Exercise, Recovery, and Fitness During the Pandemic: 4 Ways to Make it Happen
Exercise, Recovery, and Fitness During the Pandemic:
4 Ways to Make it Happen
Written by: Kiley Morrow
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, the ordinary, daily schedules of everyone's lives were one of the first things interrupted. Suddenly, people are trying to find a normalcy in their life to get them through this pandemic. Here are some examples for you or for you to share on how to include wellness and exercise into your “new” routines.
One of the things that can still be a part of daily life is exercising. While some people are gaining a quarantine fifteen, you can be bettering yourself every day. Since most gyms are closed or have limited openings, finding out how to make exercising happen during a pandemic can be difficult, but as long as you follow the following four ways to make fitness happen, you can come out of this lockdown as the best version of you.
Find the Right Motivation
The first, and possibly the most important thing that goes into getting into a healthy workout routine is finding the motivation to get yourself out of bed and into the gym clothes. Think about what brought you here, and why you want to exercise. With summer here, maybe your motivation is getting your dream summer body. Your motivation could also be a little less extreme like you want to be able to eat an ice cream cone on the hottest day without feeling guilty about it. Whatever your motivation is, make sure you hold on to it. It might get hard after a while to keep going, but if you keep your goal in mind, it will be easier to get through the hard days. You can write it down somewhere you are always near, like on your mirror or a piece of paper next to your bed. As long as you keep your motivation close to you, working out in quarantine will become much more manageable.
Change Your Eating and Sleeping Habits
The next most important thing about getting yourself into exercising is making sure you know that exercising once a day is not going to give you that summer body you want. You also have to keep eating healthily, and you should get a good night’s rest. If this is the hardest part for you, make yourself a plan. Come up with different meals that you like to eat that are also healthy and good for your body, and prepare them ahead of time, or make cooking dinner a little more fun. There can always be a cheat day or two, so do not feel super guilty if you indulge in some ice cream and hot dogs, however, it is essential to keep eating healthy in mind. Being at home all of the time makes it more tempting to snack throughout the day, but try to hold yourself back from going into the kitchen every 20 minutes.
Sleeping well is also a huge part of working out and fitness altogether. When you sleep, your body goes through many processes to allow your muscles to recover and get ready for the next day, so if you do not give your body the rest it needs to recover, it will become immensely harder to exercise the next day.
Your mind and body need sleep, so make sure you are giving yourself enough hours to sleep.
Make a Quarantine Workout Schedule
Working out at home can be difficult if you do not have the typical machines you usually use or need to exercise, so you might have to get creative. Making a workout schedule can make this easier, so you already know what you are going to each day ahead of time. If you go into your workout unprepared, you might lose that motivation due to frustration because you can't find any exercises you want to do. Lucky for you, the internet is filled with different workout routines and videos to guide you in an at-home workout. Different online exercises target all kinds of things you might want to exercise for, like getting rid of those stubborn love handles or getting a more intense interval training workout. Plan what you are going to work on each day ahead of time and working out gets one step easier.
Give Your Body a Break
Another significant role in exercising healthily is giving your body a break. Working out every single day can lead to your body breaking down, so figure out what you need to do to stay fresh, yet healthy and happy.
Try working out six days a week, and then having one day off. If having only one day off is frightening to you, listen to your body and start with having a few more off days in the beginning, and then train yourself to need fewer breaks. On days you have off, you do not need to sit in bed all day, but instead of working out intensely, you can go on a bike ride, a hike, a walk around the neighborhood, or anything else that is still physically active, yet a break from your usual fitness routine. As long as you listen to your body, you will notice good changes quickly.
Erica Tuminski
Author