Many of my clients find it difficult to fit in daily exercise around a high-pressured job and then have time for everything else, especially when they have children.
However, some people just don’t have a regular exercise routine in place – maybe they never have before – and that is okay. But ultimately you need to know that a sedentary lifestyle is not serving your body and therefore your health will be compromised.
If this time of intense focus and worry around health is sent to teach us anything, I believe it’s that everyone needs to look after their emotional, physical and mental health as best as they can. It needs to be a priority.
So today I want to inspire you to start a regular exercise practice whilst you’re at home.
If you start now and make the most of this opportunity, my hope is that you’ll realise how much better you feel and look, you’ll have set a consistent pattern of behaviour and so you will instinctively want to keep it up when everyday life resumes!
It will become your way of being.
Most people should have saved a decent amount of time on their commute so use some of this time for exercise.
Also, so many fitness experts and exercise platforms are offering free trials now, you have A LOT of resources to make the most of!
So, here’s my challenge to you: Exercise every single day at least once.
Here are the rules:
Walking is included but not if that’s the only form of exercise you do unless that’s all you can do for health reasons. If you’re less mobile find something you can do even if it’s from your chair as long as you are not putting yourself at risk.
If you’re feeling ill, exhausted, or sleep-deprived, skip the workout, it’s always more important that you rest rather than exercise if you’re in a depleted state.
If you usually say to yourself, ‘I can’t exercise on my own or indoors or from a screen’ – push through that block/resistance and do it anyway!
Don’t only do running, cycling/spinning i.e. intense cardio workouts — unless you’re an athlete and need to keep up a specific training routine.
Create a set daily routine and add it to your schedule — see mine below!
You can start with just 10minute workouts (this should be non-negotiable unless you’re ill) but aim for minimum 20mins, ideally 45-60mins.
Don’t sacrifice the sleep that you need for exercise.
If you exercise in the morning before breakfast, make sure you have a snack beforehand.
Ideally, don’t exercise super early or super late in the day (between 8.00pm-6.00am), unless it’s a calming, restorative type of exercise such as yoga or stretching. Intense exercise during this time is likely to ramp up your stress hormones.
So, with all of those points in mind, here’s the typical weekly exercise routine that I recommend:
1 x Endurance: running, cycling, spinning, rowing, aerobics, dance, rebounding
1 x High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): sprinting, Tabata, circuits, HIIT workouts
4 x Muscle Conditioning: barre, yoga, Pilates, calisthenics, martial arts, whole body weight moves (plank, push-ups, burpees, squats, lunges etc), stretching
1 x Day of Rest and/or a walking
Point to note; ideally walking should be something you’re doing every day in any case but if you use walking as the exercise method for the day make sure you’re going for a brisk walk for at least 20mins or a good long walk of an hour or more.
It’s up to you when you do the daily exercise. You may only have a certain time available, but I would say morning exercise is best otherwise just before lunch or late afternoon.
I recommend morning exercise because it typically enhances your mood – you start the day feeling accomplished, it helps to clear your mind, it eats up the morning stress hormones and you start your day on the feel-good endorphins. But be sure to have a snack before the exercise if you’re eating breakfast afterwards.
If you don’t know where to start when looking for exercise workouts, ask a friend who works out, look on YouTube searching the methods mentioned above.
I’m sharing my current workout routine with you here so you can see how this works for me whilst we’re social distancing here in the UK:
Get ready, set, go!
Kate
