Staying fit remotely: Worth the time and effort
As we continue to adjust to working and studying from home, it's important to keep our bodies moving
Over the past few weeks, we have heard and seen many suggestions and tips for adapting and changing to our evolving situations. One tip is to continue to keep your body moving through exercise. Currently, it’s allowable to continue to get outside and hike, walk and run while practicing social distancing. But how do we do more at home? Fitness and Recreational Sports continues to offer a variety of workouts and classes to keep you moving daily. Our website has a 30 day body weight and backpack workout template and our social media accounts do live classes weekly, ranging from HIIT workouts to Yoga.
The importance of keeping your body moving hasn’t changed. Adjusting your life to being at home is in many ways very similar to starting college. Schedules and routines have been uprooted and are replaced with the tempting allure of laziness. You must not fall victim to these temptations! Recommit to finding new ways to manage stress, adapting to new schedules and finding time for physical movement is still important. Exercise has many benefits to both physical and mental health. Research has shown that exercise helps boost your mood, keep you focused, sleep better, and lower your risk of disease. Consistent physical activity throughout the week has even been shown to have a positive impact on improving GPA as well as improving graduation and retention rates. Continuing to develop and stay consistent with healthy living habits is arguably more important now than before.
Lacking motivation? Don’t have equipment? Don’t worry. Fitness and Recreational Sports wants you to find happiness in physical movement. Don’t overcomplicate it. Try a yoga class, do air squats, burpees or go for a twenty-minute walk. Find what will help you stay consistent. Finding a virtual accountability buddy, set goals and schedule the time. Whatever it is, we want to see you moving. Just starting? Start with small steps, 10-15 minutes and gradually build up. It can be something as simple as stretching! Allow yourself to feel accomplished after completing any form of movement, no matter how small it may seem. Try yoga and then add some cardio. Continue to stretch and move as you increase the difficulty of your workouts. As William Ernest Henley reminds us: you are the master of your fate, the captain of your soul. Have fun moving and reap the many benefits! 鈥
Our department and instructors have continued to host classes for all fitness levels on zoom, Instagram live, and YouTube. You can find with no equipment needed to keep you healthy during this time.