During this crazy lockdown period it can seem hard to exercise at home, you might be worried you’ll hurt yourself, you might not know what to do, or you might just not have the motivation. But there’s a number of very good reasons to get moving and keep moving during this time.
Exercise boosts your immune system, helping you to stay healthy. Exercise also helps improve mood, reducing anxiety and depression, reduces stress and can even improve your sleep quality. Of course all this is in addition to the benefits of increased strength, cardiovascular fitness, bone density, balance and weight management.
Exercise recommendations
Current Australian exercise guidelines for the average adult include:
• Doing any physical activity is better than doing none. If you currently do no physical activity, start by doing some, and gradually build up to the recommended amount.
• Be active on most, preferably all, days every week.
• Accumulate 2 ½ to 5 hours of moderate intensity physical activity or 1 ¼ to 2 ½ hours of vigorous intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both moderate and vigorous activities, each week.
• Do muscle strengthening activities on at least 2 days each week.
What can you do at home?
It can be hard when you’re a beginner or you’re not sure what to do. The best thing to do is to start slowly and build up gradually. Here are a few commonly safe beginner movements that get you moving but also work for most people.
