This pandemic has involved a lot of adjustment in the way people live, and, in many cases, that adjustment has included letting some healthy habits slide. Everyone’s self-care plan is their own business, and maintaining your mental health during the pandemic is just as important as physical health, so you shouldn’t feel ashamed if you let your exercises slide or spent a little too much money ordering takeout.
Anyway, ordering takeout supports local businesses, so staying home and ordering in was helping keep neighbourhood restaurants alive. Maybe you learned some valuable life skills and discovered the joy of baking and eating far too many carbs. Now that things are returning to something we might think of as normal you may want to lose some of those pandemic pounds. Don’t worry - you don’t have to join a gym to reshape your body. Here are a number of exercises that can help you reshape your bod and shift that spare tire.
Squats
Squats are excellent for building core and lower body strength. These exercises work the quadriceps and hamstrings, as well as the glutes. You can modify the exercise by utilising a variety of different postures or stances (such as placing your feet at varying widths) to focus more forcefully on different muscles to achieve a more targeted result. It’s important to make sure you have the correct form not only to achieve the best results, but to ensure you don’t inadvertently hurt yourself while exercising.
Pushups
Push Ups work your upper body (deltoids, pectorals and triceps), help build up your core, and strengthen your legs too! You don’t need to be ashamed that you can’t do too many pushups in a row, or that you have to do them from your knees rather than your toes. Like all exercises, the more you do them the better you get, the more reps you can do and the more effective they become. Standard push ups can be modified for intensity and the muscles targeted by placing your hands in different positions, doing them from your knees or toes, or even adding an explosive “leaping” element to the push up. A weight bench is indispensable when it comes to getting the most out of weight training, but did you know that this simple workout tool can also be invaluable when it comes to other exercises. A weight bench can give you the perfect platform to modify pushups, such as springing from the ground to the bench in a push up and vice versa, or performing a push up with one hand on the bench and the other on the ground. The experts at have a number of tips and tricks on how to incorporate a weight bench into workouts, whether you need added support for mobility challenges, or tips for increasing the difficulty of your workout.
Jumping Rope
Jumping rope is an incredible workout for your legs and core. Skipping also is an excellent cairo exercise as it really gets the heart rate up. It’s also excellent for improving your coordination. 10 minutes of continuous jumping rope is the same as a half-hour jog. No matter how busy you are you can most likely find 10 minutes, making skipping something of a quick-fix exercise solution. As an added bonus, skipping can also be a great deal of fun - there’s a reason kids skip in the playground rather than doing push ups or burpees.
Bulgarian split squats
A Bulgarian split squat may sound rather brutal and like some type of torture for dissidents in the former Societ Union, but it’s actually a very effective single leg squat excellent for working the glutes, quads, calves and hamstrings. The exercise is a single leg squat with the other leg elevated behind you (another use for that weight bench). The split squat is performed much like a standard squat, but focuses on one leg at a time. As the pressure is transferred to one leg, these squats encourage unilateral strength, which helps with balance, and builds up the isolated muscles on either side. Because of this focus it is believed that split squats net greater results than the classic squat. As a added benefit, split squatsalso take strain off the lower back, making you less prone to injury while performing the exercise.
Lunges
Similar to the Bulgarian squat, these are about motion and resistance, which helps to increase core stability and unilateral strength. Of course, they also work the legs adding tone to the quads, hamstrings and glutes. There are different variations of lunges , some more stationery than others. Easy to incorporate into your routine - do some while walking the dog or during the next trip to the grocery store. The supermarket includes the added challenge. of many obstacles, some mobile and others stationary, not to mention looking weird while lunging down the aisles.
Leg raises
Leg raises work the core and abdominal like nothing else. You will feel that burn. These will work out your lower, middle and upper abs depending on how you angle yourself. Use a medicine ball or elevate yourself to change the angle and you’ll find you can hit different spots.
Burpees
In essence a two part exercise, burpees involve a push up that transitions to a leap in the air. These will RUIN YOU, but that is exactly why they are so good ! Burpees have the reputation they do because they work just about every muscle in your body, from your arms and shoulders to your core, glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. Your heart will get a serious workout too.
The exercises above are proven to provide serious results if performed regularly and diligently. They can be easily adapted to suit all abilities, and allow flexibility for continued development. By working multiple areas of your body, each of these helps to develop not only muscle groups and strength, but improves the function of the body by burning calories faster, improving flexibility and posture. No matter what your exercise goals are, these exercises can help bring you the best results!
Before starting any new exercise routine, especially if you have physical limitations or existing conditions that may limit mobility, strength or affect your overall health in a negative way, you should consult your doctor for advice.
Alternatively, you could book an appointment to see a physiotherapist to get advice on the type of exercises most suited to your specific needs as well on education on how to perform them for best results. The fastest and easiest way to search for and book healthcare appointments online is through MyHealth1st.