KEEPING FIT THROUGH COVID

o avoid becoming a couch potato, putting on unnecessary weight and becoming mentally unstable during the stay-at-home lock-downs it’s important to do some exercise. This will not only tone your muscles but has a positive effect on your mental attitude.

It’s not uncommon to spend too much time in front of the TV or your computer screen when you find yourself having to stay at home for hours on end. The trick is to schedule time out to either take a walk, making sure you take into consideration the local restrictions in place, or do some light exercise in your own home. Some might say there’s just not enough room in our home and I don’t have any training equipment. You don’t need any expensive weight machines or treadmills. You can use what you have in your home whether it be a chair in your

dining area or the lounge in front of the TV. For an easy exercise that only requires 5 to 10 minutes a day I would recommend isometric exercises and progress from there to dynamic

exercises.

What are isometric exercises?

Isometric exercises, also known as static strength training, are contractions of a particular muscle for an extended period of time. An isometric exercise is one that involves muscle engagement without movement. You pick one position and hold it. e.g., in a plank, the muscles are working, but not actively changing lengths.

What are isometric exercises good for?

Isometric exercises place tension on particular muscles without moving the surrounding joints. By applying constant tension to the muscles, isometric exercises can be useful for improving physical endurance and posture by strengthening and stabilising the muscles.

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