By Sasha Smith-Lead Blogger at Black Girls Nutrition
Picture this: You’ve made a firm promise to yourself to stay dedicated to your workout regimen. Perhaps New Year’s has just passed and like many others you’re using the fresh start as an opportunity to reignite your goals towards a fitter physique and healthier lifestyle. You’ve purchased equipment, clothing, a sweatband, sneakers, gone grocery shopping, and maybe even renewed that gym membership — you’re good to go. And then it happens. You wake up early enough to get a sufficient workout in, look out your window and it’s reminiscent of a winter wonderland. Sound familiar?
Well, if you live anywhere in the northeastern part of the U.S. or in any climate prone to snow, this is bound to happen at some point and it could even last for a few weeks at a time. Thus, causing you to miss out on precious workout time and lose steam in your motivation to get out there and burn, burn, burn those calories! So, it’s probably best to just wait until spring rolls around right? Wrong! There’s always an alternative workout just waiting. If you’ve found yourself in a weather-induced workout rut, try these five relatively easy indoor workouts that you can do from the safety and warmth of your own home.
1. Stair workouts:
This one may only work if you live in a building or house with multiple levels, but it could also work with front or back door steps. Running in intervals up and down stairs is a great way to warm up your body. You can also use the stairs to stretch your legs or do uphill lounges. We recommend completing a circuit of running up and down your stairs for 12–15 reps.
2. Dumbbells and sofas and walls, oh my!:
There’s just so many things you could do in the comfort and privacy of your living room! If you’ve got a set of dumbbells handy you have the flexibility to target your arms, legs or complete a full-body circuit. Using your sofa, chair or love seat you can easily complete reps of seated concentration curls, dumbbell presses, or single-arm rows.
For a core workout try using a wall as support to complete a rep of squats or planks. We suggested completing 4–6 reps of 15 squats!
3. Just a download away:
There are so many apps available to aid with getting you through a successful workout, no matter where you are or what area of the body you’d like to focus on. Most apps offer visuals, videos, interactive coaches and music playlists. And the best part? Most of them are inexpensive or completely free! A few of our favorites are: Nike+ Training Club (Free; Android and iOS), Lose It! (Free; Android and iOS), FitStar (Free; iOS), Sworkit (Free; Android and iOS) and MyFitnessPal (Free; Android and iOS).
4. Mat work:
Having a yoga mat is an essential piece of exercise equipment and is well-worth investing in! You can do yoga, stretching, cardio, plyometrics, pilates in addition to any of the exercises mentioned above with your dumbbells. There is much to choose from when it comes to mat work. For a full body workout we suggest doing planks with leg lifts or supermans. For a purely leg-targeted workout try 3–4 sets 12–15 double leg lifts, squats and mountain climbers. And as mentioned it’s the perfect way to ‘cool down’ after a high-intensity workout with yoga or light stretching.
5. Snow’s natural little workout gift — shoveling!:
Very few of us like shoveling and it can be gruesome, but besides clearing your sidewalk, driveway or car out it can provide the added benefit of a great arm workout. The constant scooping and lifting snow will target your biceps, triceps and shoulders. And depending on how you’re shoveling you could also get a great leg workout in. Our take on it is, if you have to do it anyway why not get a workout out of it and cross that off your to-do list for the day too?
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