The news that we would only be allowed a limited amount of time to leave the house, let alone exercise during lockdown, will have caused untold amounts of stress to many. Progress made over the past months and years in terms of a person’s mental and physical well being for many would have been negated overnight. With the chance of another lockdown on the horizon if Covid cases rise again, we need to properly prepare ourselves this time around by ensuring we are still able to get in our physical activity while stuck at home.
Below are a few activities that you can do during lockdown in order to help you stay fit.
1) Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo Switch)
The immensely popular Nintendo Switch has brought life back to portable gaming by making it even more suitable for group games. Since the Nintendo Wii came out over a decade ago, gaming companies have tried to get players to interact more with games by getting them to use their whole body during gameplay. We saw players standing up in front of their TVs, swinging an imaginary tennis racquet and rolling bowling balls and this opened up a whole new user experience for casual gaming.
The Ring Fit Adventure brings the physical activity from the Nintendo Wii into the present with a much lighter, less bulky controller and even more fun games to get you exercising at home alone or with family.
2) Pilates
What’s great about pilates is that you literally can stay in one spot and still get a workout in. Pilates, like yoga, focuses on your body’s flexibility, working to simultaneously improve your muscular endurance and strength.
If you don’t know where to start, first off get yourself a good quality mat (as you’ll be spending pretty much all your workout time on this), then download a top rated Pilates app on the App Store or Google Play store and get started. Or if you would rather pick and choose your courses or instructors, Youtube has thousands of instructional videos, which may be a blessing or a curse depending on how easily you can make up your mind.
3) Chess
“What?! Chess? Doesn’t that mean you’ll be sitting down all day? How will that get you fit?” – Just remember, fitness is not just what you see on the outside of the body, but it’s also what you can’t see in your head. You may be physically fit but are you mentally fit? Chess is a very popular board game, much in part thanks to the need to think strategically and steps ahead of your actual next move.
If you don’t know how to play chess or don’t have anyone to play with, just download one of the many apps online that will guide you on the basics until you are comfortable with your own game style. Again, like pilates, there are many resources such as videos online that will help you understand the game.