If you are based in the UK, you will be aware of things easing as lockdown gradually lifts and life in general becomes a lot less restricted.

Well, if you’re anything like me (and a lot of the rest of the population to be fair) and you tried to make lemonade out of a pandemic by using the additional time indoors to get in shape, you may also have learnt a thing or two about home workouts from the countless YouTube workout videos (Chloe Ting anyone??) and live workout sessions hosted on various social media platforms.

Now I was actually pretty committed to my new-found exercise habit last year and worked out regularly for the most part of 2020.  And I’d be lying if I said that the comments I received from family and friends about my slimmer figure didn’t fuel my motivation. 2021, however, has been a VERY different story so far in that I’ve been eating a ton of crap and have hardly done any exercise except for trips up and down the stairs to get snacks but I’m trying to get back into working out regularly. I saw huge benefit in regular exercise, not only on the scales, but particularly in my mental health and overall body confidence.

It was easier to throw myself into exercise back in March 2020 when lockdown was still a fresh, new concept, thinking of it more like a short-lived gift of a little additional time indoors and a unique opportunity to really get in shape and look great for our grand entrance back into society in a couple of months’ time. When it became clear that this lockdown life was here for the long haul, I realised that my motivation dwindled, which I’m sure is related to the anxiety I felt from the uncertainty of how long this pandemic would cripple my social life for.

I thought it quite timely to get this post out now what with things slowly but surely returning to what feels somewhat normal again, and particularly since gyms have reopened. You may even be feeling pressure to go to the gym now if you want to lose weight or become stronger, particularly if you were used to attending a gym pre-pandemic. Well, I’m here to tell you that you definitely can achieve your weight loss goals from home if you want to.

Disclaimer: if you are aiming to gain a lot of muscle, and have a desire to bulk up, then there are some things which you will ideally need a gym for because they will involve heavy weights that may not be readily available to you at home and are extremely costly to buy.

That being said, here are the 11 things you need to know about regularly exercising at home, as a beginner, from almost a year of lockdown-inspired home workouts

It’s easier to continue once you get started

Starting is definitely the hardest part but the great thing about exercise is that even if you’re just starting out and you’ve never partaken in regular exercise before, there is this rush of endorphins that you get from it and your body helps you crave that feeling again by, you guessed it, exercising again, so it creates this cycle that easily lends itself to becoming a regular habit.

If you don’t know where to start and are looking for some inspiration, try heading to YouTube and searching for “beginner workouts”; there are plenty of different types of exercise videos to choose from, ranging from dance workouts to body strength exercises that you don’t need equipment for, and you can find your preference and which type of movement works best for you.

Start straight away

If you postpone it, you are likely to keep finding excuses and put off starting.

I am very guilty of giving myself a couple of days’ “grace” to eat whatever I want (usually at the weekend) and then telling myself I will start eating clean and exercising from Monday, but the truth is; you really don’t need to do that. There is absolutely no difference between starting on a Monday, and starting on Saturday, or whatever other day of the week it might be when you make the decision. You can decide to change your life for the better at any moment, including right now.

You will most likely need to adjust your schedule to fit in time to work out

This is especially true if you have younger kids. I don’t know what it is about them but they just seem to have this universal aversion to sleep. The chances are that if you have young kids, they probably double as your alarm clock most days because of how early they wake up. With that in mind, you’ll have to wake up even earlier than them to squeeze in that time for yourself to work out.

And if you’re anything like me and find it really hard to work out when summer heatwave is on full blast then you really want to knuckle down and make a habit of exercising before the weather gets too hot so that you’re more likely to be disciplined about continuing when it does start to properly heat up. Also, hello summer body! With the way things are looking covid-wise, we might actually get to have a proper summer this year so that should fuel your motivation to look your absolute best.

Your body will protest at first but power through

It’s very likely that your body will ache and be sore in the areas that you’ve worked out, so if you do a leg workout for instance, you can expect to really feel it in your thighs the next day…especially when you walk up or down stairs, and especially if you decide to do one of Emi Wong’s YouTube workouts (which are amazing by the way!) And if you are brave enough to do full-body workouts, you may feel sore all over. Well, you know that phrase “no pain, no gain”? It didn’t just come out of nowhere and there is truth to it. As your muscles start to be used in ways they haven’t been prior to you exercising, it causes microscopic damage, or tears, to the muscle fibres resulting in soreness or stiffness in the muscles involved. Ouch! But the great news is, as your body becomes accustomed to you working those muscles more regularly, your body starts to heal much quicker and gradually, you stop feeling sore after working out.

