While our beloved gyms and studios are closed and look like they will be for a while, now is the perfect time to perfect your home workout practice. We asked the experts for their advice on maintaining a workout practice from home. Here are our favourite pieces of advice.
1 – Create space
Even if you don’t have the resources to set up a full home gym it can be very beneficial to have a set space where you do your workouts. When you have “your” spot it can help with focus and staying motivated.
Don’t have an area you can dedicate to becoming a movement space? Find a way that you can easily adapt a space to make it your “gym” as needed. For example when it’s time to get your movement on, move the coffee table and set out a yoga mat. You’ve now made a unique space to move and you’ll get in the habit of knowing “when the coffee table is off to the side and the yoga mat is out, it’s time to work.”
Zack Yanyk | Owner & Head Coach | @frankenlegs
2 – Partner yourself
Use your reflection as a training partner for instant feedback to check your form. You can use a mirror, window, or shadow to do this. Make a private video of yourself training, then check and review your movements.
Analyse your mistakes, and work out what went wrong.
And if you’re practicing with Indian Clubs at home, try lifting the clubs rather than swinging them. Slow movements strengthen all the muscles you use to swing clubs. And to practice swings, use gravity pull and find the speed
that suits you, swinging fast is NOT always the best.
Paul Wolkowinski | Coach & Educator | @wolkowinski
3 – Get creative
You likely don’t have all the equipment that your big box gym does… So add in supersets, drop sets, tempo work, and unilateral work for maximum results. And love the process by committing a room or other space as your training area. Floor space & a mat reinforce your training ability.
John Parker | Personal Trainer & Health Coach | @johnparker__
4 – Write it out
I find using a whiteboard helps, so I sometimes write out my workout, which can include clubs, to help me stay accountable and motivated on the rainy days when my motivation is lagging. During quarantine, I have also found that calling a friend on Facetime for a movement break where we alternate picking exercises really fun!
Kelly Manzone | Personal Trainer & Coach | @kellsbells88
5 – Keep learning
I would always recommend some standing qigong exercises followed by a stretching/yoga routine to warm up. It doesn’t need to take that long… 5 mins qigong, 10 mins yoga, then you are ready to go on to whatever you’re working on.
Once you get into a routine, it’s like brushing your teeth every day! And I always try and learn something new every day. It makes me think, use memory and acquire new skills and movement. I also try to put something new together now and again, rather than going down the same old path. These exercises/routines/forms were put together by people like us ?Neil Genge | 31st Generation Shaolin & Teacher | @gengeneil
6 – Take off your trainers!
While the gyms are closed, now is a great opportunity to simplify training stimulus. Take off your trainers so those 200,000 nerve endings can connect to the ground and give your whole body the feedback it was designed to receive. This applies whether you are heavy deadlifting or swinging light Indian clubs. Some will notice the instant strength increase.
Try also cutting out the music and move to the rhythm of your own body and breath. Music is a huge part of my life especially tribal beats, but it can be a distraction as well as a motivator. Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breath in and out through your nose for greater core connection as well as audible sound. Listen and feel. You may soon notice how the breath helps to move your body, as much as the moving body assists the breath.
This can give a whole new dimension to your current exercises.
Stuart Ward | Personal Trainer & Movement Specialist | @nourishingmoves
Hopefully some of these pearls of wisdom will provide some useful ideas for you to explore during your home workout practices. We’d love to find out what else is keeping you motivated at the moment. Feel free to share your own tips on our Instagram post or get in touch if you’d like to submit a story for the BMF blog. Happy swinging!
And if you’re missing some equipment, here are some links to our product pages:
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