how to progress your own home workout?
Hello peeps!
How are you? Today’s covid case numbers seriously give me chill. 7600++. God knows how anxious I am. Emir hope you’re doing ok, following along with SOP to keep yourself & others safe, & also taking time to check in on your mental health as well. Just have a quick chat with your BFF and you will feel okay. XX
As someone who works through anxiety, incorporating movement in my day, reaching out for help (I’ve recently started back morning mediation and talking to my siblings), taking time to relax, setting attainable goals for the day, cooking new recipes, researching my field, spending time with my siblings, taking tons of walks to the groceries store instead of driving, & doing things like taking hot showers have been super beneficial during this time.
Personally, I had to pivot real quick into attending online classes & sessions with my personal trainer. I’m so thankful for his support during this time & having this sense of community during these workouts that we all need right now. To my peeps, y’all have been rockstars & you make my heart so full. So many DMs me on insta to ask me how am I doing? You guys are my angels.
While movement is so important, you also don’t want to feel the need to do 10 workouts a day just because. We want to be mindful of not overdoing it or causing extra stress to the body during this time but also using exercise as a tool for overall health & mental health.
On the other end, if you find yourself feeling anxious, try movement and see how you feel after.
I get a question a lot about “how will I see progress with at-home workouts? I don’t have a lot of equipment.”
Well, I’m here to tell you what you CAN do to help see progress and stay consistent during this time by focusing on a few things based on my experienced.
tempo.
Instead of moving as quickly as you can through different movements, SLOW THEM DOWN.
Make your body WORK on the way down during a lunge or squat for 3-2-1 seconds and then return to the top.
This creates more time under tension in that movement instead of flying through it.
progression.
We talk about this a lot in the gym, how you shouldn’t always be reaching for those same 5kg weights each week, we want the weights to safely go up!
If you’ve always done push ups in a modified way, maybe try them on a table and work your way to a full push up which would be your progression from a modified version.
There are many ways you can progress a movement or a weight during this time.
intensity.
You can measure intensity based on how you feel, which is called the rating of perceived exertion (RPE).
A 1-2 on the scale would be little to no effort, 8-9 would mean you’ve got 1-2 reps left in the tank, and a 10 would be your maximum effort. This will look differently for each individual.
You don’t always have to be dripping in sweat or doing burpees for the exercise to be effective and beneficial. While I do love a good sweat, I honor that my body doesn’t need it 6 days a week to be consistent and happy.
Try to alternate higher intensity sessions with lower intensity sessions such as walking, yoga, bike ride, restorative stretching, etc.
Hope that you will see progression in your workout. Do let me know if there’s any topics you want me to share on my blog. I will be gladly write and share.
Take care and stay safe,
EMIR xx
