Staying fit during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been tough. If you are not careful you can quickly pack on a few extra pounds. From my own experience not being able to go to the gym for the past 3 months has made staying in shape a challenge! I worked out at home using resistance bands, weights, and going on bike rides but I still lost quite a bit of my fitness. Time to up the intensity!
My gym opened up recently and I was surprised to see how much I had lost in the cardio department. I used to be able to do the stair master for 45minutes. Now I can’t even do 20 minutes without needing to take a break. Now with COVID-19 on the rise again it wouldn’t surprise me if gyms started to close down again so I better get serious on my fitness again.
I’ve also put on a few pounds. The quarantine 15 is a real thing. In a recent WebMD poll 47% of women and 22% of men said that they have gained weight during COVID restrictions. The weight gain reported has been between 1 and 9 pounds. I know personally I’ve been eating more sweets which coupled with less cardio has expanded my waistline!
If you need to up your fitness game here are some quick tips:
Watch what you eat
Your eating habits are more important now than ever! If you are working from home it’s easy to much all day on junk food. Be mindful of what you are eating and try to eat healthy fruits and vegetable and watch out for over-snacking!
Sweets were my own personal worst enemy! After a long day I would wind down in front of the TV and eat 3-4 Little Debbie oatmeal pies! They are so good but I definitely paid the price. Need to go cold turkey!
Get some resistance bands and use them
It’s amazing how many exercises you can do with a simple set of resistance bands. You can do a pretty good complete body workout with the bands and a few Youtube videos.
Go on a bike ride
Pump up your tires, put on your helmet, get your water bottle and go for a long bike ride. It’s amazing how great a nice bike ride can make you feel. Bike rides are great in the summer as you will work up a nice sweat and really burn off those extra calories that you’ve been collecting!
Kettlebells can be your best friend
Kettlebells are amazing. Buy a couple to really build up your upper and lower body strength and muscle tone. You don’t have to go to heavy on these as you can get a good workout using relatively light weight. A few of my favorite exercises with kettlebells are:
- Squats
- Triceps extensions
- Russian kettlebell swing
- Halos
With a bit of self-discipline and a consistence workout schedule you can stay fit during quarantine. With COVID cases on the rise again you should make your fitness a priority and this will most likely need to happen at home. Good luck! I’m off to get some exercise myself!
