At some point during the pandemic, you might have noticed yourself in the mirror and realized that you’ve gained a few pounds. After all, lockdown restrictions have prevented us from going out and getting the body workout we need. On top of that, only a number of gyms and fitness studios are open and available for use (with some limitations, of course). And even then, it’s still risky to visit one with the coronavirus hanging around. However, that’s not an excuse not to exercise and workout.
The good news is that there are actually plenty of ways you can get fit in the comforts of your own home. It’s just a matter of finding the right routine for you and sticking to it. Aside from that, working out at home has its perks too—it’s safer, more convenient, and doesn’t require you to spend any money. All you need is a space in your house where you can move around freely and that inner dedication every day to get your body moving.
Are you ready to start your fitness journey? Below, we share ways you can burn calories and lose weight.
Interval Workout
Interval workouts are the closest thing you can have to gym workouts. These range from cardio exercises like jumping jacks, high knees, jogging in place, burpees, lunge jumps, and mountain climbers to strength exercises such as pushups, sit-ups, crunches, squats, planks, and pull-ups. This type of workout basically covers everything from your core, leg, arms, shoulders, and back. It only takes about 20-30 minutes (or longer if you want) with rests in-between reps. You can also choose a high-impact version for maximum benefits or a low-impact one if you want to go easy on your joints. This helps build your endurance, spike your heart rate, and reduce your risk for heart disease.
Yoga
Whenever one mentions yoga, it’s hard to imagine how it can help you burn calories and lose weight. Maybe because it’s an exercise that’s more commonly associated with deep breathing, meditation, and relaxation. However, you’ll be amazed at the many wonders it can do. There are many different types of yoga—ones that are more intense and ones that are calming. The various stretching poses tones your muscles, builds your strength, and improves your flexibility and posture. It’s good for the core, arms, legs, back, and glutes. This is especially recommended for those people who need relief from stress and anxiety. Yoga can also brighten your mood and ward off any negative feelings.
Jump Rope
If you haven’t added jumping rope to your workout routine yet, then it’s probably high time to include it now. It’s an exciting form of workout that doesn’t require much—only a little space (ideally a spot with a flat surface and where you won’t hit anything) and a trusty jump rope. There are so many exercises and tricks you can do with a jump rope. Once you’ve mastered the basic jump, you can work your way towards more complicated ones like split-leg jumps, single-leg jumps, wide to narrow jumps, running in place, and alternate foot step. Jumping rope lets you achieve your fitness goals by burning your calories, increasing the elasticity of your leg muscles, improving your mind and body coordination, and decreasing foot and ankle injuries.
Weights
Lifting weights, in and of itself, is another type of workout. However, you can also easily incorporate this to your interval workout. Using a pair of dumbbells is a great way of increasing intensity to your exercise. It focuses on toning your shoulders, biceps, and triceps, as well as strengthening your core, arms, quads, calves, hamstrings, and glutes. For beginners, some exercises you can do with weights are squats, lunges, step ups, shoulder and floor presses, and crunches. Just always make sure that you have the proper form and that the weights you’re using aren’t too heavy (or too light) to avoid injury. Also remember to breathe properly – breathe out when lifting the weight and breathe in when lowering it – as there is a tendency for most of us to hold our breath while lifting weights.
Dancing
Who doesn’t love dancing? We all have that inner urge to dance especially while listening to our favorite playlists. Although it’s hard to believe, there’s a dancer in all of us. And one way you can maximize this is by using it as a form of exercise. Dancing is not only fun, but it also easily gets your heart rate up. It’s a well-known stress reliever, endurance builder, and can boost your mood and confidence. The best part of it all is that it’s technically a cardio workout that doesn’t even feel like a cardio workout. Dancing can help you lose weight, strengthen your muscles, and have good coordination. If you want something a little more streamlined, you can also try out Zumba routines that combine high and low-intensity dance moves.
Kickboxing
You don’t have to be a real boxer to get into this type of workout. Every muscle in your body is used whenever you perform kickboxing drills. These usually involve jabs, ducks, squats, kicks, shuffling, and crossing which help burn hundreds of calories per hour. The trick here is to stay light on your feet and imagine your opponent right in front of you. Some of its benefits include stress reduction, improved coordination, better posture and sleep, muscle strength and balance, and building confidence. Since there are different types of exercises you can do for this type of workout, you can take a look at your primary fitness goal and choose accordingly which one best suits you.
Stairs
Walking up and down the stairs in your home is an effective cardiovascular exercise that can strengthen your whole body, improve your endurance, and enhance your balance and coordination. With this type of workout, you can choose to go up and down the stairs on a timer, seeing how many reps you can put in, or throw in a couple of interval exercises like push-ups or burpees whenever you reach the bottom or top of the stairs. You can also challenge yourself to do the same routine but this time taking it two steps at a time when climbing the stairs. This workout is good for your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. It’s a great training for your motor skills as you’ll need to pay attention on maintaining your balance and following each pattern.
Stability Ball
A stability ball or exercise ball can elevate your workout routine in terms of building your core, strengthening your muscles, and protecting your joints. Doing drills with it is proven to be twice as effective compared to going through them on a flat surface. This is because the muscles in your body are working extra hard with the balancing act thrown into the workout. It can reduce your risk of injury as well because it helps you achieve excellent balance, posture, and coordination. You can start off really easy with simple toe tap or crunch exercises then increase your difficulty over time with more challenging movements like bear planks and hamstring curls. When purchasing your stability ball, you’ll have to consider your height. The proper air pressure also comes into play when inflating the ball so you have to be mindful of how hard or tight it feels.
Need some more inspiration to power through your workouts? The easiest and most popular way of working out at home is by following an instructor-led workout video. There are actually tons of workout videos available on Youtube that you can use as a guide. With Smart’s Giga Video, you can enjoy a bulk amount of mobile data for any site/ app with an additional 1 GB for Youtube, iWant TFC, NBA, and Cignal Play. To learn more about this offer, visit this page.
