FITNESS - MAY
FITNESS - MAY By Mark Broadbent With gyms closed and people being asked to stay at home, working-out may have become difficult for many people.
and having the kids questioning you all day, and every other stress in your life, all adds up.
You may be feeling a bit lost without the familiar gym equipment to work on and not know what to do to either keep your current fitness and strength levels up, or even improve on them.
It’s important for your health to make sure you take time to relax and de-stress. This is probably the most important thing you can do right now.
If you usually train heavy, you may also be worried about losing your gains without weights to train with. Don’t worry. Bodyweight training can yield great results just as much as training in the gym can – if you do it right. It can also actually be even more beneficial as you’re learning to use your own body and move it the way it’s supposed to be moved, also without the strain on the joints that lifting weights can cause. So, what can you do to maintain or even improve your fitness levels whilst training at home? Aside from eating well – which is always essential, and never more so than now when you need your immune system to be on top form – you need to focus on 3 things: 1 – Meeting your daily energy expenditure – this is basically ensuring that you keep moving. Aim for your 10,000 steps a day whether that’s outdoors going for a walk, keeping the garden maintained, or around the house doing housework.
3 – Exercise. Beyond your 10,000 steps a day, it’s important to strengthen and move your body with a bit more intensity. Especially if you’re looking to change the shape of your body for the better. There’s a reason push-ups, pull-ups, squats and lunges feature in so many training plans (even ones in the gym!). It’s because they’re effective and accessible to everyone. Whatever level you’re at, you can start to work on these basic movements, and aim to progress/ improve on them continually. As long as you are continually progressing with the exercises, your strength will be going up. I don’t have space here for a full workout plan, but you can get the idea of what you need to work on, and if you need more ideas, head over to my Instagram (@markbroadbentpt) or Facebook (Mark Broadbent Online PT) pages for home exercise routines, exercise videos and more. You can also download the free 5-day Kickstart plan from www.MBonlinePT.com
2 – Ensuring you take time to relax and de-stress. A combination of training stress, work stress, coronavirus stress, boredom and feeling trapped, home-schooling
27
