Ask the Experts Blog

Don’t let the closure of your go-to fitness center spoil a healthy exercise routine. Here are a few creative tips to help bring your exercises indoors.

Aerobic exercise helps your heart and lungs and offers proven stress reduction benefits. Do moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for at least 150 minutes every week—30 minutes a day, five times a week is an easy goal to remember. Here are some ways to do aerobic activity inside:

• Follow along with an exercise DVD or online video
• Dance to upbeat music
• Go up and down the stairs
• Speed up your vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, and kitchen cleaning

Strengthen your routine

Strength training helps your bones and muscles. Do strength-training exercises at least two days per week. You can bring strength training indoors, too:

• Begin with soup cans or light dumbbells, lifting eight to 12 times in a row (When you can do more than 12 reps, move up to a slightly heavier weight)
• Do push-ups or pull-ups
• Try pulling on resistance bands

Don’t forget to stretch

Stretching keeps your muscles flexible and helps prevent injuries. Stretch after you do your regularly scheduled strength and aerobic activities. Here’s how to do it inside:

• Learn yoga or tai chi from a video, book, or class
• Lift your arms toward the ceiling and stretch (You can find other stretches online)
• Hold the stretch for 10 to 30 seconds and repeat every stretch three to five times

Never miss a chance to move. For example, you can lift hand weights, march in place, dance, or stretch while watching TV. But don’t work the same muscles two days in a row so they have ample time to recover.