It’s more important than ever before to keep fit and healthy this year especially with the new stresses and pressures of all these lockdown challenges. Looking for ways to adopt a more active lifestyle? Here are some sustainable tips to get more active this New Year in; Fit & Healthy in 2021: 6 Easy Ways to Ensure You Keep Moving!
1. Daily Walks CAN Get You Fit & Healthy
Walking proved very popular during the first lockdown of 2020. Walking regularly is a good form of mild cardiovascular exercise, and brings along with it several health benefits such as maintaining a healthy weight, and preventing high blood pressure. Regular walking is also great for your mental health, as the serotonin release triggered can improve mood, focus, memory and perspective tremendously as well as reduce stress levels. It’s been recommended that people should walk 30 minutes a day, at a moderate to vigorous pace, 5 times-a-week at the very minimum!
2. Cleaning Vigorously
Daily chores like vacuuming your house, cleaning the bathroom and mowing the lawn are all forms of moderate exercise that can keep you fit and healthy if you leverage them into a workout and pay attention to the task at hand. 20 minutes spent cleaning the bathroom can actually burn up to 100 calories, but even better than that is that you work out your hands, grip, triceps and shoulders and you get your house cleaned in the process – a total win-win!
ALSO REMEMBER YOUR BODY DOESN’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOUSE CLEANING TASKS OR MOWING THE LAWN AND USING THE GYM…THE ENERGY EXERTION IS JUST THE SAME! The answer? Pay attention to the muscles you’re using when doing chores and turn that into the workout with equivalent sets and reps. “Wax on, wax off”, remember “Karate Kid” fans?
3. Exercise While Watching TV
Gyms closed due to lockdown, no worries! That doesn’t at all mean you can’t get a decent workout in during the day or night, whenever you wish. You can even do exercises like stretching and yoga whilst watching TV if you want – check out the video above for a workout routine specially designed if you’re watching TV!
4. Dance whilst Listening to Music
Keeping active doesn’t have to be boring or feel like hard work. Dancing is actually a great way to keep fit. It offers a fun, upbeat style of exercise whilst providing your body a host of wonderful and varied benefits. Dancing regularly improves your stamina, and your muscle tone, building in higher levels of stamina and capacity.
It also leads to stronger bones and is good for your mental health, too as it releases feel-good endorphins into your bloodstream. So turn on the music and get into your groove!
5. Stretch Everyday
Stretching is overall super important for your body. The more you stretch, the more you move your muscles and the more flexible you become which is essential for your functional health and confidence.
A micro routine of just 10 minutes per day is extremely worthwhile and effective. If you can put 20-30 minutes per day aside, all the better! Expect that you will prevent many injuries from bothering you in the short and long term future – as long as you keep it up daily. Hamstrings, shoulders and your core (midsection) are areas you’ll definitely want to work on.
6. Use a Standing Desk
Right now, with so very many people working from home, it can be easy to get stuck at your desk all day. Consider purchasing an adjustable standing desk so that sometimes when you’re feeling the urge to be active but still need to work, you can avail yourself of this massive benefit.
Standing at your desk will use way more muscles than sitting down endlessly, and activate muscle fibres to keep your posture stimulated and functioning well.
It also helps you reduce stress and tiredness, whilst encouraging productivity. Studies have shown that 87% of people using standing desks report increased energy throughout the day. For those who suffer with back pain from sitting at a desk all day, a standing desk can also reduce upper back and neck pain.
