7 Ways To Exercise Your Way Out Of A Lockdown

Don’t let the crisis get you down. Get up, get going and exercise to keep up your spirits

- Suhani Singh, Sonali Acharjee and Aditi Pai

1 Auto Pilates

Namrata Purohit, Pilates instructor to celebs such as Kareena Kapoor Khan and Malaika Arora, has been posting simple exercises on her Instagram. The workouts include side planks, Pilates, kneeling squats and lunges. “Opt for exercises like high knees, skipping, jumping jacks and some high-intensity interval training or tabata style training,” she says. Pilates, according to her, is a mind and body exercise that works on the entire body and lengthens the spine.

CORE ISSUE

To shed abdominal fat, do a side plank for 30 seconds to a minute on each side, then a side plank and 5-10 twists on each side

To increase strength, do a combination of a kneeling squat, a bottoms-up lunge and a single leg deadlift

2 Exercise Your Mind

Meditation can not only help battle stress and improve concentration, it can also contribute to one’s overall physical well-being by regulating breath and blood pressure. However, it is a process that can often be daunting for beginners. Given our daily routines, which typically involve long commutes, hectic schedules, hyper-socialising and constant communication, rediscovering peace within cannot happen overnight. “Once you start to see the benefits of just 3-5 minutes of mediation, you will automatically want to increase the time,” says Dr Issac Mathai, holistic healer and founder of Soukya in Bengaluru. As we face a pandemic, meditation can be the key to sorting out our thoughts, letting go of excessive fear and healing ourselves at a deeper, more spiritual level.

WAITING TO EXHALE

Start off with 3-5 minutes of meditation

Focus on your breath, be aware as it passes through your nose and into your lungs