7 Tips for Staying in Good Health and Shape at Home

The global pandemic has affected every aspect of life, from work to home, to recreation, to fitness. With the closure of most communal places and personal services, gyms are closed and even the healthiest fitness buff can struggle to maintain their workout regiment during the health crisis.

What steps can you follow to keep your body condition and overall health and happiness, while isolated at home?

1. Grocery Shopping and Maintaining Diet

As with before the unfortunate Gym closure, diet is very important to maintaining your health and fitness while at home. There are many options available to ensure you have balanced and healthy meals available to you.

Many people can get stuck in the ‘junk food trap’, ordering pizza or takeout due to lack of motivation, but rather than sink into this trap, start a meal prep and planning routine. Shop for your groceries once a week. If you don’t feel comfortable going to the supermarkets given the global pandemic, sign up for a home delivery service for example Hello Fresh or Chefs plate.

By ensuring you are maintaining a healthy and balanced meal routine, you can take the first step to maintain your 6pack, rather than developing your beery belly.

2. Being Active Every Day

This can be incredibly challenging for people who are used to the activity but in a gym setting. Fitness at home is very important to maintaining your overall health and happiness, even if you can’t afford to equip a fully functional home gym, there are fitness items you can purchase, such as a set of weights or a yoga mat, to help you keep fitness in your life at home. There are many cost-effective ways to ensure you are maintaining your fitness level while maintaining distance and being in your home.

Spend 30 minutes a day stretching, weight lifting, or even running/jogging through your hallways. Do whatever you can to set a daily activity goal and stick with it.

3. Setting Health Goals and Challenges

Maybe you aren’t used to working out at home, or don’t currently work out but are finding yourself bored while contained within the home. Set goals for yourself, be they a monthly weight goal daily activity goals, or future measurement goals. Set these goals for yourself and keep them in the forefront of your mind.

By reaching these goals daily, weekly, and monthly, you will feel healthier for the activity, and accomplished every time you complete your assigned goal. This also benefits your mental health, as it allows you to have something to work towards, and helps to keep you out of mental stagnancy while staying home.

4. Enrolling in Online Fitness Classes

It is often difficult to achieve your fitness goals if you don’t have the discipline required to work out alone. The gym is a great social environment where often you will meet with friends or personal trainers and have a sense of community.

Without this, you may struggle to reach your goals or feel increasingly isolated. Enrolling in online fitness classes, using zoom or skype to socialize with other participants can help to ensure you give your body the daily and weekly activity required to maintain or improve your physical and mental wellbeing.

5. Social Networking for Mental Health

Rather than putting down the phone and quitting Facebook, pick up that phone and join fitness groups. Utilize the digital tools available to you to communicate with like-minded people This will help you to feel less isolated, and put you in the group mentality, and can offer support if you are struggling mentally.

This feeling of community is very important to overall mental and physical health.

6. Asking for Help When You Need it

Don’t hesitate to reach out to your social networks for help. If you are struggling to meet your activity goals, if you are feeling dismayed at staying home more than normal, reach out and talk to someone.

The groups you join are there to support you, and there are also many mental health outreach lines you can contact if you need someone to talk to. If you feel yourself spiraling into darkness and loneliness ASK FOR HELP and seek camaraderie and support through your social networks. Don’t suffer alone, many options are available to help you feel healthy and connected during the global pandemic.

7. Getting Outside (Even Just Walking out the Front Door)

Get fresh air, take a walk around your backyard. Take a walk around your neighborhood (while maintaining appropriate social distancing), but get outside!

Breathe some fresh air, feel the rain on your skin, the wind in your hair, to remind yourself that the outside world does exist, and enhance your feeling of freedom while reducing sentiments of loneliness and isolation.

Following these steps can help to ensure you maintain your good mental and physical health from the comfort of your own home and assist with overwhelming feelings brought on by the inability to be as active and social as before.