5 Ways Athletes Can Improve Fitness When Working From Home

So many of us are stuck working from home at present, and it can be an opportunity to improve your fitness routine.

While the gyms are shut and we can only meet with one other person to exercise, the pandemic has certainly thrown the plans of almost everyone involved in sport.

But let’s take a look at how you can be proactive and actually make the situation play to your advantage if you’re working from home as an athlete.

Short & Frequent Conditioning Workouts

Although you might not have access to high-quality equipment, that doesn’t have to stop you doing some basic bodyweight exercises to improve conditioning.

For example, if you know you have a weakness in your calves then you could easily build in a calf circuit to do around your main workout of the day, and still continue working between sets. This could lead to better form and injury resistance.

Stretch More

Stretching is something most of us neglect, but when working from home there are no coworkers to distract by getting up from your desk and lengthening muscles. That gives athletes the freedom to get up and stretch out areas they know are prone to tightness while reading through emails, for example. This could increase mobility and help promote recovery.

Stand Up At Your Desk

Most people working from home tend to have desk-based jobs, and sitting down all day actually leads to weaknesses and tightness in areas such as the hip flexors. There are also some theories that standing leads to better blood flow and therefore better recovery.

When you’re at home, you can easily take a 20-minute break from your chair by perching a laptop on a window sill or kitchen counter.

Spend More Time Prepping Meals

One thing that working from home gives us is more time. No commute means we can seamlessly transition around our working hours. That gives us when less excuse for not getting nutrition spot on, so you can use some of that extra time to prep nutritious meals for easy consumption before or after workouts.

Nap

Sleep is one of the most important parts of an athletic lifestyle. Without enough of it, it’s easy to end up ill or injured. Luckily, anyone working from home now has access to their own bed throughout the working day to easily top up their sleep with a nap break.