Stretching is super important and you WILL regret it if you don’t

I completely understand why you would want to focus more on the part that actually burns the calories and helps in shifting the fat rather than the aftercare part but your muscles get shorter when you exercise and as explained above, they are also tearing from exercising, so it’s important to stretch them out as much as possible to decrease muscle tension in your body after you’ve finished exercising.

Stretching also improves your flexibility and reduces risk of injury. And believe it or not, you’re meant to stretch for as long as you work out for so definitely don’t skip this part of your exercise routine.

Trust the process and resist the urge to check the mirror or scales obsessively

You may be tempted to start checking the mirror more often, expecting to see instant results, especially if this is your first time really starting to exercise. You might think that it should be such a shock to your body that the fat will just melt right off after that first workout, especially if it was a good one. Well, you won’t see instant results but consistency definitely pays off in the long run and if you keep it up, you will see results eventually.

Your body may temporarily look worse before it starts looking better

Now, I don’t fully understand the science behind this, but I know for a fact that the times I’ve started exercising regularly, when I do notice changes in my body, they are always negative first before positive, even when coupled with a good diet. I’ll notice that the fat seems to hang off my body more noticeably before I eventually realise I’ve started to trim down.

My theory is that as the muscles in your body underneath the fat stores are being activated, this causes the fat to perk up somewhat, making it more noticeable, however this chubbier appearance is short-lived so don’t let it serve as a deterrent and stop you from taking important steps for your health and fitness.

Get your kit sorted

For regular home workouts, you will need:

• A proper, good-quality sports bra, ideally a few of them since they’ll be getting sweaty every time you work out and you’ll need to rotate between them when others are dirty and/or in the wash

• Clothes that you can move in that also keep you as cool as possible. You want to avoid leggings that slide down as you exercise and don’t stay in place. You also should ensure that what you’re wearing is comfortable to move in, breathable, and doesn’t make you feel suffocated or restricted in any way

• An exercise mat. You can technically get away with just using your floor if you’d rather not buy a mat but if you plan to do anything involving floor work, it’s best to have a mat for hygiene reasons

It may be physical exercise you’re doing but the benefit far transcends the physical

Allow me to unpack that

Exercise improves your mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, negative moods and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function.

Regular exercise has also been seen to increase energy levels, encourage better sleep at night, relieve stress and improve memory. It is also a total mood booster and has a way of really setting you  up for the day  when done first thing in the morning.

Don’t get bogged down by the numbers on the scales

I know I’ve made a few references to scales in this post and honestly, I’ve always been heavy, even when I’ve been at my absolute slimmest but because we’ve essentially been hardwired to associate our literal weight with our body size and image, we can’t accept that even if we are heavier than we’d like to be, we may still look great and feel happy about our body size, so save yourself the stress and don’t fret about what the scales may say.

Most of all, enjoy it and find what works for you!

Do you like switching it up and finding new workouts each time? Or are you the kind of person that likes to know exactly what to expect and prefers to do the same workout every day? Do you prefer traditional exercise moves or would you rather get down to a dance workout video? Or maybe Pilates is more up your street. Either way, the only way you’re going to find what works for you is by trying different things and getting to know your exercise style.

Also, just as a heads up for those of you that start using YouTube home workout videos, don’t be deceived by the person hosting the session; if they say “last one!” or “just one more!” when you’re doing a certain number of reps (repetitions) of a particular move. They’re probably about to step it up and do an intense burst of the same move before actually letting you rest, if they let you rest at all. And yes, you will start talking (more like screaming) to your laptop, phone, TV, or whatever you’re using to play your workout videos if you decide to do cardio. It’s pretty much a rite of passage. Finally, drink your water and take breaks whenever you need to. Don’t mind the people in the video that don’t know how to rest or hydrate, I’m convinced some of them are computer-generated

Have you started working out recently? Or maybe you also started during the lockdown and have kept it up till now. Wherever you are on your fitness journey, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Tee x