As if 2022 hasn’t felt fast enough, the Lunar New Year season has been racing by us too! We don’t know about you, but getting back to the grind after the long CNY break isn’t an easy feat.
After all that yummy food, spending time with loved ones and clearing leave, who can blame you for wanting more Chinese New Year chill? But alas, life goes on. Here are four types of effective workouts we recommend you doing to bounce back from your holiday slump.
1. Jumping rope
Working out with a form of equipment is almost like working out with a buddy! By engaging yourself with workout equipment, you’ll feel the extra motivation to stick to your workout. Resistance bands, sliders and weights are all good activities to keep you engaged with your workout.
To ease yourself back into routine (and life), try skipping rope! It’s easy, lightweight, and there aren’t any hard and fast rules about it. Sure, you can amp it up, but be kind to your body and skip at whichever intensity that you feel comfortable with. It might just give you a spring in your step to jump back into work (puns intended)!
2. Yoga
Yoga is one of our favourites on the list, simply for how it has the ability to recharge you physically and mentally. There are different types of yoga for different levels of mobility- vinyasa, strength, yin, ashtanga, hatha, and the list goes on.
For getting back into the groove of things, try vinyasa yoga. It involves movements that flow with your breath, which puts you into a state of rest and relaxation. It also helps you stretch out tight muscles, which is perfect for the back ache after the late night card games with your cousins (we see you)...
3. HIIT workouts
You may be thinking, don’t the first two letters in HIIT stand for high intensity? Our suggestion here leans more on the last two letters- interval training. Short workout bursts may be just what you need to get your heart pumping and sweat going.
While the majority of us do a whole round of HIIT exercises for at least 30 minutes, you can opt to get into a quick and burning HIIT session at a 15-minutes mark or even less. Avoid straining or overworking your body when about to kickstart a fitness routine as you may lose steam as soon as you start!
4. Cardio
For this one, make use of your gym membership if you have one, and the nearest park if you don’t. Running, cycling, dancing, even climbing up the stairs and back down again are easy ways to get some cardio in.
The main purpose of a cardio exercise is to get your heart pumping and blood flowing. Aim to reach between 50% and 75% of your maximum heart rate during a cardio exercise to make the session an effective one, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). You can adjust your target level of heart rate based upon your fitness level.
What’s your go-to workout when you’re in a slump, LIVLOLA fam?
