With Summer coming in soon, we can’t help it but think ‘holy sh*t, my quarantine body won’t be ready!’. Worry not! I’m here to help and tell you all about the home workouts I’ve been doing lately that don’t require much space or equipment. And, of course, my workout schedule.
Before the outbreak and the lockdowns began, I used to workout 5-6x a week, being 2 of those days with my trainer. As I’m trying my best to not leave him hanging in those tough times, I chose to continue my workouts with him via Skype – but I’ll recommend something to replace that if you don’t have a trainer.
When the quarantine period began, in full transparency, I felt very unmotivated, let anxiety take over me, and went some 3 days without getting a single workout in. When I acknowledged that not getting my exercise was impacting how my day would go, I started slowly with low impact workout sessions and built up to more cardio uplifting ones as the days went by.
Today, I managed to build the motivation to workout first thing in the morning every day, and I’m 100% sure you can do it too!
And that leads me to the most frequently asked question on my Instagram: how to stay motivated?
There’s no magic here, unfortunately. My tip is to try out some new things in the beginning until you figure out what you love and what brings joy to your day. In my example, those two things were the Melissa Wood Health power workouts and some dance classes on YouTube (you wouldn’t think so, but dancing is a MAJOR calorie burner) – I alternate between Fit Dance and Belly dance lessons.
The beginning is always hard. It’s way harder to move something that’s in inertia than to keep something going. It’s always been like this. Start slow, with something that’s feasible for you, and don’t be too harsh on your body, especially if you’re not an active person. Respect your timing. Don’t do a killer workout on the first day that’s gonna make you feel sore and give you excuses to skip a day or two.
I know not everyone wants to spend money on clothes right now with all the economic uncertainty, but a new workout set is AMAZING to give us motivation.
Try to squeeze in your workout before you start working in the morning. Put on your workout clothes before you even leave your bedroom in the AM, and make up your bed first thing so you already activate your brain with an activity. It’s such a small thing that makes a huge difference.
Finally, try to build a routine and have a time set aside for your workouts every morning.
Another question that you guys ask a lot is what are my favorite online workouts and what’s my weekly workout schedule like?
I’ll start with my favorite online workouts…
I love that her workouts are quick and effective. Her energy always puts me in a great mindset to face the rest of my day! I usually go for the power workouts, which are quick workouts that focus on certain parts of the body.
- Belly Dancing w/ Leilah Isaac Youtube Channel
I have previously taken belly dancing classes for years back in Brazil, so I’m not gonna lie: my background certainly helped me here. But if you’re a beginner, I’m sure you’ll also love Leilah’s classes.
Her videos are usually 30 min long and are basically cardio workouts with belly dance moves (that also really strengthen your core). When I’m only doing belly dance, I usually do 2 of her classes and freestyle for 20mins with some Arabic songs.
If you’re into Yoga, Alo Moves is the place for you. Their range of classes, though, is not limited to Yoga. They also offer amazing cardio workouts, sometimes mixed with barre movements too. You’ll also see there a few series of classes that you can take daily to develop a certain skill. The one I’m currently following is the ‘find your split’ month-long series.
That’s another great Youtube channel, more focused on pop music choreographies. They’re not too hard to catch and a lot of fun!
Whenever I can’t do my HIIT classes with my trainer, I tune into YouTube and watch one of SELF’s HIIT workouts. They’re super effective and I love the instructors.
I believe that’s about it for my favorite online classes! Now, here’s my weekly schedule. It changes from week to week, but essentially that’s what I do.
Sunday
30 minutes of belly dance + 30 minutes of a Melissa Wood Health lower body workout + 15 minutes of Alo Moves stretching
Monday
45 minutes Yoga or stretch flow from Alo Moves
Tuesday
40 minutes of HIIT with my trainer or one HIIT workout pulled from YouTube – on Tuesdays, we focus on HIIT series that works my upper body and abs.
Wednesday
Two 30-minute cardio belly dance classes from Lailah Isaacs + 20-30 minutes of freestyle dancing (that usually burns over 700 kcal and it’s low impact!)
Thursday
Leg workout with my trainer. You can check out my at-home leg series on the ‘workout’ highlight on my Instagram – or you can do a MWH or Alo Moves lower body barre/pilates workout. I also do my abs series at the end of my workout. I add a Alo Moves stretch at the end too!
Friday
15 minutes power arms series with Melissa Wood + 1h belly dance or any dance + 15 minutes Alo Moves stretch
Saturday
Full body 30 minutes HIIT with my trainer or on Youtube.
Here are some props you might want to have to get things going…
What do you think?