Hi everyone!

I know it’s been far too long since my last blog!  School and work sure have been keeping me pretty busy!  With things being so crazy in the midst of COVID-19 right now, I thought it was a good time to set the homework aside for a few minutes and write a bit.

Many of you may be working from home at this point. I’ve seen a lot of silly memes floating around about expecting weight gain during this time…. and we all need to joke around and have fun.  Laughing is especially important now while we’re all a little more stressed out than usual!

Ultimately though, our days of social distancing and isolation will come to an end (seriously, they will!)  And when that happens, we’ll be wishing we moved around just a little more during our time at home.  I thought I’d leave a few ideas floating around here about how to stay active while we’re staying in the house.

So, without further ado… the moment we’ve all been waiting for (for the last 20 seconds anyway):

Erin’s indoor activities!!! Yeaaahhhhh!!!!

#1.  Stairs! Yes, I absolutely did lead with the stairs idea.  I’m pretty sure I heard most of you groan while I typed that.  Hear me out!  Stairs may not have you jumping for joy, but they’re FREE and most of us have some.  Think about it… people pay hundreds of dollars for a stair master and we have the free version of it just hanging out waiting to be walked on!  Even a few trips up and down can kick some butt.  I did a stair-challenge indoor workout at my last apartment.  Try climbing your stairs 10 times and see if you don’t break a sweat!  It’s not the most fun ever, but it’s effective.  If you live with other people, you can make it more fun by making your own challenge or a game out of it.  The first person out has to wash the dishes!

#2.  Aerobic videos! I know how addictive YouTube is for cute kitten videos and silly songs.  But… you can YouTube other things too!  There are countless videos you can find on YouTube for all skill levels.  Don’t like aerobics?  Try stepping.  Stepping not your thing?  Go for yoga!  You will not find a shortage of workout videos, trust me!

#3.  Dance Party!! WooHoo!  Raise the roof! Raise the roof!  Ok… seriously… don’t leave, I’m done.  But also seriously… dance.  Make a list of your favorite songs that you can really move to, and then get to it.  You can make this a solo activity or get the whole family going!  Depending on skill, you can certainly ban any recording devices from the party if need be….

#4.  Calisthenics workouts! Sometimes I hear people say they don’t have any equipment to workout at home.  That’s absolutely fine!  Think about all the exercises that are possible with just body weight.  Pushups, lunges, squats, crunches, dips, burpees, jumping jacks, planks…. You can design your own workout and change things around as you like.

#5.  Jump rope! This is a much more intense activity than I remember it being when I was a kid.  It’s fun, and you can do a lot of different types of jumps with it.  This is one activity that gets the blood moving quickly for sure.

And last, but not least…

#6.  Hula hoop! This is my personal favorite.  Over the years, I’ve learned that you can do all kinds of different dance moves and tricks with a hula hoop.  It’s an amazing workout, and one that doesn’t require a whole lot of space (unless you want and have the space to move more of course.)  I tend to enjoy the tricks that require the hoop to move off my body a lot, and I may or may not have broken a couple knick knacks…. BUT… there are plenty of different muscle groups you can target while keeping the hoop in motion and on your body.  Plus… it’s just really fun!  I highly recommend it!

And there you go!  6 different ways to keep moving while we’re staying home for a bit.  Feel free to leave me a comment below if you have any questions or other ideas you would like to add!  Stay safe and healthy out there guys!