side. It may sound simple, but this one can be laborious.
4. The side plank
This one is a great exercise for your core and upper body. The side plank also helps tone your legs from hips to heels. Not only does it strengthen your oblique and shoulders, but the deep muscles of your lower back as well.
- To start, get in a low plank posture with both elbows on the floor placed directly under your shoulders. Keep your weight balanced between your toes and arms. Keep your core and glutes engaged.
- Now shift your body weight to the left elbow, and roll onto the left side, so the whole body is facing left. Make sure both your feet are stacking on top of each other.
- Raise your right arm to the ceiling and hold this stance for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat the same on the right side now.
- You can do 2 to 4 reps depending on your body strength. Once you have developed enough strength, you can increase the reps as well as the timing of each stance up to 1 minute.
5. Pushups
Nothing beats the basics like pushups, one of the most effective bodyweight exercises. It is a perfect exercise to build upper body strength. It involves all major upper body muscles, such as the triceps, shoulders, and pectoral muscles. You can also use this exercise to strengthen your core by pulling in abdominal muscles.
- Start with the plank position.
- Pull down your shoulders, tighten up your core, and keep your neck neutral. Now bend your elbows lowering your body towards the floor slowly. Go as low as you can or till your chest is about to touch the floor.
- Extend your elbows to return to the starting position. Try to keep your elbows as close to your body as possible.
- If you cannot do this standard exercise, then use a modified stance by resting your knees on the floor. Once you build your upper body strength, you can try the standard pushups. Aim for three reps of 10 to 20 pushups each.
Push Your Limits
These five basic exercises you can do at home will keep you in good health and your body in shape. However, there is always room for improvement. If it feels like you are breezing through these, challenge yourself and add more reps to each set.
And if exercising is inviting aches and pains, CBDMEDIC™ offers effective topical pain relief products to help you push through your fitness regime. From arthritis to tech neck to sports injuries, back and neck injuries to muscle or joint pain, CBDMEDIC has a remedy to temporarily relieve your musculoskeletal aches and pain.
Stay home, stay safe, and stay fit.
