NoorWhy you should exercise at home for your mind and body.
If Covid-19 has taught us one thing, it’s that there are many things that we can actually do without. And one of those would be a gym membership. After years of spending thousands of pounds on gym memberships, I got to spend a year exercising at home. And this article will tell you exactly how and why you should exercise at home for both your mind and body’s health.
Why You Should Exercise At Home
Just because the world has come to a standstill it doesn’t mean that your health has to as well.
Working out has many more benefits other than just the vanity aspect of it, (but of course who doesn’t want to look their best selves) but it can also benefit your physical and mental health, such as
- Controlling your weight: especially if you’re spending more time at home than usual and busily snacking away
- Combat heart diseases and health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancers, arthritis and more
- Improving your mood, especially if you suffer from anxiety
- Help you to sleep better
And the best part you don’t need a gym membership to enjoy all of these benefits. There are many workout programs out there for a fraction of the price that you can enjoy from the comfort of your home.
Not to mention that if you’re accustomed to working out, exercising at home will help you to maintain a routine even when you can’t access a gym. And yes these programs will even include exercises for your abs, arms, and legs and some of them don’t even require any equipment.
Exercises For Long Covid Recovery
As someone that is personally suffering from the joys of long COVID even a year later, I can’t stress enough how exercising is important. Every time I stopped for a couple of weeks, I ended up suffering from a chest infection.
To top it, if you suffer from claustrophobia and anxiety, having breathing problems will not fun. But breathing exercises especially through Yoga With Adriene will dramatically help manage this.
How Can You Exercise At Home
At the very minimum, all you need to exercise at home is yourself, some comfortable clothing, and a workout area. Now you don’t need a dedicated space at home to exercise, but what you do need is a clean area that you can freely swirl in a circle in.
And if you’re using equipment, be sure to find a home for it near your workout area. This will give you one less excuse to avoid exercising. Trust me, getting to the mat is the hardest step on some days.
TIP: My fellow hijabs and Muslim women out there, you will love this. As you’re working out at home, you’re free to wear what you want.
Yoga With Adriene
Price: Free on YouTube
Where do I start!? Yoga with Adriene is a free yoga workout program on YouTube, and is run by the kind-hearted yoga master Adriene Mishler. Adriene has many individual workout programs on her YouTube channel Yoga With Adriene, but additionally, she’s famous for her 30 days with yoga.
These 30 days yoga with Adriene programs come in two forms. The first is in the form of her personalised month-on-month yoga calendar which she emails out to her subscribers every month. This consists of new and existing daily yoga workouts, which when combined, forms a theme. And yes every month has a different theme, so you won’t get bored!
The second form of 30 days with yoga comes in the 30 days themed programs that she releases onto her YouTube channel, which consists of a new yoga workout every day for that month.
Two popular 30 days yoga programs are Yoga with Adriene Home and Yoga with Adriene Breath and they are suitable for beginners. Additionally, she has some specific yoga sequences that can be performed in the morning or at bedtime.
With such a good instructor available to you for free, I promise you won’t miss the gym membership
TIP: This is your space. So set it up with whatever fragrance or ambiance lighting you want to make your yoga exercise at home more enjoyable.
Lung Exercises For Long COVID Recovery
It’s like Adriene read everyone’s minds when she formulated the 30 days yoga with Adriene Breath series. I have learned so many new breathing techniques that help to exercise my lungs through this yoga series. From wide expansive breathing, to fire breath there are lots for you to learn and benefit from here.
In particular, Day 2 of the breath series is great to hone in and focus on exercising your lungs and mastering the famous yoga with Adriene breathing techniques.
Must Have Yoga Mat And Equipment
SWEAT
Price: £86.00 per annum available via the SWEAT app
The SWEAT app is home to the famous BBG exercise program co-founded by Kayla Itsines. The famous Australian Instagram workout guru. Although there are many gym programs available on the app, they also have some exercise programs that you can do at home.
The SWEAT fitness programs that you can do at home are:
- BBG: A typical BBG workout is a 28-minutes resistance session that use bodyweight exercises, plyometrics (jump training) and strength-building exercises, in two high-intensity circuits. HIIT lovers, this is the program for you.
- Lifting at Home: The lifting at home program consists of 30-40 minutes long resistance sessions. This uses supersets of both compound and isolated movements to increase muscle size and strength. This program is for those who enjoy weight training at home.
- FIERCE at Home: The fierce at home program consists of 24-45 minutes long workouts which uses various strength and high intensity training styles including AMRAP, circuit training and Tabata. This program is for those who like variety in their workouts.
- PWR at Home: PWR at home is a straight up weight training program to develop strength and lean muscles. It is made up of 45-50 minutes long sessions which includes muscle activation, circuit, superset and even HIIT later on. This program is for those who want a no fuss strength training workout.
For those of you who think you can only achieve your dream body in a gym, these programs will challenge you.
You will need some dumbbells and resistance bands at the very least if strength training is one of your goals. But trust me, slowly building out your home gym will still be cheaper than an annual gym membership!
Must Have Equipment for Your At Home Gym
Bodyweight Exercises At Home With No Equipment
If you absolutely have no space for any home gym equipment or you just don’t want to invest in any then fret not my friends. The SWEAT app has gone above and beyond to produce no-equipment versions of their at-home workouts. These use the same concept as the above but instead, you use your bodyweight as resistance.
Additionally, there are some new and popular exercise programs that you can also do with no equipment. Again these use your own body weight as resistance.
These no equipment exercise programs at home are:
- Barre with Britany
- Pilates with Sara
- Vinyasa Yoga with Ania
- Vinyasa Yoga with Phyllicia
- PWR Zero Equipment
- FIERCE Zero Equipment
- BBG Zero Equipment
Express Exercise And Workout Routines At Home
Did I mention that if you join a program on the SWEAT app you can still access exercises from other programs? Through a handy on demand feature, you can do just that.
If you are doing a strength training program and want to do a yoga workout you can do that. Or if you’re doing a program but prefer a workout from another that targets a specific muscle, you can do that too!
Whether you are looking for targeted leg, chest, or Abs exercises you will be able to easily filter out for them. Lastly, if you are short on time, your program will also express exercises that allow you to get a quick workout in. And yes, you can mix and match express workouts from different programs too.
Samsung Health
Price: Free on the Samsung Health App
Samsung health is an underrated app, that isn’t talked about enough. It offers a good deal of fantastic fitness and mental wellness programs and the best part, some of them are also free and can be done at home.
Although I’m encouraging you to work out from home, a personal favourite of mine is the Baby Steps To 5k app. Yes, this involves you stepping outside of your home and exercising your lungs, but this is perfect for a beginner looking to get into running.
Given that most people have spent a significant amount of time indoors over the past year, I would really encourage you to add this to your routine.
However, if you’re looking for more at home exercises, you’ll be spoilt for choice on the Samsung Health app. It’s loaded with all types of workouts including short and targeted exercises lasting for 4, 10, or 20 minutes. And yes, these are all free!
Must Have Devices To Track Your Exercises
