Have you been feeling physically sluggish lately? Perhaps you find yourself huffing and puffing after a few flights of stairs? Do you experience shortness of breath after moving around the house doing chores? Lastly, does walking to the nearest convenience store already hurt your calves? Suppose you answered yes to all these questions. In that case, chances are you have not been keeping up with your physical exercises during this pandemic. While that is understandable, you should also remember that it is harder to get back in shape than maintain it.
Getting Back to Shape
However, with proper dedication and consistency, nothing is impossible. You can set your fitness goals as early as this month and start 2022 with finesse. Before you hit the gym or go back to your outdoor activities, there is one thing you need the most, and that is your cardio.
You will not want your brain to run out of oxygen during your comeback hike, and you won’t want to get into a road accident for muscle cramps when you get back to long bike rides. That is why you need to prepare yourself. This article will help you with tips to condition your body for the activities you want to get back to.
Brisk Walking
No point beating around the bush. You need to start with the simplest one—walking. This time, though, you have to speed things up. Brisk walking, or power walking, is not just your average fast walk to the park the way you do when you are already running late for work. The workout is a moderate aerobic exercise that is needed to be done with intensity. The rule is to focus all of your lower limb strength on your thighs and core.
You also need to keep a fast pace of 4.5 mph to consider the activity as brisk walking. If you fall short to meet the required average speed, that will sadly be mere walking. Lastly, you need to do this at least thirty to forty-five minutes to sweat it out and get that cardio back up and running.
Brisk walking is perfect for women who want to start being active again and experiencing season depression. Women can suffer more from depression and anxiety, and it is not just about productivity and happiness. Women can suffer from unfortunate hair loss due to stress. So brisk walking is perfect for the next time you want to visit your wig shop to get the hair extensions you deserve.
Jumping Ropes and Jumping Jacks
Jumping on a trampoline is fun, but that is not something you can compare to the actual jumping cardio exercises. With sore calves from brisk walking, jumping exercises will help you improve this unfortunate situation. After all, no one can go on any outdoor trip with weak leg muscles and poor cardio.
Jumping exercises are easy enough for everyone to do in the comfort of their own houses. There’s just one motion—that is, you jump up and down. You can easily use any jumping ropes you had had when you were younger and start doing the leg work. You don’t have to have Cristiano Ronaldo’s footwork, but you need to keep moving your body in a rhythm with which you are comfortable. You can even opt to do jumping jacks if you do not have a trusty jumping rope to begin. Jumping jacks might seem easy as eating nuts back in high school, but you might be surprised how challenging it is to balance yourself once you hit 30.
These jumping exercises hit two birds with one stone by improving your leg muscles and your cardio all at once.
Dancing
The last item on this list is something many people have been doing in TikTok—dancing. While dancing is not as extreme as the exercises above, it is something that you can enjoy more without you noticing you’re burning calories. You will not even notice that you are panting after recording your TikTok content. Nowadays, you can find countless Tiktok dance trends made by the younger generations, but it won’t hurt to try.
On the other hand, you can follow YouTube videos of Zumba dance routines if you are not comfortable dancing on social media. Don’t underestimate the power of dancing, as it involves all primary muscle functions in your body and, of course, your cardio.
Before you get back to your old fitness routines, you need to prepare yourself first. These three exercises will help you get that. Good luck!
