Staying Safe While Working Out at Home During Lockdown

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed many of our exercise regimes. Up until massive closures of businesses, schools and facilities, many of us would head to the gym, train with a personal trainer, head to fitness classes, attend sports clubs, spend time in yoga studios, and much more to hit our recommended daily exercise targets. But since social distancing and lockdown measures have been put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19, many of these places are now closed.

Of course, it’s still extremely important that you get one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week, or seventy five minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a week. Many of us are using our daily allocation of time for outdoor exercise to achieve this - walking, jogging, running or cycling locally while maintaining a two metre distance from anyone else exercising in our vicinity. Some of us have taken up home workouts, investing in home workout equipment and following online tutorials.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember at this time is that you have to stay safe while working out. Now isn’t the time to put extra strain on healthcare systems with unnecessary injuries. You also want to avoid public places like hospitals and doctors’ surgeries as much as possible right now. So, what can you do to stay safe during these times? Here are a few steps to follow.

Listen to Government Advice

Let’s first focus on what you can do to protect yourself from coronavirus when working out outdoors. The first piece of advice is to complete your workout indoors if you can. There’s no point dragging your yoga mat to the local park to do your sun salutations if you can easily carry this out in your own home. Another piece of advice is to make sure you’re definitely two metres away from anyone else at any time. Avoid touching your face as much as possible. Tie your hair back tightly to avoid having to push it out of your face during your exercise. When you get home, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water.

Try Remote Consultations

If you usually have appointments with healthcare specialists who monitor your progress with injuries and other ailments (perhaps a specialist in physiotherapy) you may not be able to see them on a face to face basis right now. But you should reach out and see whether they’d offer some sort of remote consultation where you can check in via video link. This can help you to keep on top of your progress and seek any advice that you may need to continue your recovery during lockdown.

Only Use High Quality Equipment

Make sure to read reviews before buying any home workout equipment online. This will help you to guarantee that it’s good quality and safe to use.

Your health and wellbeing should be your top priority at all times. So, balance your exercise with safe practice and you should get the best of the best!