When you feel powerless as so many of us do at the moment, one very easy thing to do is to create a routine or schedule.

While we’re all stuck indoors, furloughed, working from home, shielding, grieving or just anxiously sitting it out, it’s easy to lose our sense of time. Days start to blend into each other, ‘beer o’clock’ gets earlier and we lose our sense of purpose.

Routines create a sense of normality

If you have children, creating a routine is especially important to give them a sense of normality. Be sure to include food preparation, social time, exercise and outdoor time, and some learning or creativity over and above the ‘home schooling’ so you get some benefit from this challenging time.

Enjoy your weekends

It’s also important to recognise weekends, because it’s too easy for weeks to blur together. A looser schedule for your weekends, including things like lie-ins, movie night, virtual happy hour with family/ friends etc, can be really enjoyable.

On the health and fitness front, if you’re anything like me, avoiding the refrigerator and pantry has probably become an Olympic pursuit! With summer arriving, this is a good time to be building your physical strength, flexibility and general health.

As many of you are well aware, being more physically fit actually helps us feel better mentally and emotionally.

Adding some physical activity into your schedule – starting from as little as 15 minutes a day, through to taking up your maximum daily allowance – can still get you fit and healthy, despite not being able to get to the gym or your sports club.

Many studies show that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) gives the same cardiovascular benefits as steady state training, but with greater reductions in body fat, total body weight and insulin resistance, in less time.

Embrace a short, sharp session

Even if you’re already struggling for motivation to train regularly (and do it correctly) keep at it, embrace a short, sharp session and you’ll be fitter before you know it! Here is a simple body-weight HIIT workout the whole family can do if you want a change from PE and other stuff on Youtube.

Warm up:
25 skips with a rope, 25 jumping jacks x 4 sets

HIIT Circuit:
3-5 rounds as fast as possible with a minute of recovery between rounds.
• 10 squats
• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 double leg hip thrusts
• 10 burpees
• 30 second wall sprint
• 10 lunges (each leg)
• 10 chair/bench dips
• 10 back extension
• 10 single leg hip thrusts (each leg)
• 10 mountain climbers
• 30 second wall squat

Cool down:
Walking recovery and full body static stretches.

Feel free to add your favourite exercises, use equipment you may have at home and create an exercise routine for faster fitness gains and mastery over your well-being.

If you are unsure how to perform any of the above exercises, watch some videos on YouTube or contact a personal trainer. They may be happy to send you a video via email or social media to show you the correct technique.