With tight new lockdown legislation, gyms have shut across the UK forcing the UK’s population to work out at home. Whilst its challenging, it also creates an opportunity for creativity.
Those that trained at home before did so out of necessity and will not struggle at all in adapting to the current lock down. Those that nearly always trained in gyms may find it challenging.
At PT Academy we thrive in challenging times and environments and we have developed a simple guide of what to do to keep fit at home;
- Follow an online program
We always recommend following some kind of program. There are loads available online to download for free. There are also literally hundreds of subscription-based programs available such as Beach Body, many with progression meaning that you will never get bored or have to do the same workout twice if you don’t want to. Following a program will ensure better results. If you are writing your own, make sure you include progression and be willing to adapt the program to any given environment. At PT academy we have an amazing online program design course that we are allowing people to jump on for free to help them learn how to program specifically during lock down, if you would like more details please visit https://ptacademy.com/cpd-courses/programme-design
- Tune into a live work out
There are several celebrity influencers who are hosting online live workout programs on Instagram and Facebook pages. Joe Wicks had over two million people tune into his first live workout following the lock down. The key thing with tuning into live workouts is variety, tune into two or three different trainers for variation in exercise and technique. We offer live sessions for you to join in on our Insta live every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8am. We would also recommend you check out the following online sessions on Instagram and Facebook: Street Gym and Barry’s Bootcamp.
- Be Creative
Lockdown should be forcing you to think outside of the box, especially if you don’t have access to gym equipment. Take a look at the things you have in your house and decide which ones could aid you in your training. Think of solid objects first such as chairs and stools. Chairs are great to do incline and decline press ups from, foot stools and coffee tables can also be used for reverse dips. Depending on how creative you are you could turn a lot of household items into gym equipment. On the odd chance you happen to live on a farm and you have chickens, nothing can beat a good old Rocky workout chasing and catching chickens! Due to hygiene, we don’t recommend using food items as gym props.
- Hire A Trainer
Just because gyms are closed doesn’t mean personal trainers have retired. A lot of successful trainers are continuing to coach their clients remotely using Apps such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Skype to deliver successful workouts. The best thing about hiring an online trainer is that you no longer have to be geographically close to them, you can choose a trainer who is offering distance personal training sessions from anywhere. Just ensure you and the trainer have good Wi-Fi or mobile data connections and ensure you do some kind of online consultation with them first to test that connection. The last thing you want is your trainer’s Wi-Fi signal to drop in the middle of your session.
- Change your environment
What do we mean by change the environment? Simply change the place you do the workout, (as long as it’s safe to do so). Try everywhere in and outside your house – literally. Your garden, your lounge, your garage, your bedroom, your kitchen etc. Switching your environment keeps your motivation levels higher and can challenge you, especially if some spaces are more confined than others.
Try our round the house challenge where you repeat the same circuit in 5 different rooms in your house on the same day.
Circuit 1 in your lounge first
10 x Burpees, 10 x Sit ups, 10 x press ups, 10 x squat thrusts, 10 x close grip press ups, 10 x leg raises, 10 x ab crunches, 10 x mountain climbers
And then repeat the same circuit in 4 different rooms in your house. That counts as one lap.
Then
Go back to room 1 and do
9 x Burpees, 9 x Sit ups, 9 x press ups, 9 x squat thrusts, 9 x close grip press ups, 9 x leg raises, 10 x ab crunches, 9 x mountain climbers
And then repeat in 4 different rooms in your house and then repeat the circuit by reducing the sets all the way down to one.
You can of course build it up if needed and just do one lap of your house to start with and then increase the number of laps day by day.