10 Ways To Keep Active At Home During Lockdown
- UKSL
- Feb 4, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 10, 2021
1. Go For A Walk
Did you know that you burn on average 232 calories for an hours walk? Try and keep active by walking once a day for around an hour. This will help keep your steps up, burn many calories and help with your mental health. There are many health benefits to walking; some of the benefits include:
Stronger bones and improved balance
Reduce the risk of strokes and heart disease
Increased endurance and muscle strength
Reduce body fat
Helps with mental health.
2. Organise Your Time
During lockdown, you could be struggling to keep to a schedule, due to changes in work hours or homeschooling. Organising your time more effectively will help you keep more active. Try writing down your plan for the week with small blocks of time allocated for a walk or exercise. Allocating a set time will help you stick to your schedule and keep active.
Having a plan with various activities will help keep your "active time" fresh and exciting. It could be a good idea to have specific activities on certain days to help create a sense of routine.
3. TV Workouts
TV workouts are a great way to keep active with your children. There are many online videos with a vast range of classes from Yoga, Pilates, HIT and more. Many of these workouts you can get access to for free via YouTube.
4. Virtual Races
There is nothing like getting out and about in the fresh air. You can now take part in many virtual races during lockdown. Many of these races don't require you to run the total distance in one go. This will allow you to take your time and complete the race when it suits you.
Allowing you to complete races in multiple runs will really appeal to new runners who want to get outside and keep active. Many of these virtual races will also award you with a medal on completion. This is a fun way to stay active; it is also extremely rewarding.
5. Active Cleaning
Kill two birds with one stone with active cleaning. This is a great way to clean the house and keep active during lockdown. You can burn on average, 170 calories per hour doing light cleaning. This will help increase your steps, use various muscles and have a sparkling house at the end of the day.
6. Set An Active Timer
Many of us are now spending more time in our chairs than ever before. Setting a timer to go off at various times throughout the day will help remind you to stand up, walk around and take a small break. Even walking to make a drink or walking to the loo will help keep you active.
When you have slightly longer breaks, it's a good idea to try to stretch, jump up and down or jog on the spot for 60 seconds. This will help raise your heart rate and keep your body and mind switched on for the day.
7. Learn A New Skill
Take the time to try to learn a new skill. This will help you stay focused and help you stay consistent with your sessions. You can learn many different types of skills to help keep you active. YouTube offers many free sessions in Yoga, Pilates, HIT, Strength workouts and more to keep you active.
8. Yoga
Yoga is a great way to relax, improve your flexibility, and increase mobility. The best thing about participating in yoga is that you don't have to have any equipment. There are also many online tutorials to follow that will give you a step by step breakdown of each position.
It might be very daunting at first, but give it a go and see what you think. There are many ways to start your journey; we have found that YouTube offers a great selection of video tutorials to follow along. The best part is they are all free!
9. Gardening
Suppose you are lucky enough to have a garden get out in it! This is a great way to keep active while helping maintain your garden. You can still do many things in the park during the winter months such as pruning, cutting back, tidying, weeding, and more. All of these activities will help keep you active.
10. Challenge Yourself
Create a goal or a challenge and try to achieve it during lockdown. This could be starting couch to 5k or walking a certain distance over a month. Setting a goal not only helps you stay focused but allows you to push yourself harder. Set your target high and see how much you can achieve.
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