How to stay healthy during lockdown

We have spoken to two personal trainers to get the best tips and advice on how to stay fit and healthy, especially during this strange time with country being put on lockdown. Find it hard to find the motivation to exercise? These tips are what you need to get up and moving, exercising your body and mind!

A huge thank you to @bfitbethany_ and @boundarylakespt for taking the time to answer some important questions on physical and mental health and staying healthy.

@bfitbethany_ has vey kindly offered our residents and other people in the community spaces on her personal training app which includes many varied at home-workouts for 12 weeks, with a new daily exercise launching live each day. The app is personal for your own progression so if you would like to get involved and set up an account, contact @bfitbethany_ (see her contact details at the end of the post) with your name and email or contact us with your details to pass on!

What are your top tips to staying healthy, particularly in this situation?

I would say to keep moving, it is very easy to get in a slump and stay in your pyjamas all day. Get out of bed, get changed and go get some fresh air whether that be in your garden or for a walk!! @boundarylakespt

What are the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle?

If you’re leading a healthy lifestyle you’ll most likely feel like you have a positive state of mind. Exercise helps with stress and being healthier will help you lead a more pro active lifestyle. @boundarylakespt

How can exercise benefit your mental health as well as your physical health?

People who exercise regularly tend to do so because it gives them an enormous sense of well-being. They feel more energetic throughout the day, sleep better at night, have sharper memories, and feel more relaxed and positive about themselves and their lives.

And it’s also powerful medicine for many common mental health challenges. Regular exercise can have a profoundly positive impact on depression, anxiety, ADHD, and more. It also relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts your overall mood. And you don’t have to be a fitness fanatic to reap the benefits. Research indicates that modest amounts of exercise can make a difference. No matter your age or fitness level, you can learn to use exercise as a powerful tool to feel better. @bfitbethany_

What suggestions would you recommend for getting motivated to work out?

At this difficult time when we all must remain indoors, it’s more important than ever to make sure we are still remaining active for both our physical and mental health.

Earlier I demonstrated the importance of exercise on mental health and this I supported through feedback from my clients confirming just how much my workouts or just keeping active during the day has helped them at the minute. It’s great to keep connections with your friends and family as it’s something you can all do together, whilst adding the additional benefits of perhaps loosing a bit of weight or toning up.

The best way to keeping motivated is to set a goal. Be realistic and specific about what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. Then set smaller goals (almost like on a to do list) to add up to achieving the big goal. For example, I will make sure that every day I’ll do one of the At Home workouts from my challenge so that by the end of the week I have taken a successful step towards loosing some weight, which is my 6 week goal. @bfitbethany_ (See above for information on how to get involved with the at home workouts!)

What advice would you give for healthy eating?

I always like to use a calorie tracker, you can set yourself calorie and macro nutrient goals to keep you in track. If you’re unsure how to work these out there is plenty of information online or you can ask me. @boundarylakespt

What are the top at home exercises you would recommend for our ladies?

Some great home exercises for ladies can include ones to cover the whole body, here are my top 5:

1. Squats – This exercise is great for the quads (thigh muscles), glutes and hamstrings. However it’s also a great fat burner and can really activate your core.

2. Tricep Dips – This is the one to kill off those bingo wings! Hitting the backs of the arms and the underneath!

3. Glute Bridge – You’ll have a backside like Beyoncé with this one! Great firing up those core and Glute muscle fibres.

4. Plank – A top core exercise targeting the full group of ab muscles.

5. Lunges – Hitting that Lower body including the glutes but also working the abs by using balance and co ordination.

I’m also running an at Home Challenge including loads of workouts covering these exercises and more! (See at the top of the page for more info how to get involved!!).

What are the top at home exercises you would recommend for men?

While you may not have access to normal gym equipment, focus on body weight exercises like press ups, high intensity exercises like burpees or core exercises like crunches. You’ll probably find once we are back out of lockdown that your stability joints would’ve become a lot stronger. @boundarylakespt

What advice would you give to beginners new to exercise and what are the best exercises to start with?

There are many exercises that you can do at home where you can start from the bottom and progress up.

For example a press up you can start with doing knee press ups (taking the same form of a press up but resting your knees against the floor) and once your muscles develop you can then start progressing to a full press up.

A good leg exercise which will help develop your leg muscles is a squat. If you start with putting your right hand on your left shoulder then your left hand on your right shoulder, get a chair and sit back onto it then get back up without using your arms and hands to assist. This will help develop your leg muscles and will help your muscles develop the right form for a squat. @boundarylakespt

Why not give these exercises a go!

Some of the exercises that have been recommended above are exercises that we have implemented into our exercise programmes. Here at YMCA Basingstoke, we are releasing weekly exercise programmes including all-over body workouts, core, yoga, zumba, HIIT workouts and more, along with videos of how to complete the exercises! 

Lockdown Fitness

For more advice, tips and exercises follow:

Facebook – BFIT
Instagram – bfitbethany_
Website – www.bfitbethany.co.uk
Email – [email protected]

Instagram- boundarylakespt

Cara 09.04.2020