Home Alone Health: Exercise the Boredom Away With These Easy Workouts for One
This post is provided courtesy of Ankit Nayal, Director of BActive Sanlitun Soho gym, as well as an ACE certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist.
If we could recommend one thing to add to your daily schedule, it would be a little bit of fitness. A lifetime of exercise offers you not only physical benefits – weight management, reduce the risk of heart disease, strengthen your bones and muscles, etc. – but mental ones as well, including improved sleep, stress relief, and an increase in energy.
The only caveat is, in order to attain these benefits, you must also exercise consistency. To see results, you need long-term commitment. With Beijingers continuing to operate under various levels of lockdown, and many gyms across the city closed, it goes without saying that getting enough exercise has not been a priority for many. However, being stuck indoors with restricted movement makes it even more imperative that we try to remain fit and healthy.
To help you stay active, I have created a set of three fitness workouts that can be easily achieved at home. They are divided into three sections:
- Healthy at Home Alone (workouts for one)
- Mingle, Jingle, and BActive (find a partner, have fun, and sweat together)
- Summer Abs (abs-focused workout for people eager to get ready for the pool)
Each of the workouts is based on the Tabata training style, a high-intensity interval training (HITT) system that originated in Japan and is ideal for burning fat, improving your metabolism, and boosting athletic performance. A circuit comprises eight exercises and you are advised to follow the order below:
- Circuit: 8 exercises, 1-3 rounds each depending on your fitness level
- Work time: 20 seconds per exercise, 10 seconds rest before the next exercise
- Post circuit rest: 60-120 seconds after each circuit
- Workout duration: 4 minutes to 15 minutes (depending on circuits and rest)
What you'll need: Towel, timer, and a big bottle of water.
Let the exercise begin!
Squat jacks: Perform a jumping jack and then pop a squat. This is a combination of two of the most popular bodyweight exercises: squats and jumping jacks.
Target: Legs, glutes, shoulders.
On the spot jog/sprint: Attempt to jog/sprint while standing in place. Do not run into the wall!
Target: Agility, endurance.
Pushups: Facing the floor, put your hands shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower your body down to the ground and then push back up. With use of a workout bench or something equally as sturdy, these can be done with the upper body elevated (hands on the bench, easier) or lower body elevated (feet on the bench, harder).
Target: Chest, shoulders, arms.
Plank jacks: Get into a plank position and then propel your feet apart to shoulder-width while maintaining the plank. (If you couldn't tell, we love exercises with "jacks" in their name.)
Target: Core, shoulders, arms.
Butt kicks: Put your hands on your butt and kick your heels back so that they tap your hands.
Target: Hamstrings, glutes, endurance.
Mountain climbers: Assume a high plank position. Alternate kicking your legs up to your chest.
Target: Core, arms.
Standing alternate heel touchers: On your feet, try to tap your heel by lifting your sole up to your hand in quick repetition. Switch sides and gradually speed up.
Target: Legs, core, endurance.
Reach out plank: Get into a high/low plank position. While maintaining the plank, reach out in front of you, one hand at a time.
Target: Core, arms.
That's it! Now just repeat these easy steps every day in order to stay active and stay healthy, Beijing. Jiayou!
READ: Break a Sweat Indoors With These Free Online Fitness Classes
Ankit Nayal has been a bodybuilding athlete since 2016, and has ample experience in making his clients fit and healthy. He also loves to undertake various social impact projects, and is actively involved with Fitness4Hope, FitFam Beijing, Krankin Through China, and a current campaign to help physically disabled orphans and disadvantaged children at Our Learning House (more on that here).
Connect with Ankit on Instagram @currygainz or on WeChat ID: @ankit_n_c for regular gym motivation, workouts, and healthy food tips. You can also follow the BActive public account for updates on 24-hour gym life:
Photos: Ankit Nayal
