Home fitness has been a growing trend for some time, but until now it’s often been a supplement to a gym routine rather than a replacement for one.  With gyms now closed, however, home fitness is all there is and former gym-goers will just need to adapt.  Part of the adaptation process means learning how to keep yourself safe and avoid injury without an instructor to guide you.  Here are some tips.

Warm-up and cool down

Every fitness instructor worth the name will start any session with a warm-up and end it with a cool down.  This applies to exercise classes, the gym and sporting activities.  It’s impossible to overstate the importance of these periods.  When you have to organise a warm-up and/or cool down on your own, look for moves which relate to the form of exercise you have planned.  For example, the stretches you might want to do before you go for a run could be very different to the stretches you might want to do before a yoga session.

Know your limits (and push them safely)

This may be the single, most important lesson to take away from this article.  All competent fitness instructors will tailor their class to the ability of the participants. If they’re teaching a group with mixed abilities, they will either tailor it to the ability of the least-capable members or they will suggest variations on moves so participants can adapt the core routine to suit their level of capability.

In the absence of a fitness instructor, you will need to do this yourself.  This means you need to listen to your body, recognise your limits and aim for steady progress rather than fast results. You also need to recognise that progress rarely comes at an even rate. It tends to come in spurts followed by plateaux. You may even see your performance drop from time to time.  This is just a fact of life.

Remember to give yourself adequate rest time both as a whole and for the different parts of your body. You need to ensure that you give yourself a reasonably-balanced workout, rather than focusing excessively on certain areas.

Think about your equipment

A lot of the time, you can work quite happily with low-budget exercise equipment or even improvise with what you already have.  For example, while it might be nice to have a high-quality “cross-fit” style skipping rope if you’re on a budget, a low-priced one will generally do the job just fine.  Likewise, a proper step platform may be nice but a robust stool or chair will generally be a decent alternative.

Anything to do with safety, however, needs to be of an appropriate standard so this is one area where you should be prepared to invest. The most obvious example of this is being prepared to replace your trainers when they are worn out, even though nobody will see them.

On a similar note, make sure you are using an appropriate workout space.  It needs to be big enough to accommodate your movement and at the right temperature for your comfort.

Hydrate and replenish appropriately

Good hydration is important in any form of exercise, particularly cardio. Sometimes it’s also useful to consume certain foods just before or just after exercise. For example, if you’ve been working your muscles, then you might want to have a protein bar or shake to help with the repair process.

Keep clear records of your activity

Keep track of what you do, when and what results you achieved. This will help you to vary your routine appropriately and track your progress.  It will also help you to set goals which challenge you without pushing you too far and placing you at risk of injury.