Our blog provides proven, positive actions you can take to stay healthy and happy.
Beating The Stay At Home Blues
Working from home and staying inside during this quarantine is a big adjustment for many of us. The lack of structure and in-person interaction can feel foreign and uncomfortable. Plus, it can make it difficult to create an effective workout for yourself and stay in shape.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are many effective bodyweight movements, and with a little creativity, we can use items from around the house to create a comprehensive, effective home workout.
Should I Workout At Home During The Quarantine?
Before starting, you may have wondered if it’s a good idea to work out during the COVID-19 outbreak. The answer is decidedly, YES. Research shows that regular exercise can reduce the likelihood of contracting a virus by up to 50%, reduces the severity of symptoms, and speeds up recovery.
In addition, exercise also stimulates the production of endorphins that boost mood (the “runners high” effect). Super important right now.
When you add in more complex movements such as those in our Foundry at-home workouts, you produce Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which causes nerve cells to grow and form new connections. This has been shown to be just as effective as medication for treating depression, and it can also speed up skill acquisition and improve productivity, learning and memory!
How To Create a Good Home Workout
For starters, identify a space in your home to use for working out. Typically an 8x8ft space will be sufficient, but if you are under 6′ tall, you may be able to get by with even less.
Clear away any rugs or other items you don’t want to get sweaty. Once you have your space set up, let’s find some weighted objects to add variety to our movement choices. If you have dumbells or kettlebells, awesome. If not, we’ve found that taking a backpack and filling it with weighted objects (books, jugs of laundry detergent, bottles of water, or wine cubes) creates an effective resistance tool that can be used in place of actual fitness equipment. Here’s a video on how to set up your backpack.
Next, we’re going to pick 3-5 movements. Here’s a list of ideas to get you started:
Bodyweight
- Squats
- Lunges
- Planks (or shoulder taps in plank)
- Side Planks
- Mountain Climbers
- Situps
- High Knees
- Burpees
- Pushups (scale to knees)
- Jump and tap the thighs
- Jump Squats
- Jump Tucks
With BackPack
- BackPack Swings
- BackPack Cleans
- BackPack Lunges
- Backpack Snatches
- Backpack Situps
- Backpack Squats
Essentially, you can use it as a kettlebell or weight most bodyweight movements for an added challenge.
Creating The Workout
For each movement selected, assign 10-40 reps based on difficulty and how long it takes to complete. Then organize the movements into and select a timeframe. Typically a timeframe between 12-20 minutes will be effective, so long as you are working hard. Here’s an example (click image for video overview):
Every Minute on the Minute for 15 minutes (5 rounds)
MIN 1 – 20 Backpack Thrusters
MIN 2 – 10 Burpees Over Backpack
MIN 3 – 15 Backpack Sit-ups
Try it and let us know what you think!
More Home Workout Options:
At The Foundry, we provide our members with an at-home workout option every day, and check-in several times per week to provide accountability. In addition, we have live, interactive classes three times per day with instruction, guidance, and feedback. To learn more about our online virtual fitness programs, setup a Video interview with one of our coaches