I’m writing this article in the midst of social distancing, self-quarantine, and a massive switch to remote working conditions while people around the world deal with the ramifications of COVID-19 and the Coronavirus.

I, like most of you, am trying to figure this all out on the fly. After an extended period of time working from home, I’ve found five major keys that promote regular exercise and healthy living while working from home. I hope these help you continue pursuing your goals, or to help you set new goals for yourself while living the majority of your life in your home.

After this crisis passes and we can return to normal life — or some type of “normal,” because who knows how much daily life changes moving forward — these tips can hopefully still benefit you when you work from home, or when you’re in a new situation and need to figure out how to maintain an active lifestyle.

And you’ll notice that many of these tips don’t specifically target your workout. My overall takeaway from working at home, and consistently focusing on my personal fitness goals, is there are tons of lifestyle factors that determine whether or not we’re going to work out, and put in quality work, from home.

Your routine is paramount. With that, let’s dive in!

Keep Your Morning Routine

We’re starting at the beginning of your day, because I really believe in the power of routines. Finding a rhythm and routine that makes you productive is key. And it’s very real.

There are things you can do to be more productive, such as…

• Wake up at the same time every morning
• Make your bed
• Shower
• Put on REAL clothing
• Shave
• Brush your teeth
• Brew a cup of coffee

All of these are things you’d typically do if you were waking up to travel into the office. If you’re working from home, you’re still working. Nothing should change.

Yes, you have the ability to sleep a little longer because you don’t have to commute to work. Sure, you can save time by not showering, shaving, and getting dressed.

But putting that stuff off is starting your day the lazy way. And if you sleep longer, you won’t be as tired when your normal bedtime comes around, so you’ll stay up late.

I don’t know you personally, but for most people staying up late coincides with snacking, poor choices, and further sluggish lifestyle habits. None of this is likely to promote healthy habits, like exercising.

Maintain your morning routine. Keep those habits in place that make you productive at work.

They’ll make you productive when you’re working from home.

Be Intentional

There are distractions galore at home. Your level of discipline with all of them is likely going to dictate how your day goes.

Netflix? Disney Plus? Thousands of cable channels? A pantry full of food? Video games downstairs? The laundry, cleaning, or doing the dishes?

At a moment’s notice, you can get sidetracked with one or more of those things. Just once it all it takes for your day to get off track.

Be intentional with everything you do. When it’s time to work, focus on work. When it’s time to eat, just eat (don’t eat, and work, and do something else). When you’re on a call, focus solely on that call (don’t try and do email at the same time).

And when it’s time to work out, ONLY work out. Don’t take the phone and laptop with you. I speak from personal experience with this one.

Reserve time to exercise, and use it as a mental break from work. You’ll find yourself more refreshed and better able to take on the rest of your work day.

My recommendation? Turn your lunch break into your workout time. It will give you a break in the work day, boost your energy levels, and make you feel refreshed.

Then, when the workout is over, it’s back to work. Be intentional with everything you do between the hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Get Creative

For just about everyone, your workout is going to be limited when it’s from home, so it’s time to get creative.

At the most, you may have a bench press or a squat rack. At the least, you’ll have just a pair of dumbbells or a resistance band. Or maybe you only have your body.

Regardless of the amount of available equipment, it will be less than you’re accustomed to when you go to the gym. You’re going to have to do different exercises and figure out new ways to work out in a way that still works towards your goals.

Weight is weight. Look for things around the house you can move. Just because it’s not a dumbbell or a cable machine doesn’t mean something else of equal weight can’t get the job done.

Can’t row a dumbbell? Row a bag of rice.

Can’t do biceps curls? Well… you’ve got shopping bags lying around, right? Hold them, step on a scale, and load stuff into the bags until you add 20-25 pounds. Voila! You can do biceps curls.

Can’t do the leg press, or barbell squat? Do air squats, and do a ton of them! Hell, grab the dog to add a little weight to the movement.

It takes extra effort and mind power to figure out what works, but you can absolutely still have good workouts at home.

Level Your Expectations

Home workouts are almost definitely not going to be as intense or feel as satisfying as workouts in the gym.

Getting creative is important. Being intentional is important. Continuing to work hard is important.

But it’s understandable if doing push ups until you hit failure is not as satisfying as bench pressing 225 pounds until you hit failure.

Understand that. Accept it. And move on.

Just because you can’t get that level of satisfaction doesn’t mean the workout is meaningless. It doesn’t mean you should just put off exercising until you can get back in the gym.

Do what you can. Understand it may be a lower satisfaction level, but get the most out of it that you can.

Keeps Things Organized

This last tip kind of encapsulates everything we’ve talked about to this point.

Wake up, start with your morning routine, move into the beginning of your work day, be intentional with your workout at lunch time, get right back to work afterwards.

While you go about all of these tasks, keep things organized. Put your clothes away. Pack up your computer after work. Organized the weights or other workout equipment once the workout is complete.

Having order and organization just further hammers home the concept of discipline.

We need that discipline to keep things in order while working from home.

Remember what we went over above? About distractions?

And remember how we talked about being intentional with everything you do?

Move from one aspect of your day as if you were at the office. You wouldn’t go from meeting to meeting with notes scattered about across the day. You’d be prepared and compartmentalize each meeting, conversation, and task.

Do the same from home.

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I hope you found this article helpful! If you’re interested in coaching to help you put together an at-home fitness program, please visit my coaching services page. The beauty of online coaching is that we can work towards your goals no matter where you live and regardless of the equipment you have at your disposal.

CGF