Exercising with No Gyms and No Sport

The current environment makes it hard for many of us to work as much exercise into our routine as we’d like.

We know there are many health benefits to exercise (Read about them here), so it’s important we are all getting enough exercise.

So how do you keep exercising in the current environment where gyms are closed, organised sports are cancelled and public exercise equipment is off-limits?

Buying some exercise equipment at home seems the obvious answer, but it’s an answer so obvious that many people have done it and now it’s hard to get your hands on any.

Here are some ideas to work more exercise into your routine in the current environment.

Walk, Run or Cycle

Who needs a treadmill or a stationary bike when you can get the real thing? These activities are great ways to work on your cardio. They’re also a great excuse to meet up with a friend and go for a walk, run or bike ride together while maintaining social distancing.

Alternating periods of walking and running is a great way to introduce yourself to running if it’s not an activity you’re used to. You can start with longer periods of walking than running, and gradually increase the running intervals until you’re comfortable going for a run.

Makeshift Hand Weights

One litre of water weighs one kilogram, so bottles filled with water are good homemade hand weights.

Milk bottles are particularly good for this, because they come with handles that make them less awkward to use, and can be used for weights up to 3kg.

Resistance Band Exercises

You can buy a small length of resistance band from us, or you might still have some lying around the house from previous exercise prescriptions.

These are handy bits of equipment because they can provide resistance in any direction, like a pulley system at the gym.

Bodyweight Exercises

Pushups, lunges, squats, sit ups, tricep dips are some obvious ones. Check out this list of 50 bodyweight exercises for some ideas to mix them up a bit

Incidental Exercise

You don’t only get exercise by putting time aside to do cardio exercises or resistance exercises. Anything activity you do that increases your heart rate can be exercise.

Taking the stairs rather than an escalator or elevator, doing physical house work and yard work, parking further away than you need to so you have a longer walk are all ways you can squeeze more exercise into your day.