Have you ever imagined a home workout of your own? Will persistent laziness wash out the comfort of exercising in your own private room and make reasons for not being physically involved a thing of the past? Is it more efficient to train at home than to get up at home?
Don't think about it: there are loads of perks to exercising at home, and you're just as likely to adhere to a home fitness routine as your workout plan. Lockdown does not suggest that the health targets must be tucked away.
This positive news falls courtesy of a recent report from the Journal of Physiotherapy. To find out what type of workout has stronger effects, researchers from Monash University in Australia tried to equate exercising at home with exercising at the gym.
How did the experts see the difference?
For 12 months, one group (gym group) of patients received a gym-based fitness regimen. The other group (home group), on the other hand, received a home-based workout regimen for 12 months. Those who exercised at home had telephone follow-up for BMI, overall satisfaction, the Hospital and Anxiety, and Depression Scale, and fundamental health assessments were both used at the end to assess all classes.
Surprisingly, no substantial variation between sample groups over the 12-month intervention span was observed. In both classes, commitment to fitness after the six-week regimen was done was the same, ensuring it's easy to remain inspired and continue the exercise routine even with the gyms locked.
There is one minor drawback: in-home fitness participants, the research showed feelings of stress intensified, likely owing to the loneliness involved.
Tips for home exercisers
The best home workouts are full of easy, full-body exercises such as burpees. Burpees have been found to function your pulse, respiratory system, and lift your metabolism much more than spinning, one of the better equipment-free metabolic exercises.
It is an "anaerobic" workout because it consumes the oxygen in the body more than you can replace it. If you wish to lose weight, this helps the body to burn more fat, making the burpee one of the better workouts you can perform at home.
For home exercisers, the experts give several other tips:
Challenge yourself against boredom and stop it.
You would not have the range of facilities and lessons at home that is required at a gym. So surf the web and browse workout magazines and try out the latest activities to make sure you're performing the right exercise.
Tony Swain, MS, fitness director of East Bank Club in Chicago, told WebMD that photos are everything. "Use them as a method and procedure reference," says Swain.
Find a fitness buddy.
When you've agreed to work out with a friend, you would be less inclined to make reasons.
Schedule the exercises.
American Council on Exercise spokesperson Kelli Calabrese, MS, ACE, CSCS suggests setting a schedule for your workout.
"Look at a calendar and type down your fitness appointments; reschedule it if anything pops along, and you need to adjust one," she said.
Use a diary.
To chart your success and jot down any breakthroughs you might have, use a diary. Please write it down, too, every time you have a tough day, to help you identify habits that you can crack. You will notice, for instance, that an egg-white omelet takes you more than a bagel through your morning exercise.
Set goals.
Calabrese said your goals should be something you can't accomplish right now but can do within your reach, such as training for a race or losing 20 pounds.
Offer yourself mini-rewards along the way: a new exercise journal, some eye-catching gym tights, or a new pair of shoes.
Make exercise a priority.
Find exercising as crucial as sleeping and eating to your life, Swain says. You have to think about it as a shift in lifestyle. It doesn't stop. Get out of the frame of mind that fitness is something that you can only do for a while.
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