Across the United States, the temperatures are rising and for some of us, it is too hot to go outside. For those of us who don’t have a pool and want to stay active…what can we do? Luckily, Youtube has a plethora of videos to save the day and keeps us healthy mentally and physically. Not only Youtube, but we have an array of free apps that can help keep you fit in the air conditioning. This list is for people of all ability levels!
1. Get up and dance!
Youtube has a large array of videos to teach you how to dance; whether it is salsa dancing, hip hop, or introductory ballet classes…there’s a class for everyone! Youtubers like Kyra Pro create fun videos to motivate you to get up on your feet to dance! According to Better Health, some of the many benefits of dancing are: improved condition of heart and lungs, improved spatial balance and awareness, aerobic fitness and many more! If you would rather join friends, check out your local community to take a Zumba class.
2. Yoga and Stretching
Personally, yoga is one of my favorite activities to pass time and relieve stress. There are a ton of options to choose from and anybody is able to participate despite your flexibility! If you’re an expecting mother, prenatal yoga is also extremely beneficial for both mother and baby. The best apps that I have tried are Yoga and the Apple Fitness Plus program that coordinates with your Apple Watch! Apple Fitness is only $10/month and they have multiple programs and tell you the difficulty level. Some of my favorite Youtubers are: MadFit, Yoga with Adriene and Breathe and Flow. Yoga is great to reduce stress, depression, anxiety, and to improve your mental well being. Meditation is also recommended to do with yoga. I highly recommend the Headspace app to get started.
3. Workout Without Leaving the Couch
We have all been there, we open our eyes and have the desire to do absolutely nothing. Sometimes we need a little boost to get up and get our blood flowing. I recently discovered a Youtuber called Vicky Justiz and she has popular videos that involve working out in your bed! That’s right, in your bed! Lazy Girl Workout is low impact and is usually between 5 and 15 minutes and you can find them here. She also has videos when you are feeling motivated to try something new.
4. Take a Walk Inside
Maybe you usually go for a daily walk but the summer thunderstorms are keeping you inside, you can take a walk inside now. A Medibank article recommends that you walk at least ten thousand steps a day and “The recommendation of 10,000 steps a day originally came from Japanese researchers in the 1960s. Led by Dr Yoshiro Hatano, a research team found that the average person took 3,500 to 5,000 steps each day – and that if they increased it to 10,000, they could improve their overall health and fitness. Dr Hatano’s calculations estimated that 10,000 steps could burn around 20% of an individual’s caloric intake.” My all time favorite video to walk inside to is Grow With Jo: Indoor Fat Burning Workout . I have tried dozens of videos and she is engaging and fun to workout with! When it’s cooler and less hot, if you ever want to track your outdoor walks, I highly suggest Map My Walk by Under Armour.
Make Time to Move!
Even though the temperatures are soaring, your physical fitness is just as important as anything else. If you have more money to spend, you can check out this article that features workout programs that are available to stream on your phone or television!
