Little Fitness Things: Fitness in Under 15 Minutes

Has the lockdown been getting to you? Have you been working from home all day and late nights, with work-time and home-time losing distinction in the blur of things? Have you been sitting on your bed attending Zoom calls all day, ignoring that little thing called ‘health’?

Well, all I can say is, you’re not alone. I love my gym, like really love love love it. And since it closed shop in late Feb (not permanently, just in response to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown), working out has been tough.

I started off with some home fitness routines early on during this lockdown, only to lose steam as I progressed. Now, it is like a dud bottle of coke without fizz, and I now have almost 10 kgs of extra weight purely attributed to this bad lifestyle.

But fitness really need not be a chore. There are so many little things you can do to stay healthy and fit. Of course, these are not for weight loss, since weight loss adds a whole different dynamic to this mix. But general health and fitness can most certainly be achieved by making small, micro changes to your routines.

By looking at the little things, we can make big strides in our general and overall fitness goals. So you may be stuck at home, under lockdown or working off your laptop on your bed, there is really no excuse. Especially not when you read this.

What is the Main Reason That This Pandemic is Making Us Unfit?

To be extremely blunt, the problem with you and I during this lockdown has been that we have let go. We have let go of our self-love, trying to perform doubly hard on the work front while managing our homes, families, kids…. everything. Everything we previously had help for!

The reason why most of us haven’t been able to stay fit during this time has come is not because we have put general fitness as an agenda on the backburner, but simply because we have lacked consistency and compliance.

Just like I did, many made big resolutions to look at what we eat and what we do while we take this time off to reset and reboot. But that reset and reboot never really happened. We probably followed it religiously for a week or so, and then life got in the way, plans were derailed and momentum was lost. And even the best of intentions cannot overcome a lack of discipline.

But that is just theory, what about practicals? Where did we lose our way when it comes to practising a healthy way of life apart from lacking consistency and compliance. Well, that can be broken down into 3 main things: posture, movement, and nutrition and hydration.

Since fitness need not be a chore. Let us look at these 3 in a little more detail so that we can make a list of some micro lifestyle changes that will make us fitter in just 15 minutes or under. Little things that we can do daily to make it through this year in a physically and mentally fit state. Yes, you read that right. If you spare just 15 minutes each day, you can stay fit. All you need is to give 15 minutes of your daily time consistently to the following and thoughtfully, consciously changing your routine to get fit.

1. Correct That Posture

Almost all of your fitness problems, from weight gain to that belly flab, stem from bad posture. Since our bodies have never been designed for long bouts of sitting still, this work from home dynamic where we are glued to our laptops in our homes is making it worse.

I am a follower of celebrity fitness guru Rujuta Diwekar, for what she says makes sense to me. She too stresses on the fact that bad posture can make you unfit, make you gain weight and leave you with a host of problems, least of which are chronic back pain and other health problems.

So what is the alternative, you and I have no choice by to work on my laptop from my home right now? How do we get this right? What kind of micro changes can we make to ensure that we don’t come out of these phase unfit, and with bad health issues?

• First and foremost, ditch the bed. Sitting on the bed with the laptop literally on your lap or on the bed is the worst thing you can do to your spine. Sit on a table and a chair and add a pillow or a bolster under your feet as a footrest. (This is especially important for short people). By putting such support under your feet you lift the back of your knees a bit and improve your overall posture. Get a proper chair that allows you to sit cross-legged at least for short periods, to begin with.
• As you improve and are able to maintain the cross-legged posture for longer, then transition to a floor desk that allows you to sit cross-legged on the solid floor. The cross-legged position keeps your spine and lower-back erect. You can use the support of a wall at the back till you are fit enough to not need it.

• Unless you are on call and cannot move, make it a point to move every 30 to 40 minutes. It could be something as simple as getting up, going to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and getting back. But do it.