Oct 4

Oct 4 On Tips for the Workout At Home Beginner

Are you a workout at home beginner? Working out at home, by definition, is not easy. Even if you find it enjoyable, it’s hard. Just look at how many people quit on their New Year’s resolutions! But throw in a global pandemic, gym closures, suddenly homeschooling your kids, and… suddenly we have the quarantine 15.

Why is that At Home Workout So Difficult?

Stress can wreak havoc on appetite. And COVID-19 is rife with stressors. Plus easy access to that fridge being at home all day, and few places to go to distract yourself from that container of leftovers. Sitting at home, worrying about the health of the world, or your grandma, can lead to reaching for the comfort foods, or take-out pizza so you can avoid a trip to the store. Plus gyms are closed, or worse, they are open and they feel unsafe. These challenges are all compounded if you’re a workout at home beginner. And thus, the quarantine 15 is born (a play on the ‘freshman 15’.: I think the former is a funnier term).

But somehow there’s that friend who is posting their daily half-marathon runs and it’s totally bumming you out. (Side note: It is inherently unsafe to post your running routes online… not only can people track you down on your run (i.e. stalkers), but it actually can reveal your home address).

Not all of us are distance runners. How does our perception of the activity we’re doing impact how likely we are to keep up any exercise at all?

If only running were more like eating pizza

Finally, Research on How To Workout At Home

Luckily, new research has just been published on this. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, Hermann Szymczak from the University of Konstanz and colleagues found that if, and only if, we perceive our new exercise activities as vigorous, will we feel like we’ve made a change. Otherwise, we don’t feel like we’ve made a change at all and are more likely to quit our new exercise regime altogether. While this wasn’t strictly a study on how to workout at home, the results are fascinating and oh so applicable to our current situation.

The study tested both fitness capacity on a bike at the start of the study and again 6 months later, as well as participants' perceptions on whether their fitness changed at all. Only those who had reported doing vigorous activity (as opposed to moderate activity or walking) interpreted their behaviour as becoming physically more active. Indeed, these vigorous athletes did score higher on their fitness tests.

Gingerbread man just wants to be taken seriously

What Do The Results Tell Us About How To Workout At Home?

What do these results tell us? They indicate that vigorous/intense physical activity has a larger impact on our perception that our fitness behaviours are beneficial, rather than any benefits due to moderate activity. They also tell us that people might not think that at home workout is worth it, or is working at all in keeping them fit, unless it’s intense. But the thought of an intense workout at home might deter people from starting at all, or cause others to quit which would cut them off from the benefits of even some light exercise.

So basically, you’re a workout at home beginner. You start off with good intentions: speed-walking 1-2km, see your friend posting her 15km run, and give up. When you would have actually been better off doing your 1-2km speed-walk than nothing at all. (Why even bother, how much is that 1-2km really even doing?)

This is because our perception of behaviour change benefits is actually a big part of behaviour change. When people see some results, they are more likely to believe their behaviour change is working and continue. Small behaviour change (and moderate exercise) takes a bit longer to see results.

My Tips For The Workout At Home Beginner

Track Your Results!

If it’s about results, think about getting granular with how you measure your at home workout. Do you have a fitness tracking device? Do you record your workouts on paper? Track that! You can see progress every day, even if it’s tiny! Set realistic, achievable, and measurable goals. Share, but don’t compare your workout at home, because comparing might discourage you (i.e. that example of the amazing runner friend).

Use These Tricks To Help Yourself Stick With It

Is it about sticking to it? There are a lot of little tricks you can do. Get social (media - that is), find a virtual running group, an online community, or just post about your progress on social media to keep you accountable! Make a schedule/routine and stick to it. Don’t let the weather stop you. Plan around your workouts, not the other way around. And if there is a wrench thrown in your plans, don’t be too hard on yourself. Reserve your rest days for unexpected occurrences (like that meeting that got scheduled at 7am when you were going to meet up with Joe for your speed walk). Switch it up to make it interesting (i.e., find a new YouTube fitness channel, or walk a new route). Lastly, leverage technology. There are apps that let you give back to charity for every mile you run or bike, or ones that charge you if you don’t live up to your goals.

quarantine 7.png — Workout buddies help keep you accountable

Doing a workout at home – any intensity or amount – is better than no at home workout and also helps reduce stress. It’s a win-win! So if you’re at workout at home beginner, whether you are doing yoga in the living room, weights in the basement, running down the sidewalk, or whatever… you’re doing great! Keep it up!

Love,