Shifting online for fitness
With everyone being stuck at home, it is important to remember that it is not only your mental health that needs to be looked after but your physical health as well. As we are unable to go out, our routines having needed a bit of adjusting.
However not being able to go to the gym, a park or an empty ground (or wherever you usually do your workout) does not mean that you use that as an excuse to stop staying healthy. Starting with the basics; yoga, light stretches or even walking around your house is an activity that keeps you going.
Founder and lead instructor at Barressential, Nare Bandaranayake talks to us about how her fitness studio offers Barre, Mat and Reformer Pilates classes at their studio as well as online. These classes are a “great low impact (no jumping around) exercises for anyone whether you hate to exercise or recovering from an injury or a fitness buff,” Nare tells us elaborating that it involves building muscle.
Barre combines elements of ballet, pilates, dance, yoga and strength training while pilates consists of low-impact flexibility and muscular strength and endurance movements that helps with your core, posture and muscle balance.
After they temporarily closed down the studio on March 14, Barressential began daily 4pm Instagram live sessions early on with the aim of helping the community get into a routine, find some normalcy and keep active. They now offer a broad array of their classes on a daily basis via Zoom for clients that book on their website. “Our Barre & Pilates Express classes are 30 minutes in length (but intense!) and the first class is free! Our Core Mat Pilates and Barre Sculpt classes are full length – so exactly what you get in the studio, “Nare shares emphasizing on the variety and the affordability of these classes.
You can follow them on Instagram on their handle @barressential or check out their website www.barressential.co
The Mirror also caught up with sports scientist and Managing Director of TASS, Thanura Abeywardena. TASS is a leading fitness training center in Sri Lanka that offers not only the chance to work out with professionals but body conditioning, fitness rehabilitation, sports field testing and more.
“Exercise helps with the release of endorphins (stress releasing hormones) and reduce the release of catecholamines (stress inducing hormones), a net result of which will keep you happy and stress free,” Thanura tells us.
Exercising will help you increase blood circulation, reduce chronic blood pressure and ventilatory rate, and reduce stiffness and aches and pains that can arise from being stationery in one place.
Thanura shares with us 10 exercises that can safely be carried out at home, and also provides a list of ‘equipment’ that can be found around the house.
Skipping, high knees, jumping jacks, squats or squats to chair, pushups, wall pushups, step ups, lunges, pull ups or inverted rows, bench dips, planks, glute bridge, feet elevated bridge, inchworms or arms extended inchworm and core exercises are things that can easily be done in the comfort of your home and are sure to guarantee you working up a sweat.
You can use a set of books and carry bag, a bag of rice (4-5kg), gas cylinders or pots and pans as weights; a couple of chairs for the feet elevated bridge and even a broom for the inverted row; make use of your staircase or a couple of steps; and if your ground is uneven when working on your core and planks, don’t forget to utilize a mat.
For further advice on home exercise TASS is available to share hundreds of routines with you. Contact them on Instagram with their handle @tass_lk and/or Facebook @TASS and they will help you through their online programme.