Quarantine has brought us new rules for keeping ourselves active, even while staying at home. In life before COVID-19, we were moving a lot: walking to the office, bringing kids to school, or running in parks and stadiums. Today, we haven’t yet this possibility to move freely. However, this is definitely not the time to give up!
In the breaks between homework assignments during quarantine, don’t forget to keep your body in excellent shape. This is all about doing daily exercises and following the right diet. You need to feel confident in the summertime pool parties, don’t you? It is not as complicated as writing a healthy food essay or researching dozens of pages. So, let’s look at what you can get by staying active without buying any fitness equipment!
1. Breathing, Meditation, Yoga
Breathing exercises are an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. If you haven’t done a heavy workout before, it can be harmful to your body to start with fatigue training right away. Try to concentrate on your breathing for 10-20 minutes a day. The best time is to start learning in the morning.
Imagine that you are receiving air in your belly, but not in your chest. Often our breathing process is incorrect because of the habits and stresses we have in our lives. So, when you start with this simple morning training, you’ll get an oxygen charge, and your body will be ready for further exercises you plan during the day.
2. Splits
Avoid pushing the splits immediately. Everyone wants to achieve a fast result, but this training requires patience and a huge reserve of stamina. Start with soft stretching for all groups of muscles on the legs.
Prepare your body with some stretching elements like leg kicks, jumping, or other cardio activities that warm up your body and prevent damage to your muscles. When your body is flexible enough, you can put weight on your hands and split your legs as wide as you can. Increase stretching time, and if your hips can’t reach the floor, don’t push yourself too hard! This exercise is useful when you want to be a master in the side split. The same technique concerns the front split. The best way to achieve the splits is step-by-step preparation.
3. Squats
After regularly doing squats, you can see that your butt will take proper shape in 30 days. When you are starting with squats, do 1-3 sets with 10 reps in each set and a rest of 30-60 seconds in between, and concentrate on doing the form correctly:
1) Take a wide stance (about shoulder-width apart).
2) Put your hands out in front of you.
3) Sit as if you are sitting in a chair, keeping your feet flat on the ground and your knees behind your toes.
4) Keep your chest up and your head looking forward.
As you build strength in your legs, you can add sets or more reps to each set.
4. Push-Ups
There are five variations of push-ups. The first variation is the most beginner-friendly push-up exercise, the wall push-ups. If those are too easy for you, you can try box push-ups on your knees. If you are a beginner, first try the wall push-ups and then progress your way to the more difficult ones. Once you become more advanced and can do three sets of 12 reps of the box push-ups, you can try another beginner variation, the floor push-ups on your knees.
If you can already do floor push-ups on your knees but can’t quite get to a full push-up on your toes, two variations can help you build strength to learn how to do them. The crunching push-up and the stop push-up are great intermediate exercises that help you build the upper body strength needed to do a push-up.
5. Crunches
Crunches are essential training for your belly. This exercise doesn’t just bring aesthetic beauty; it also has a practical purpose. In a month after doing crunches daily, your waist will be slimmer by a couple of inches, and you will fit in your favorite jeans. Isn’t this a great motivation?
When you’re doing crunches, don’t stand up too high and push your neck to your chest. Remember to keep the exercise in the correct position, being as close to the floor as you can. Crunching is very helpful for those who want to engage core muscles and improve their waist.
6. The Plank
Every beginner in sports should try the plank exercise. There are many forms of this exercise, but you can start with the standard position. Lean on the floor into a push-up position and fix your hands and elbows in a 90-degree position. Make sure that your body is a straight line, like the name suggests. Try holding the pose for 30 seconds and increase your time daily when your body progresses and becomes stronger.
This core exercise will strengthen your abdominal area, back, and shoulders. It helps with posture, prevents back pain, and also develops your abs.
We recommend doing these six simple training exercises at home regularly to achieve good results. Developing an amazing body is a great but joyful work, as you can be proud of yourself when self-isolation is over!
