Photo credit: mikecohen1872 on Visualhunt.comOne thing is for certain: this holiday season will be like none other. With COVID-19 case numbers on the rise and the CDC urging all of us not to travel, most of us will be spending more time in our own homes. From the beginning of the pandemic, working out at home has been one of the safest options for staying fit, and as the return of colder weather and fewer hours of daylight curtail the ability to exercise outdoors, it’s important to think about your plan for staying active indoors, in the safety of your own home.
Get Outdoors Whenever You Can
Of course, you should still strive to take advantage of days when the weather is warm enough to get outdoors. The health benefits of staying close to nature are many, including not just physical fitness but stress relief and improved mental health as well. So whenever you can safely walk, jog, hike, or cycle outside, you should make it a point to do so.
Prepare Your Indoor Options
If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to research and invest in the indoor options that meet your fitness needs and budget. Here are some ideas:
- Invest in home exercise equipment, like a stationary bicycle or treadmill. Refurbished items can be purchased relatively inexpensively. You can also get a simple dumbbell set without shelling out a lot of cash.
- If you subscribe to a streaming channel, such as Amazon Prime Video, search for workout programs. A recent search on Amazon.com for “workout videos with prime” turned up over 4,000 results. You can also filter by the kind of workout or activity you’d like to try: yoga, Zumba, aerobics, muscle toning, Pilates, and much more. And within each of those subcategories, you can filter even further: yoga for hips, for example; or abs and core workouts. And don’t forget that you can find free online classes on YouTube and other platforms (just do a search for “online fitness classes”).
- Look for family-friendly games and activities (it can be as simple as a game of tag or hide-and-seek) that get the whole family moving in a fun way.
- Also keep in mind the calories you can burn while doing housework, which most of us are doing more of as we spend more time at home! Common housecleaning activities, like vacuuming, are in fact forms of physical activity that keep us moving with a purpose, and burn calories while doing so. Embarking on a home improvement project is also sure to get you moving.
Get a Routine in Place
Whether it’s indoors or outdoors, setting a workout routine for yourself will help tremendously in developing a habit that will carry you through not just the winter months but the ups and downs of the holidays as well.
You might choose to do yoga two days a week, cardio three days a week, and toning two days a week. Or you might combine 30 minutes of cardio with 15 minutes of stretching exercises on most days, and add or incorporate a weight/resistance routine on other days. Your imagination’s the limit when it comes to putting together your own routine.
The key to consistency is to choose activities you enjoy, so you will want to keep doing them. Then, once you’ve established your own routine, stick to it—even during the holidays, when things can otherwise get chaotic and off-schedule. Plan in advance to make your fitness routine—and your health—a priority.
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