5 Fitness Tips for Staying Active

Staying active is not only good for you physically, but also mentally and emotionally as it relieves stress and helps you feel better, even about yourself. So how have you been staying in shape during the pandemic? Or have you put on a few pounds since then? If so, read on. I share my top five fitness tips for overcoming this prolonged inactivity.

“She equips herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] And makes her arms strong.”

– Proverbs 31:17 AMP

Fitness Tip 1

My first tip is that you consult your doctor before you follow any of the suggestions contained in this post because I am by no means a health care professional. These are merely my opinions of activities that have worked for me. Read my disclaimer.

Before the quarantine, it was much easier for me to stay active. My fellow barre classmates kept me accountable, whether they knew it or not. Plus, the challenging workouts kept me motivated. Another motivator was not wanting my money to go to waste! So, I happily attend barre class regularly. But now that disaster has struck and the barre studio has closed, I have had to find alternative ways to workout.

Fitness Tip 2

My second tip for staying active is to stick to your routine. It is much harder to get back into the habit of working out than to just continue working out. So when my barre studio offered to live stream our classes so that we could work out at home, I immediately signed up. And when even that was cancelled, I searched out and found an On Demand option. This is not just because I am disciplined, this is also because I like barre classes.

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Fitness Tip 3

You actually have to like what you are doing to be motivated enough to stick with it though, so my third tip is to figure out what works best for you. If something comes along and disrupts your routine, and something will, adjusting your routine so that you can stick with your workout will be easier if you like what you do. I started out with running. I used to go to the gym at 5 o’clock in the morning. I packed a gym bag and took a shower there before going to work five days a week. It was very rewarding at the end of the workday to be able to go home instead of to the gym, and so that motivated me to get up early the next day and do it again.

Once I moved to L.A., I could no longer fit in a morning workout at my complex’s gym. And standing on my feet and walking around all day at my job made running at the end of the day too difficult. Plus, it was hard on my knees. I had to find a new workout.

Fitness Tip 4

My fourth tip, then, is to create a new fitness plan when the one you are doing no longer works for you. Thankfully, L.A. is the perfect place for that, so the timing could not have been more perfect for me. There are so many original fitness studios here!

Sandbox Fitness

I tried two when I had to stop running. First up was Sandbox Fitness, which I loved. It involves balancing on a surfboard that is suspended above the sand in a giant sandbox. I regret not taking pictures because you have to see it to believe it. I took the beginners’ class, Surfset 101. It’s an intense workout for the core that was much harder than it sounds, escalating from stepping onto and back off the surfboard, to jumping onto it; from balancing on it, to performing exercises on it while maintaining your balance. It develops all of the strength and skills you need for real-life surfing. Surfers make it looks so easy. As fun as Sandbox Fitness was, it was too far of a drive from downtown Los Angeles to Sherman Oaks to go frequently enough to not have to also add another workout, so I had to keep looking.

Pure Barre

Next up was Pure Barre. Barre is a total body workout that involves the ballet barre and isometric movements, often done on the toes. It is a lot harder than it looks; I didn’t think I was going to survive my first class, yet I came back three more times during my free trial and, when they offered an introductory month for only $99, I signed up. I liked the high expectations, the way they just tell you to do pushups on the toes gives the message that it can be done. And so I did. I decided that I would make it my summer workout, and then find something more affordable when the special was over. But at the end of the 30 days, I was reluctant to quit barre class. I decided to invest in my health and fitness and have been there ever since. The educator’s discount made that a lot easier to do. That was two and a half years ago, and now I am only about 70 classes from Class 500.

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Fitness Tip 5

My fifth and final tip is to have fun! Look for additional ways to be active outside of the gym or fitness studio. Go bike riding, swimming, for a walk or a run. Or you can join your church’s flag football team or salsa class like I did. Anything to make working out less like something you have to do and more like something you get to do.

What are your favorite ways to stay active? Please comment below.

Until next time!

“Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this.”

– 1 Timothy 4:8-9 MSG

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