Exercise during Lockdown – 5 Tips to stay fit during Lockdown

Studios are closed, the outside world is inaccessible, the belly seems to grow by the day... That's why we have 5 Tips for you on how you can stay fit and healthy even during a full-on lockdown.

These days pose a challenge to everyone who likes to work out in a gym and who isn't fortunate enough to have their own little home training center. Luckily you don't need much for a good and sweaty workout. We show you how to do it.

First of all you need to make use of what you already have. To exercise during Lockdown you don't need much, here's why: Bodyweight exercises work wonders! You're simply using your own body as weights and gravity as your sparring partner.

With bodyweight exercises you can both strengthen yourself to build muscle mass as well as hit that cardio to strengthen your heart and lungs. Sweating included.

Using what you have also applies to your space. Do you live in a grand villa with porch and garden? Great. Do you life in a little one-room city apartment? Also great!

Most bodyweight exercises are done on a fitness mat, around 24'' wide and 68'' long. But seriously, even if that doesn't fit you can make use of all the things around you:

• push-ups on the kitchen counter
• dips on your coffee table
• balance exercises on the bed

Let your fantasy roam free. Suddenly your entire space becomes one big (or small) gym. Make a game out of it and try to find an exercise for every piece of furniture – and then exercise your way through every room.

You understand now that you have the tools and space you need, but to go from there to actually exercising is like a leap to the moon! How do you motivate yourself?

The best motivator is a set routine. You probably already have some in place, for example in the morning when climbing out of bed and getting ready in the bathroom. Or in the evening when couch and TV demand your time.

There are two ways how you can easily integrate exercising into your routines:

• Either add exercises to your existing routines, for example getting up 20 min earlier to do a bit of morning fitness. Getting up early and starting your day strong feels amazingly rewarding and gives you power for the entire rest of your day!
• Or swap out a part of your routine that is not serving you well. Getting stuck in Facebook every afternoon for half an hour? How about working out instead?

The important part is that you don't question that part of your routine. Make exercising as fundamental as brushing your teeth. Once you stuck with it for long enough, you will not want to miss it anymore.

Of course, being lazy is so much easier. But it also makes you feel bad, unhealthy and you'll never get rid of that little bit of chubbiness at your hip... That's why the secret behind motivation is to be empathetic with yourself.

Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else is feeling, being able to putting yourself in their shoes. We invite you to be empathetic with future self.

Image how you will feel afterwards! Amazing, strong, fresh, happily tired, healthily hungry, deserving that shower... Once you've tried it you now how incredible exercising makes you feel. And you also know how being lazy makes you feel, so don't do it. Be empathetic.

There is a way to combine physical benefits (weight loss, stronger muscles, tones physique) with psychological benefits (greater focus, better concentration, less anxiety, stronger resilience, the feeling of being balances, deeper relaxation) – its name is yoga.

Yoga's benefits are both physical and mental. It is the one greatest tool out there for times like these that challenge you not only physically, but also mentally.

We can really only recommend that you give yoga a try. We know what you might be thinking, so here are some common doubts that we would like you to get rid of:

"I'm not flexible enough for yoga."

Not true. Yoga will help you gain flexibility, so you don't already have to be flexible from the start.

"Yoga is only for women."

Obviously not true. In its origin country India yoga still is a lot more popular amongst men than women.

"I don't have time for yoga."

A yoga practice can be anything from a few seconds (inhale - and exhale) to several hours long. There is always time for yoga.

"Yoga doesn't grow muscles."

Whoever thinks that has clearly not tried Ashtanga or Power Yoga yet. There is a yoga style for every type of fitness and everyone out there.

Yoga gives you exactly what we were talking about before: Bodyweight exercises that you don't need equipment for and it can be practices even in the most confined spaces (e.g. on your bed, on your office chair, in standing).

Sounds good, but you don't know where to even begin your yoga practice? There are several possibilities. Of course the best would be to start with a beginners' training with a real-life teacher. That way the teacher can already tell you a lot about your body type and how your personal practice should be shaped. Just to take a sneak-peak into yoga though you already have different choices:

Finding your own practice

The easiest way to integrate yoga into your life is when you can do it anywhere at any time without the guidance of a teacher. Just like you would do a quick set of push-ups at the dining table you can also do a bit of yoga wherever you sit or stand.

That requires you to know little bit about it though. What are asanas? Which poses are out there? How do I attach my breathing to the poses? These are all things to be aware of if you want to practice your own yoga sequences effectively.

For this we can only recommend one of our Beginner Yoga Retreats. In only 7 days you learn all the necessary basics to start your own yoga journey in a safe, healthy and effective manner. In addition to yoga knowledge you also learn about how to implement healthy habits, what it is about mindfulness and how to live a more positive life.

Contact us via email to learn more about it.

Our last tip might seem a little off-topic, but we cannot stress this point enough:

The shape of your body relies to 30% on exercising and to 70% on your diet!

No exercising will help you lose weight and tone up if you keep eating the wrong things! On the other hand even a little bit of exercising and movement will show tremendous results if you stick to the right diet.

It's not as difficult as you might think. The market gets flooded by new diet recommendations on a regular basis – be it Paleo, Low Carb or Intermittent Fasting. Forget about that for now and just stick to the following:

• low sugar
• no highly processed food
• lots of fresh veggies and fruits
• bigger meals earlier in the day, small evening meals
• no food during the last 2 hours before sleep

That's all. Easier said than done, we know, because temptations wait around every corner and the unprepared will step into many food traps. But once you get into it you will find that you have a whole new quality of live!

Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

You will lose weight automatically, feel better and fitter and have so much more energy that you don't know where to put it. Make sure you pour some into your exercises during lockdown. ;-)

To sum it up, our 5 Tips on how to stay fit during Lockdown are:

• Use the tools you have: Bodyweight exercises do the trick.
• Use the space you have: You can exercise literally anywhere.
• Develop a routine – and don't question it.: Make exercising a thing that you don't want to miss anymore.
• Opt for yoga: Combine the physical and mental benefits, bodyweight only and hardly any space required.
• Choose your diet wisely: Exercises can only work properly if you feed your body with the right input!

We hope that those tips help you proceed in your exercise during lockdown! If you have any questions, remarks or suggestions, feel free to leave us a comment!

If you're new to yoga and healthy living then this offer might be particularly interesting for you: