As Temperatures Dip, Here's How You Can Stay Active

As temperatures dip, "waiting it out" without getting active may not be the best option if you want to hit your health goals. Instead, your home may need to become your gym. Now, what will you do at home to stay fit? Here are some thoughts.

Exercises You Can Do at Home

Now, what can you do to get or stay fit and active at home? So much! Here are just a few ideas. Remember to always warm up gradually at the beginning of an intense workout to let your heart rate and breathing increase and to reduce injury risk.

Quality TV Time

Are you among the home-bound Americans who are using this time to catch up on television shows or movies? Go ahead - you probably deserve it! As you are relaxing in front of the screen, why not turn it into a healthy activity? Grab those resistance bands or dumbbells, or that kettlebell, and work your muscles while watching. If you can't stand working out while you watch, you can do it during commercial breaks. And if you don't have any of these items, just refer to our handy tip sheet on household items you can use to get a workout in!

Adding Sets Between Chores

Doing the chores can be a workout in itself, but there are ways to increase the intensity and benefits of almost any chores. Whether you are cleaning the house, doing the laundry, or cooking, you can pause every few minutes to get in a minute or two of one or two-legged squats, wall push-ups, calf raises, bicep curls with water bottles, or other exercises.

The Power of Music

Are you looking for a sneaky way to burn calories faster while doing chores? Turn on some quick music and move to it. Speeding up your motions while washing the windows, sweeping, or carrying laundry around can increase the intensity of the activity. As a bonus, if you love the music you are listening to, you may get distracted and keep up your activity for longer.

Online Streaming

Online streaming services and recorded workout videos are all over the internet. Many of them are free, and many others are quite inexpensive. Dance, lift weights, do pilates or yoga, and try all kinds of other workouts from the comfort of your living room. If you have a yoga mat or towel, now would be the time to get it out for yoga or pilates workouts.

Kitchen Timer Workouts

What should you do? How much should you do? There is nothing simpler than a workout guided by the clock. Set a kitchen timer or the timer on your smartphone to ring every 30 seconds or minute, and get going! Just change exercises each time the timer rings. This works for almost anything, such as kettlebell moves, calisthenics, crunches, planks, and strength training exercises.

HIIT Workout with Jump Rope

Are you looking for a challenge? What about some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to burn calories, boost metabolism, and get your heart rate up? You can use your jump rope for the high-intensity intervals, and alternate it with walking, resting, or strength training. If you do not have a jump rope, you can boost your heart rate with plyometrics, such as jumping jacks, box jumps, or jumping squats.

For example, one workout with soup cans, dumbbells, or resistance bands might go like this:

• 30 seconds jumping rope.
• 1-minute bicep curls
• 30 seconds jumping rope.
• 1-minute deadlifts
• 30 seconds jumping rope.
• 1 minute overhead press
• 30 seconds jumping rope.
• 1-minute alternating leg dips.
• 30 seconds jumping rope.
• 1-minute tricep extensions.

You can continue this until you have worked all muscle groups once or twice.

Another workout might go like this.

• 30 seconds of jumping rope
• 1 minute of walking
• Repeat until you get to the goal amount of time you wanted to work out.

Lark is here for you for encouragement, reminders to get active, and reports showing your activity trends so you can stay motivated. Plus, Lark's other coaching areas can help you control weight, manage stress, and take care of yourself well during this challenging time.