10 Things To Do At Home To Stay Active And Fit During Coronavirus Quarantine
This is my biggest issue at the moment
It's a tough time right now with the lack of work and being made to stay inside due to the coronavirus, COVID-19, but if you're usually active, it's even more frustrating because gyms are closed. Some of us would rather lay around when we're home instead of making time to work out in the living room — it can be hard to focus on your fitness when you're worried about getting sick.
The bright side is that it is possible to stay motivated and push yourself to stay active at home. You can make a goal to work out once a day, just to keep moving until it's time to stop social distancing.
Check out some of our best suggestions below on things to do at home if you're looking to stay active and fit during quarantine.
1. Use phone workout apps to motivate you to be active each day.
If you don't have a Fitbit or some similar fitness tracker, get the free app called Sweatcoin. It's easy to stop being so active while you're inside quarantined, but what if you got paid to walk. Why not throw on a sweat-belt and run up and down the stairs in your house so that you can work out your legs and core? Or simply just walk around your house while the app runs and you watch a Youtube video.
2. Try some new workout videos on YouTube (there are TONS of them).
There are so many YouTubers who have all types of indoor workouts such as yoga, weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, and high-intensity interval workouts. These are becoming my go-to workout videos at the moment, especially since I have a yoga mat. I just lay it out and start my workouts right in my living room.
3. Make yourself a sleep schedule and stick to it.
We don't realize this, but oversleeping can cause weight gain (as does not sleeping enough). So try to sleep on some sort of regular schedule. Since we started quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic, I've started oversleeping — when naturally I can get up around eight or nine-o-clock in the morning. So I've been scheduling my sleep a little bit better, and when I wake up I do a morning workout, then eat breakfast, get some school work done, etc. You get so much more done when you work off of a steady schedule.
4. Do everything you can to keep eating healthy throughout your quarantine.
It can be hard if you're staying indoors to have enough fruit and veggies in the house (since they are perishable), but do your best when you do go grocery shopping to buy healthy food that will last as long as possible (and eat your perishable food first). Grocery stores are still open so you can still eat healthily and pick up what you need when you run out, but you also must watch what you eat, and try not to overeat. I know we're mostly indoors right now but that's not a reason to start munching through all of your snacks!
5. Give yourself a makeover, or organize your closet.
I feel like we have so much time on our hands right now with the lockdown, why not clean your room and go through your clothes and makeup? Try out some new looks with the stuff you already have. That will definitely keep you occupied from snacking, and trying on some outfits might motivate you to lose the weight you've been talking about losing. Summer is right around the corner ... I don't know about you but I'm trying to be ready for this bikini season for Summer 2020, whether or not I can hit up the gym.
6. Make yourself a DIY sweat belt to help you cut inches.
If you want to shed some inches off your stomach, try rubbing either Vaseline or vapor rub on your stomach, then wrapping your stomach with saran wrap for a make-shift sweat belt. I recommend sleeping with it overnight, but you could also watch your favorite shows while wearing it. This will d-bloat you and help you lose (water) weight faster — especially if you workout with it on.
7. Play active games with your kids or your siblings.
If you have kids, or siblings, they need to stay active more than anything during this time. So help tire them out, play hide and seek or have a pillow fight. Keep them active by playing with them around the house doing something other than watching T.V.. If this lockdown continues for longer than 2 weeks, its best to start getting creative now with staying indoors. I used to build forts, so why not start now?
8. Clean your house.
As fun as this sounds, you can actually burn quite a few calories by cleaning — especially doing things that are more active, like vacuuming, mopping, making the beds, etc. We have all this time home now to clean up our house, so why not start now? I literally wear a sweat-belt and clean the whole house and just watch the calories I burn while doing so.
9. Start learning the TikTok routines.
I've been dying to learn Doja Cats "Say So" dance, so why not during quarantine while you have nothing else to do? Or you can make some TikTok videos of your own. It'd be fun to do alone in your room, or with your siblings or kids if they're at home with you.
10. Walk and talk.
If you live alone, calling or video calling your friends and family can work. I don't know about everyone else, but I like to pace around my house when I talk on the phone, so chat it up and walk around! Walking and talking can be fun, especially when you're talking to your friends, so you'll be killing two birds with one stone. But even when you have a full house of people, that can involve a lot of walking around as well. I have a family of 5 so I can definitely say today during our lockdown I was up and down the stairs quite a bit, and even in our backyard for quite some time. So spend time with your family and talk about ... whatever... to burn calories and promote healthy communication while you're cooped up together.