When staying at home, you may be lacking some sunlight which will lead to lower levels of vitamin D, which in turn can lower your immune system’s disease-fighting abilities.
Things You Can Do
Take a short/long walk: Obviously, practice social distancing while taking a stroll during the Covid-19. Get at least 15 minutes of sunlight for your body to send signals to produce vitamin D. While vitamin D does improve your immune system, it also helps absorption of calcium in your body leading to stronger bones when combined with resistance exercise. So you will be knocking two birds with one stone with this one.
Bodyweight exercises: There are a bunch of exercises you can do without any weights
Calf raises: Lifting your heels up and down will build those muscles in the calf
*Variations 1: While coming down, try slowing down to make it a bit harder.
*Variations 2: You can angle your feet differently to target a different part of the calf muscle. Angle it in, angle it straight, and angle your feet out
Push-Ups: Make sure your body is straight while you do this exercise and do not let your core and hips collapse
To decrease difficulty, elevate where you put your hands. i.e. Put your hands on top of a coffee table. If that is still difficult, do wall push-ups.
Single-Leg Stance: stand on one leg and try to balance on it for 20 seconds. If it’s easy for you, increase the time by 10 seconds.
Lunges: Step forward with one leg and come down to where your legs are about 90 degrees then come back. To make this harder, you can hold at the bottom for a few seconds.
*Variations: Step backward instead of forwarding
Squats: Stick your glutes out to the back as if you are about to sit. Engage from the hips rather than from the knees. You should feel the weight on your heels rather than the ball of your feet. Return to the starting position
*Variations 1: Sit to stand: if squats are too hard for you, you should start on a chair. Practice sitting and standing
*Variations 2: Lean against the wall and move your feet away from the wall
Pull-Ups: In order to do this correctly, think about pinching your shoulder blades together toward the middle and moving the upper chest towards the bar.
If you don’t have a pull-up bar, you can perform rows using a door.
Use caution. Make sure the door is heavy and sturdy enough. Open the door half-way. Put your hands on both door handles and your feet on both sides of the door anchoring it in place. Lean back to a squatting position and you will be pulling yourself up back into starting position. This will act on your top back.
Flutter Kicks: Lay face-up on the floor. Lift your legs straight up. Move your legs up and down, alternating each leg. To increase difficulty, lower the angle of the starting position for your legs. The closer your legs are to the spot, the more difficult it is.
Bicycles: Lay down face up with hands behind your head and knees bent 90 degrees with feet hanging in the air. Bring one elbow and one knee on the opposite side towards each other crunching your abs while the other leg stretches out all the way but not touching the ground. Keep alternating as you go.
Mountain Climbers: Get to a push-up position. You are only going to move your legs. Move one leg towards your arm. To alternate, you need to move that leg back and move the other leg at the same time. This will work on your core but also doing a cardio workout at the same time. Try to continue as long as conceivable.
If it is too difficult, it gets easier the further you are from the ground. You can put your hands-on top of a table or if that is still too difficult, start by placing your hands on the wall
Burpees: This is multi-step progress. Start by standing straight up, feet squared. Next, move to a squat position while hands touching the ground. Then move your legs back to be in a push-up position. Perform 1 push-up. Get to the squatting position again and jump once. Repeat the cycle without stopping.
To decrease difficulty: Try moving slower or remove the jumping step.
Bicep workout: Sit on the ground with your legs on the floor. Hold your legs up by holding them up behind your knees. Place back so that your arms are upright. The only thing that is touching the ground is your buttocks. This is your starting position.
Bring one knee towards your chest by pulling it with your hands. Do not use any strength in your legs. Your legs act as the weights for your arms to pull. Once you perform a desired number of reps, move onto the other arm. Do this exercise slowly to really feel it in your biceps.
To increase difficulty, every time you pull your legs, put strength into your legs to go in the opposite direction.
There are plenty more exercises that you can do with equipment. But these body-weight exercises should suffice. It’s important to keep yourself active to prevent cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and to keep your immune system boosted.
So make sure to get enough sunlight, take brisk walks and do the exercises. If you have difficulties doing any of these exercises or have an underlying medical condition please consult your physician and Physical Therapy New York, NY for proper education and guidance.
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