Kasratshala has come up with a short-and-sweet workout routine, which can help you keep both your body and mind sane during this unprecedented time of quarantines, social distancing and shelter-in-place orders at the time of Corona.
You don’t need an expensive gym membership or a class full of fellow exercisers for this smile-inducing, sweat-producing, corona blues-fighting, breath-accelerating workout.
All you need is to make yourself a fun playlist, put your phone in airplane mode, and start getting your body ready for normal life again — because happier days will be here before you know it.
And don’t even think of using quarantine as an excuse: this workout can — and should — be performed in the middle of your busy day in between your work.
For this quick, easy-to-do routine we’ll go through a fun little circuit, in which we’ll alternate lower body and upper body strength exercises, with a little bit of core work, and a good amount of cardio thrown in for good measure.
Do each exercise for 90 seconds, then rest for 20. At the end of the first round, take a well-deserved one-minute break, before starting a second set.
Five more minutes to spare? Try a final run-through, performing each exercise for 45 seconds each, with no rest in between them.
Squats
- Start with your feet hip-distance apart, toes slightly turned out, core muscles engaged.
- Bend your knees and push your hips back, as if you were sitting on chair that’s being pulled from behind you.
- Trying to maintain your knees behind your toes, sit back as low as you can.
- Press through the heels to go back up and squeeze your glutes at the top.
Reverse lunges with hip twist
- Stand with your feet parallel, and grab a set of heavy books in front of you.
- Take a big step back with your right foot, landing with the ball of the foot.
- Try to create a 90-degree angle on your knee joint.
- As you step back, rotate your torso towards the left, away from the leg that moved.
- Push through the heels to come back to parallel feet.
- Repeat, starting with the opposite foot.
Mountain climbers to froggers
- Start on a high plank position, hands flat on the floor, shoulders on top of wrists
- Engage your core and glutes.
- Alternate bringing your right knee towards your right elbow, and left knee toward left elbow, repeating the motion four times on each side (eight total).
- Jump both feet next to your hands twice.
Uneven push-ups
- Start on a high plank position, shoulder on top of wrists, and with one hand flat on the floor, the other on a small bench or a stack of books.
- As you exhale, lower yourself down, so that your elbows come down to a 45 degree angle.
- Inhale as you go back to your high plank.
- Switch hands and repeat the same movement with the other hand on the bench.
- Optional: do the same exercises, maintaining your knees on the floor, or on a towel that can be better.
Tricep dips
- Sit on the edge of a chair, bench or coffee table and keep your eyes by your side
- Start with your feet flat on the floor, hip-distance apart.
- Position your hands facing down, gripping the seating surface with your fingers
- Walk your feet out.
- As you breathe in, lower your body towards the floor, hinging at the elbows to a 90-degree angle.
- As you exhale, push yourself back up to your starting position.
Inchworm walkout to balance
- Stand with with your feet hip-distance apart and keep your arms relaxed by your side.
- Maintaining your core engaged,bend forward at the hips and place your palms in front of your feet.
- Being careful not to seesaw the hips, walk your hands forward towards a high plank position.
- Once your body is parallel to the ground, lift up the right arm with the left leg and lower them slowly, repeat with the opposite side.
- Walk your hands back toward your feet and come back up to a standing position.
High-to-low plank
- Start in a high plank position, placing your your palms flat on the floor, keeping the shoulders above the wrists.
- Your feet should be a little wider than your hips.
- Keeping your core and glutes engaged, lower the elbows onto a forearm plank.
- Follow the pattern: right elbow, left elbow, right hand, left hand; left elbow, right elbow, left hand, right hand.
Full crunches
- Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor.
- Exhale as you hug your knees into your chest, curling into a ball.
- As you inhale, extend your legs in front of you maintaining the heels a few inches of the floor, and at the same time extend your arms behind you, forming a long line from tip of toes to tips of fingers.
- Maintain your stability by engaging your core muscles the entire time.
Burpees
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, engage your core and glutes.
- Lower yourself down to a squat, and use your upper body as you explode on a vertical jump, stretching your arms over your head.
- Land on a squat, bringing your hands to the floor, moving into a high plank position.
- Bend your elbows into a push-up and use your arms to push your body back up.
- Optional: skip the push-up, and go from the power jump to the high plank that can be better.
