I spent a few years working in corporate wellness. My job was to program exercise, create fitness incentives, and do fitness evaluations for employees, among other things. For the most part, employees worked in the building. However, sometimes employees would transition from the office to work from home. If they were regulars at the gym, we worked together to come up with customized workouts.

The spread of COVID-19 has shifted the workplace and life in general, and if only temporarily, allowed a few lucky people to work from home. If that’s you, here are a few ways to exercise while working from home.

Maximize the Morning

What was once, time spent commuting, is now time that you get back. Why not use it to get in a workout, or movement, first thing in the morning.

After your morning coffee and breakfast, of course.

With no gym commute, your home gym is the perfect way to officially begin the day. Organize workouts in whatever way works best. Partner with your personal trainer to come up with a home workout plan. If you don’t have a trainer and need a workout, feel free to send me a message and get a personal plan.

YouTube is a great budget option to find workouts to do from home also, along with countless apps.

If you don’t have equipment or a home gym for a morning workout, clear space in the bedroom or living room for a few body weight moves. Exercises like jumping jacks, push ups, squats, and planks require no equipment and limited space.

Dance

If exercise in the traditional sense is not your jam, dance! Dancing increases the heart rate, and is fairly low impact.

Make up your own choreography and move to your favorite music. If twerking is your thing, twerk. More into a freestyle type of movement? Go for that. Can’t think of anything to do? Try the Cha-Cha, or Electric slide. Set a timer to keep moving for 10 minutes at a time. Try three, 10-minute dance breaks during the day and accumulate 30 minutes of exercise.

Schedule a few of these dance breaks throughout your day for fun. They work at any time, but if you just had a stressful moment or anticipate one, dance fun is definitely the order of the day.

Get Outside

Use this one with caution. The whole point of social distancing is to limit contact with people. If you live in a heavily populated area, skip this one, opting to stay in the backyard.

Otherwise, go for a brisk, or just plain ole, walk outside. I use Spotify to plan playlists for class, and my own exercise. If you don’t have Spotify, put on your favorite music and start walking. The sidewalk is the safest route to take, of course.

If there’s no sidewalk, walk against the flow of traffic. At best, you can see an oncoming car instead of being hit by surprise, literally.

Throw a hand up and wave at neighbors from afar now and not be considered rude. Just shout, “Social distance!” and keep the pace.

Stand Up

Standing burns more calories than sitting. Stand when, and if you can. If there’s a long meeting on the schedule stand up to listen.

If you have the option to get a standing desk, look into that option. A floor mat provides cushion for joints while standing for long periods of time. If a mat is not an option, a cushioned carpet might work. Even if you don’t have a standing desk, just make sure you stand at some point during the day.

Fit Breaks

Fit breaks are small increments of time used to exercise. All it takes is three to five minutes to get in a little movement. I’m talking squats, 30-second planks, triceps dips (on a chair WITHOUT wheels please), and just simple marching in place.

Our phones are equipped with timers now, so just use the timer on your phone to keep track. If you use something like Outlook to keep track of meetings, you can schedule your fit breaks throughout the day. When the reminder pops up, start moving.

Tackle a bodypart every hour, or every other hour to get in a full body workout. You could focus on one body part for the day, switching up the exercise at each fit break. Or use the fit breaks to complete three to four sets of the same exercise throughout the day.

Get creative with movement and make it fun. Take breaks from sitting during the work from home, workday. Even something simple as standing at regular intervals to stretch is beneficial for blood flow, and fatigue.

If you’ve come up with creative ways to keep moving, let me know. I would love to hear.

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