Have you been struggling to find the motivation to maintain a fitness regime while being quarantined at home? Let’s face reality. Being isolated in the same space for over several months now has not been easy. It has given a 360-degree turn to everyone’s lives, quite literally. In times like these, when one cannot step out for a walk or run or visit the gym, it gets even more challenging to be charged up to exercise and workout indoors. But the truth is, any form of physical activity not just helps to make the day productive, but also gives a certain sense of accomplishment. An avid health and fitness enthusiast, Adam Nessim, tells us the secret to his perfect quarantine fitness routine.
Yoga
As someone who strongly advocates the importance of mind-body wellness, Nessim considers it vital to start his day with a few minutes dedicated to yoga. In his opinion, yoga is one such form of physical activity that demands no extra space, equipment, or help from a third-party. With the help of health apps and videos available online, Nessim has gotten himself trained and now makes it a point to do it regularly. To him, yoga is a source to get rejuvenated, stay mentally and physically fit, and improve focus overall.
Weight-training
Nessim suggests that being quarantined at home shouldn’t stop you from engaging in regular strength and weight training. From his indoor, mini-gym set up at the garage, he dedicates a few days from the week towards weight training in order to maintain his muscle mass, weight loss, boost metabolism and attain better sleep at the end of each day. In the absence of dumbbells of the desired weight, you can use water bottles, tins of beans, and other household objects as a substitute.
He also says, “Weight and strength training don’t fetch results instantly; it takes months and years of hard work and dedication to see the outcome. However, in my opinion, sometimes you need to put in the work even if it’s something you don’t want to do immediately. However, achieving small goals has a somewhat addictive property to it. Whether that’s in weightlifting, studying, developing a skill, or anything else in life. Sometimes the hardest part is just starting. Once you do, you can let momentum take over.”
Cardio
A quick every-day cardio workout is something that Nessim swears by! In his view, owing to the convenience, efficiency, and outcome that cardio workouts offer, it is something that you should incorporate in your schedule. Among others, skipping, jumping jacks, one-place jogging, burpees, squat jumps, mountain climbers, and staircase step-ups are the cardio exercises he practices and suggests others to undertake, too. “With minimal creativity, I’ve been able to burn calories, build muscles, and, importantly, stay fit. Luckily, cardio workouts require absolutely no fancy equipment or tons of space. To add to this, dancing is always an option and also the best form of cardio. It gets the heart pumping faster and helps burn calories quickly whilst enjoying and having fun. All that’s needed for a great cardio workout session is a playlist of foot-stepping songs,” adds Nessim.
Other than the workouts above, the young fitness lover ensures sparing a little time towards shoulder exercises with resistance bands, and chest workouts. He firmly believes that fitness drills do not necessarily have to be about jumping, dancing, moving, or stretching – the same effects can be attained by doing household chores too, for instance, through cleaning and gardening.
To those who haven’t had enough motivation to do some physical activity, whilst being locked up at home, Nessim recommends to start eventually, by doing one task per day, but to begin somewhere. He concludes by saying, “Though exercise may seem like the toughest thing to do now, do it by pushing yourself. Your physical and mental health will thank you later.”
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