On Wednesday the 4th of November, Dan and Foxy sat down to talk about ways that we can stay fit and healthy during the Winter Lockdown and how we can stay on top of our physical and mental health and wellbeing. As we progress through the final week, here are five tips they suggested to stay healthy during Lockdown 2.0.
1. Stay Active
Lockdown changes the way many of us work, whether that be working from home or even not at all. This can affect your activity levels during the day, as you normally would spend time walking around in your office or workplace and then possibly going to the gym or playing sport.
With lockdown resulting in many of us staying at home, it’s more important than ever to get active and move around, even if you only have 10-15 minutes a day. A quick HIIT workout or even a short walk to get your blood pumping and your endorphins flowing can combat lockdown reducing your day to day physical activity and affecting your mental health.
Elevate are running online classes throughout lockdown, so there is no excuse of the gym being closed as a reason to not exercise! The class timetable is available on our website, social media and at the bottom of this article.
2. Set yourself a target
Setting targets are a great way to stay motivated and track progression. That could be to increase the number of press-ups completed in a minute, reducing your 5K time by 10 seconds or even to improve your mobility. You could even set a less physical target like to read a new book every month or to finally paint the spare room. This can help you improve your wellbeing through the satisfaction of achieving a target, and then setting a new one to keep you motivated and continue improving yourself.
3. Stick to a schedule
With many of us working from home due to the Lockdown, we find ourselves working longer hours and possibly working through breaks. Try to separate your working hours and personal hours in order to ensure you don’t overwork yourself mentally and physically.
This can be done by setting yourself a working schedule similar to what you would follow in your normal workplace, whether that be 9-5 with a lunch hour, or your specific shift hours. Sticking to your standard working hours will give yourself a better work/life balance, allowing you to do the things you enjoy outside of work such as spending time with your family, exercising or just relaxing. Make an effort to not mentally drain yourself, and your mental health and physical health will see the benefits.
4. Hold yourself accountable
During Lockdown, there will be plenty of times where you don’t feel motivated or feel like doing something productive. It can be very easy to give in to that feeling and make little excuses for why you shouldn’t work out or read a chapter of a book. Once you start to give in to this feeling, it can snowball and be difficult to get out of the mindset of not wanting to be productive. Especially during lockdown, its more important than ever to focus on being mentally strong enough to push yourself to train, even if you don’t feel like it or if its more convenient to skip it. Sometimes we may not feel up to doing a session, but you never regret when its over.
5. Reach out to others
It can be hard for a lot of people to motivate themselves individually, which is why group classes work so well for many as the people around you can motivate you to carry on and improve. Lockdown can make people feel especially lonely and de-motivated so its more important than ever to reach out to others if you’re struggling.
Make sure to keep in contact with each other and motivate each other to reach their targets and look after your physical and mental wellbeing. Whether that be joining in on an Elevate online class, or simply just calling a friend to check in and have a chat, don’t go through lockdown alone! We’re always here for you if you need some advice, motivation or a quick chat to get through things, just contact either Dan or Foxy directly and they’ll be happy to help.
With the recent announcement that gyms can reopen on 2nd December, we’re delighted that we’ll be welcoming you back to Elevate. Up until then, you can enjoy our online classes for free.
Click the link below to book your slot for the classes.
Group Classes – elevate Fitness Peterborough (elevatefitnessuk.com)
Julie Burborough: Elevate member
