27th March 2020

40 Ways To Stay Active During Lockdown

With working from home suddenly the new norm, it may not be immediately obvious how much this will impact your usual activity levels. You may sit down for most of the day in an office, but you are still moving around and being active even if it’s in a more minor way than an avid gym goer. Walking over to talk to a colleague, to go and pick up lunch, active parts of your commute, all of this unintentional exercise could suddenly be reduced to walking from your sofa to the fridge and back again.

There are plenty of opportunities to stay active during isolation – it’s a great time to find creative ways to keep your fitness up, so here are 40 of our favourite ideas.

FREE ONLINE WORKOUTS

1. NHS Home workouts – https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/for-your-body/move-more/home-workout-videos/

2. Joe Wicks, also known as The Body Coach has a huge range of workouts that you can do from home on his youtube channel

3. Follow along with Joe’s daily PE lesson at 9AM on his youtube channel – it’s designed for adults and children so suitable for even the most unfit individual!

4. #stayinworkout – an initial bySport England to keep people active at home. Follow the hashtag on twitter for lots of ideas and experiences from others taking part

5. Search 5 (or 10!) minute workouts on youtube – there’s a huge range of videos for different abilities and ages available for free

6. There are lots of easy exercises you can do with very little space – here’s a site with a set of basic exercises 

7. Follow the #stayhomestayactive hashtag on twitter for lots of individual exercise ideas from various personal trainers, PE teachers and sports personalities

8. Try a fitness DVD – we’ve all got them tucked away and they are usually tailored specifically towards living room workouts

LOOKING AFTER YOURSELF

9. The World Health Organisation recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. This breaks down to just 20 minutes per day – add this into your schedule to make sure it happens!

10. Take breaks every 30 mins and have a short walk, to the bottom of your garden or just around the room

11. A daily walk or jog will mean you get some fresh air and a change of scene. Try to stay at least two metres (six feet) away from people

12. Drink plenty of water! With your normal routine disrupted, it’s easy to forget basic personal care practises. Make sure you are eating regularly and drinking the recommended 2 liters of water a day (around 8 glasses)

13. Don’t forget to eat healthily too, it’s easy to snack constantly when the cupboards are full at home, but try and stick to normal snack and mealtimes

14. Try to have green, fibrous vegetables with each meal such broccoli, asparagus, spinach or green beans. These veg provide the vital nutrients that you body needs to fight infection and process food effectively

FREE (OR FREE TRIAL) APPS TO AID HOME FITNESS

15. Imoves have repurposed some of the online content to be suitable for children and adults to use at home to stay active. 

16. Yoga is a wonderful activity for both the mind and body, and doesn’t need a lot of space. Hello Yoga offer a free trial of one-to-one tuition for new sign-ups

17. Try using an app to set small goals – Sessions allows you to set daily, weekly or monthly times tasks and tick them off as you complete them 

18. If you are new to running, but want to use your daily exercise to get out of the house, try downloading the free #coachto5K app. It takes you from zero running experience to being able to run 5 kilometers in 9 weeks and is supported by the NHS. Find out more information here

19. Chris Hemsworths ‘Centr’ diet and fitness plan is now free for 6 weeks because of the current situation – The app’s workouts are primarily HIIT-focused and require little to no gym equipment.

20. Peloton is an at home cycle workout app with both pre-recorded and live classes. You’ll need an exercise bike or treadmill, so if you have one of these gathering dust, download the app and try their extended free 90-day trial period

21. FIIT is offering a 14 day free trial and has a large range of suitable at-home workouts at all ranges of ability. They are also offering their premium service free for NHS staff.

22. Gymshark has made a whole bunch of their classes and workouts suitable for doing at home, free. Download the app for android or Iphone. `

DESK BASED EXERCISES

23. Try some simple desk-based excercises in between tasks – here’s a great set of exercises by Bupa 

24. Alternate periods of standing while working/studying with sitting by creating your own stand-up desk area

25. Don’t over-complicate things! Even sitting down and standing up again 10 times will raise your heart rate and get your blood moving

26. Try some deep breathing between tasks, it will increase oxygen to your muscles and brain as well as clear your mind

OTHER WAYS TO WORKOUT AT HOME

27. Learn a musical instrument! Many instruments involve movement to make a sound – this is a great time to take up something new!

28. Dancing to your favourite song gets your blood moving and releases endorphins into your bloodstream – lots of people are videoing themselves and sharing their moves on social media

29. If you have stairs, use them! three 20-second fast stair climbs a day can improve fitness in only six weeks.

30. Play more with your pets – whether you have a garden or not, having a pet offers lots of opportunity to get active

31. Dig out that old exercise equipment you’ve been using as a clothes horse and dust it off! 

32. Get creative! A Suitcase with a handle, a pile of books, even bags of sugar or flour can all be used in home-based workouts

33. Cycling is an activity that puts a distance between yourself and other people and can be used as your one outdoor exercise per day. Dig your bike out from the shed and start taking advantage of those quiet roads!

34. Skipping is a great activity for cardiovascular health – 10 minutes of skipping burn over 100 calories. Here are 5 other workouts that raise your heart rate in a short space of time

35. Gardening is a great form of exercise, if you are lucky enough to have a private outdoor space this is the ideal time to start planting!

36. An acupressure mat can increase circulation during long periods of sitting down. The mat sits between you and your usual chair and stimulates blood flow – they are available on Amazon and can be found for under £20

37. Walk the dog! It’s still fine to be out of the house if you are walking your dog – a great excuse to spend more time bonding with your pet canine

38. ‘House-walking’ is the new trend for people who like counting their steps using a fitness tracker – trying to rack up your usual 10,000 steps whilst housebound isn’t easy but it will make a significant difference to your fitness if you can give it your best shot!

39. Cleaning can be a great workout! Not only does it obviously help to keep your immediate environment as clean as possible, but activities like hoovering and scrubbing tough grime can burn up to 190 calroies an hour!

40. Mowing the lawn can burn up to 280 calories an hour as well as add to your daily steps! 

We hope that some of these ideas contribute to keeping you moving over the coming weeks – follow us on twitter to keep up to date with news and content from Engage