The covid-19 quarantine has been tough for everyone. Adjusting to working from home, gyms and shops closed, and just daily routines in general have been turned upside down. It has been easy to let the diets slide and slack off from workouts. However, we cannot keep this up forever and we need to get our health and fitness back on track as we do not know when getting back to normal is going to happen.

So, what do you do to get back on track?

Set yourself a daily routine. Like you would when you are going to work, set your day up at home on a similar schedule, have a set start and finish time. Try to keep work to one area of the house so you know when you are sitting there you are working and if possible, keep the TV off and stay off Facebook during your work times to stop yourself getting distracted. Set yourself set break times, that way you know when you can enjoy some time on the internet, watch TV or even get in your workout. Setting break times can also help you have set times for eating.

If you have set times to eat it can help you to stop your snacking. Snacking is one of the biggest issues in quarantine as it is easy to get bored and think you are hungry. Use your breaks to have a set morning tea and lunch break (depending on how long your workday is, maybe an afternoon tea) and use these break times to prepare healthy snacks and meals instead of just grabbing that chocolate bar or packet of chips. Instead, cut up some fruit or vegetable sticks, make a filling salad for lunch. Make the most of the flexibility of being at home to make those delicious healthy meals you do not normally have time to make while you are at work.

The next thing is to start getting back into your exercise. Yes, it may not feel the same because you cannot currently go to the gym or your normal group workouts. But there is still plenty that you can do from home. First thing is to stretch, make sure you are stretching every day, even if you do not do a full workout. You can put together your own workouts with exercises you already know how to do. If you do not even know where to start, we do offer affordable programs on our store. We have a variety of Tabata, circuit and other high intensity style workouts available.  

If you are wanting to get outdoors for your exercise, you can do these home programs in your backyard, or at the park. Or if you don’t feel like doing a full exercise routine but want to get outdoors, opt for a walk or run instead, you get to go outside while still getting your exercise in. This can also help boost your mood too.

What do we do when the lock-down has been eased but it is not yet back to normal?

This is the next stage, where we are not yet back at work, but the lock-down has eased that little bit that some places are able to open again, but gyms are still closed. Keep doing what we have just discussed above, keeping in a routine will make transitioning back into work that much easier for you. As for the exercise, you can continue the home workouts. Who knows, you may end up enjoying these workouts more than what you were doing before the lock-down. Or if you have had enough and want to exercise out of your house, you could join a local outdoor boot-camp. These boot-camps are a great idea as you can get a training session with a trainer to push you, and with other people all while still maintaining social distancing. You can also do a combination of home workouts and outdoor boot-camps if you feel like one is not enough on its own.

Keeping on top of your health and fitness, even in times like this, is important physically and mentally.

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