Working out at home, a new trend
Working out at home, a new trend. It has been proved that doing any exercise, or any physical activity, improves both our physical and mental health.
This obviously adapts to each person’s age and physical capacity.
Many people are used to working out, and in almost every city gym proliferates, where people can go every day to exercise by doing physical activities.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 the confinements began, and the people that were already used to going to sports centers to exercise found themselves a little stuck.
Fortunately, many gym instructors realized this and started working through the internet.
By using social networks such as YouTube or Instagram to upload videos, personal trainers gave classes for different physical activities such as yoga, pilates, maintenance gymnastic, dance, or Zumba.
They also offer different levels for everyone. From those who were used to going to the gym to those who, by being locked up in their homes, felt the need to move and started exercising at home.
As they knew people had no equipment in their homes, we can follow almost every class without equipment, or with elements found easily at home.
Proper clothes to exercise at home
To exercise it is always convenient to wear sports attire fit for physical activity, as well as the right shoewear.
The same goes for work attire. We have to choose clothes that best fit our needs.
We don’t wear the same clothes when we go hiking as when we go swimming in a pool.
When we decide to practice a sport inside our homes, it is also important to dress according to the sport we want to practice.
The first thing to do is choose which physical activity we are going to do. The second thing is to decide if we are going to do it outdoors (in a garden, for example, or on a balcony); or if we are going to do it inside our home.
Obviously, inside our homes, we could dress in almost any garment (even pajamas or skijama). But it is much better to do it in clothes that fit the physical activity we are going to practice.
Clothes, it is fundamental to know how to choose
The most appropriate clothing will depend on the chosen activity, as we need to choose to accord with the movements we are going to make.
Working out at home, a new trend. We always need to choose garments that are comfortable and that don’t impede the movements the physical activity required of us; meaning we shouldn’t feel “annoyed” because of the clothes we choose every time we make certain movements.
To do our favorite sport in our homes, we need to pick wide and comfortable clothing, but not too big that it would make it difficult to move.
It also needs to be functional, easily washable, and fast drying. We will choose a durable fabric, as we will have to wash it multiple times. If the garments are of good quality, they will last longer.
It surely won’t be hard to find in our closets some garments that meet these conditions.
If at last we need to buy garments in a store (specialized in sports or work attire shops) to exercise with our favorite activity in our own homes; we should always keep in mind the premises we have previously explained. We should also pick them in good quality and, if possible, at a good price.
What kind of sports attire to choose? Working out at home, a new trend
If we choose to do cycling in our homes, we would look in our closets for comfortable pants. But not too loose, as when you pedal on the bike, they can get caught in the pedals.
It would be best to pick tight and elastic garments so they allow us to pedal freely, and at the same time, they don’t restrict any movement.
If, on the contrary, the sport we choose is gymnastics with movements of any kind, the garment should be looser, so they don’t prevent us from doing any required movement.
As we have previously mentioned we need to keep in mind, before buying new clothes, if the exercise we are going to do is outdoors or in our home.
Another thing to keep in mind before buying clothes to exercise at home is if we are going to practice in winter or summer.
If we do sports outside our home in the middle of the winter, the best is to dress in layers (like an onion).
We should wear the first layer of a short-sleeved t-shirt and short pants. Even if it is very cold, this outfit could include thermal clothing.
Next, we could wear a second layer composed of a sweatshirt or with a fleece lining at the top, and long pants.
If we are in the middle of winter and it is really cold, we can put on top a third layer, composed of an anorak or a parka.
In case we keep exercising outdoors, when it rains we can put our raincoat on top, and at the bottom, rain pants to complete the outfit.
Today, technology has reached garments made for sports activities. For example, active clothing that exists with short and long sleeves and are made from a variety of fabrics and models allows transpiration, dry fast, and are very light.
We could choose between a short sleeve t-shirt, a strapless short, or a long-sleeved one, according to our needs and tastes.
We can pick them in different fabrics such as cotton, polyester, or a mix of them.
And there are also a wide variety of colors to choose from, so we’ll surely find our favorite.
If we go for the polyester one, it will be much lighter and we won’t have to iron it!
As for the bottom, we also have options to choose from: short or long pants; and according to our taste, and depending on the temperature in which we are going to do our sports activities.
They are also made in a wide variety of fabrics, and several colors to choose from. So we can find the most adequate combination for our tastes and needs.
We can find a good set of different tops and bottoms, that way we will improve our self-esteem, and we will have greater motivation to carry out our sports activities.
Working out at home, a new trend. A good example would be to use for our in-home activity, a tracksuit that will comprise a jacket that opens at the front with a zipper and long matching pants. This set will also work for working out in the outdoors of our home or to go out to run outside when it’s chilly.
When the temperature drops, we could use a sweatshirt or a fleece lining, both could have a zipper or be completely closed, and they can include a hoodie.
This set can also work for activities outside our home, even to go to the gym, so it is a multipurpose set.
If we are prone to sweating a lot, for our sports activities we should lean more on clothes made of synthetic fabrics. They are very light and can also get rid of humidity quickly.
If we choose a lighter sport, like pilates or yoga that we can do without shoes, and on a mat, we should buy good, breathable socks, and if possible with a non-slip sole.
Let’s not forget the feet! It is very important to know how to pick the proper shoes.
The ideal is to find sneakers that are right for each’s personal characteristics and for the sport for which we are going to use them.
Let’s not forget to pick them with good ergonomics, that adapt to our feet and have a good grip.
Nutrition, working out at home, a new trend
Another important pillar, aside from exercising regularly, is to have healthy nutrition, which will help us improve our immune system, which is in charge of fighting all kinds of diseases.
Every healthcare expert says we need to have a balanced diet, one that includes fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, fish, dairy, beans, and carbs, as well as minerals.
In fruits and vegetables, we find a vast variety of vitamins and minerals and a good amount of minerals such as zinc, which help us raise our defenses.
Among them we can name citrus, grenade, cherries, plantain, kiwis, etc.
Among proteins, we find dairy, eggs, meat, and fish. In this latter one, we can highlight the blue fishes such as tuna, bonitos, mackerel, or salmon, which are rich in omega-3, a very healthy fat that also helps increase our defenses against any virus or bacteria.
Shellfish and mollusks like mussels, clams, crabs, are rich in zinc, a mineral that also improves our defenses.
Among the “white meats,” we can name the rabbit, chicken, turkey, pig, or veal, all of these rich in proteins and vitamin B6.
Dairies and by-products like cheese, yogurt, and kefir are also an excellent source of proteins and they also give us calcium, which will help our bones.
Eggs are proteins with a high biological quality and with a great amount of vitamin D on the yolk, so they logically shouldn’t be missing in a healthy diet.
Beans are an excellent source of proteins. By being plant-based they can be consumed by those that opt for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
We also need to include carbs like bread, cereals, or pasta in our healthy diet.
Author bio for this guest post
Vanessa Sáez
Vanessa Sáez is passionate about digital marketing.
When she is not writing about fashion she likes to cook and ride a bike.
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