The switch from being a competitive dancer in high school to being in my house almost all day has had a toll on my motivation to workout and get moving. I get easily bored of following YouTube videos, and while things are opening up (yay!), gyms and in person group workouts aren’t totally accessible yet. Here are a few things I like to do to make my workout routine a little extra fun!
Friendly Competitions
My family and I would sometimes compete on who could hold a plank the longest, or who could do more sit-ups in one minute. It pushed us to do our best and it was fun to see who would win. When my brother and I were feeling particularly unmotivated to workout, we created a high stakes bet: we had to work out at least three days a week for about 45 minutes to an hour and if either of us missed a day of working out, we owed the other one $10. We kept each other in check and it motivated us to workout since neither of us wanted to lose money.
Workout with Entertainment
During quarantine, my family bought a stationary bike. Whenever I use it, I play an episode of Friends or whatever I’m watching at the time, and bike with it. It takes my mind off the burn and I get to workout while being entertained!
Cha Cha Slide in a Plank Position
You know the Cha Cha Slide? Now, do it in a high plank position. I used to do this before dance classes to warm-up. It’s a pretty challenging three minutes but it really targets your core and upper body strength. Here’s a video you can follow along with.
100 Squats with 10 Cards
You take 10 cards and lay them flat on the floor spaced out. Pick up the fist card (that’s one squat) and move to the next one, then put the previous card down (that’s two squats), and now pick up that card (three squats), and then the second card (that’s four squats). Continue this until you’ve picked up all cards, so that you’ve done a total of 100 squats. It forces you to get low, and it’s a quick and engaging way to get 100 squats in. Your legs may be shaking after this one!
4 Exercises, 1 Deck of Cards
Using a deck of cards, assign each suit a different exercise. For example, spades are an upper body exercise, clubs represent a lower body exercise, diamonds are a core exercise, and hearts equals cardio. The number on the card equals the number of repetitions. Finish the deck or go for as long as you want. You can also try something similar with a dice and six exercises.
Check out Pinterest for ideas!
Moving around is important, especially when we’re sitting at our desks all day, but exercising also shouldn’t feel like a chore. Grab a friend or a family member and sweat it out with one of these fun workouts!
