How To Manage Your Daily Exercise Time During Lockdown
Is coronavirus isolation piling on the pressure? Here’s how to make the most of your daily exercise time
These are strange times, but the running4women team is here to help you stay fit and healthy.
At the time of writing, you are all allowed to exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person (in which case you should stay 2m apart). Exercise should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
Plus as much at-home exercise as we are able to (and want to!) fit in.
The question is, how can keen runners use that exercise time to stay fit, strong, and mentally robust?
Your Outdoor Exercise Slot
If you have the luxury of using your allotted daily outdoor exercise for a solo outing, use it for running! But make it count.
To work on fitness: Pick up the pace for a tempo run (run at your 10K pace)
To work on strength: Do hill reps using a steep hill (ideally off road)
To work on speed: Run a negative split with the second half of your run faster
To work on fat loss: Run sprint intervals, pushing to 90% of your max effort
At-Home Workouts
If your outdoor time is used for dog walks or family time, try to set aside space for home workouts. You don’t need any kit (although there’s lots you can do if you have a kettlebell, dumbbell, medicine ball etc). Your home workouts will need to combine strength and conditioning (cardio) training, so follow a circuit-style approach. Combine full body exercises like squat jumps, burpees, ground-to-overhead lifts, and skipping with bodyweight strength moves like lunges, press ups, shoulder taps, and air squats. 20 minutes is plenty to raise your heart rate and endorphins!
Exercising When Working From Home
If you’re WFH, it’s not always easy to find time to train at home. Approach home workouts as an important part of your new daily routine – after all, exercise will help you stay healthy in body and mind right now. Can you find 30 minutes for a home exercise session before work, at lunchtime, or in the evening when the kids are in bed? 30 minutes is long enough for a yoga stretching session, a cardio conditioning workout, or a strength-focused session.
Exercising With Kids At Home
Those of you with children at home deserve an extra round of applause. The pressures of home schooling and keeping the peace might mean your home workout time is severely compromised. Can you get your kids involved in an exercise session? Or use the family walk to run sprints? The coronavirus crisis has led to an amazing outpouring of free home workouts on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, many of which are great for kids as well.
The truth is, none of us are going to be achieving PBs during lockdown. Switch your focus to daily movement. Be consistent, develop a new routine, and challenge your body. You’ll be in a great position once lockdown is lifted and you can resume your regular training routine.
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