10 Ways To Move Your Body At Home So You Don't Lose Your Mind
by Chelsey Rose
If you’re sitting at home on your couch for the 7th day in a row, covered in cereal crumbs, in a light panic that your limbs might actually atrophy, we’ve assembled 10 easy, beginner ideas to get your endorphins firing again.
1. Try This Easy, Equipment-Free Yoga Flow:
You might hate yoga. We wouldn’t blame you. But there are approximately 8 million at-home yoga workouts that require ZERO equipment and will allow you to move and stretch, so maybe it’s the perfect time to give it another try? This 40 minute yoga flow requires nothing more than you, your mat, and a quarantine that’s forcing you to try new things.
2. Apparently, You Can Still Do Pilates Even Without A Reformer.
Pilates is one of the few workouts that most women don’t hate. But who can afford their own at-home reformer, let alone have the time/space/energy/knowledge to use it? Thankfully, this power pilates routine can be done solely on a mat and is blissfully straight forward. 8 exercises, 15 reps of each exercise, repeat 3-5 times. Done. Also, did we mention there is a PUPPY in the video?! This instagram page also has even more at-home pilates movements and circuits if you’re feeling adventurous.
3. If You Own A Single Set of Dumbbells, You Can Do This Full Body Workout
Even if you don’t have your own fully equipped at-home gym, you might already own a set of dumbbells (or, if you don’t, your partner probably has a set rotting in the back of your closet). This dumbbell-only workout includes 9 exercises that anyone can do at home. It targets upper body, lower body and core, and once again, features a puppy, which we’re starting to think is the best/only way to get us to watch.
4. You Can Even Work Out During Your Daily Conference Call
People can’t multi task. It’s proven. But if the only energy you can seem to muster is during a work-related conference call (because you basically have to be awake/alive for that), it might also be a great time to attempt to move your body. Since no movement is too small when it comes to exercising, here’s 4 that you can do on your next conference call. Mute on, of course.
5. Need Something To Do With The Baby? Try These 7 Exercises.
Believe it or not, your baby can do more than just give you radiating back pain (and love and purpose and all of that, yada). Though you’re likely already developing some serious muscles from just carrying and lifting your baby from the crib to the couch to the floor, these 7 exercises will help you get stronger and make you feel like a hands-on parent. Win win.
6. Only Have Enough Energy To Spare For 20 Minutes? Here’s A Quick Circuit To Make You Feel Like You Did Something:
Not only can this entire workout be done at home, but it only takes 20 minutes and it can be done with or without weights. (Also - check out the rest of this instagram page for more quick, at-home workouts).
7. If You Ever Bought A Band, Then You Can do These 8 Effective Booty Exercises.
You know that little 3-pack of exercise bands that are hiding in your hall closet that you bought once on a whim because it was January and you convinced yourself that this year was going to be different? Welp. You can finally use them. Because with one band comes 6 easy, at-home exercises that take no more than 20 minutes.
8. Stretching Still Counts As Exercise, OK?! So Try This Yin Yoga Video.
Thankfully, this isn’t the kind of yoga class where your shoulders feel like they’re about to pop off and you’re staring at your ankles for 45 minutes. If you’ve ever taken a yoga class that felt like a slow, beautiful, and gracious all-over stretch, then it was probably a yin yoga class. This one is a no-prop, at-home option that you can still count as your daily dose of movement.
9. Try This If You’re One Of Those Psychopaths Looking For “A Good Sweat”
While sweating doesn’t determine if a workout was actually beneficial, sometimes, certain workout fanatics (or, psychopaths) swear that “a good sweat” actually feels great. If you’re one of those people (no judgement, we swear), then try this 15 minute workout, which is only 2 rounds of five exercises with just 30 seconds of rest in between each exercise. It’s also fully guided so you know exactly what to do.
10. Checking Emails on Your Phone? Why Not Add in These 5 Exercises While You're At It?
Let’s be real. Most of our time during this quarantine is being spent “checking work emails” aka scrolling through Instagram and online shopping while laying on the couch. But if you have one extra ounce of effort, you can try these 5 exercises the next time you’re scrolling on your phone (and tell your partner/kids to leave you alone because you have “so much work to do.”)
Bonus Idea: Support Your Local Fitness Studios!
You might already have a favorite pilates/yoga/boxing studio, and you might be wondering how you can simultaneously work out and still support them? Our advice: check them out on Instagram. Fitness studios are quickly pivoting their business models, offering online classes for $5-10 or free streaming workouts via Instagram live. And most of them are posting their new schedules on Instagram. It’s a great way to get some structure and motivation, while supporting your local small businesses.
We know everything is infinitely harder right now. Taking care of the kids. Having to homeschool them. Working from home. So we’re all just trying to find ways to make this difficult, scary situation a bit easier.
