For many people, a good workout offers more than just physical benefits. It can help us feel good – not just mentally but emotionally. As cities around Asia and the rest of the world slowly begin to open up, gyms and fitness studios are also welcoming back members back to work up a sweat.
But what if the gyms in your city aren’t open yet? Or maybe they are, but you’re not quite ready to head out to join the masses for your own safety? Here are some tips for you to work out in the comfort of your own home.
Set a personal goal
Gym closures during a lockdown may stop us from training at the gyms, and for some of us, this can feel really annoying as it breaks our training routines. But actually, working out at home can also be a great way to train our bodies. With proper planning, home workouts can also be really fun and effective.
Before any planning, however, it is important to set a goal for yourself. This is true at the gym and also true for working out at home. Whether it’s for muscle maintenance, fat loss, mobility, health, or cardio fitness, etc, be sure to think about what you’d like to achieve.
After that, begin to plan out the frequency, duration, intensity and volume of your work outs. If you’re not able to work out at home due to space constraints, consider heading to the outdoors! Choose running, biking or even swimming if the pools are open. Invite your friends to join the training to make it even more fun.
Exercises you can do at home
When working out at home, you don’t need a lot of equipment. TRX, resistance bands, dumbbells and kettlebells are all great equipment that you can use at home to level up your resistance training.
Here are examples that may give you some ideas on how to plan your own home workout routines. Try to involve more compound movements, and focus on different body parts like the core, legs, backs, arms or even work on your mobility and range of motion.
When working on your core, some great exercises are planks, V-ups, mountain climbers and decline crunches. For the legs, try banded deadlifts, dumbbell squats, lunges, kettlebell swings.
To work on your back muscles, try bend-over reverse flies, seated band rows, and pull ups. For arms, I like to train using push ups, dumbbell bicep curls, and skull crushers.
There are many ways to mix and match these movements according to your fitness goals. If you want to lose fat, you can add to your resistance training some cardio activity like runs, or high intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions. HIIT classes are readily available on YouTube or other streaming channels.
If you’re working out a lot, remember to keep track of your diet too. To maintain muscle mass, don’t forget to take enough protein to help build those muscles.
Have fun and enjoy your workouts!
This post is brought to you by PULSE CLINIC. PULSE CLINICS provide quality healthcare for all and are located in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore with a worldwide collaboration and support system. Here to help, not to judge.
