It’s a bleak start to the year. It’s cold outside, you’re broke and you’re stuck at home, making it difficult to kick start your health and fitness resolution.

Just because you’re home-bound and on your rump, doesn’t mean you have to let your fitness suffer during lockdown.

Feel Good Contacts has teamed up with Personal Trainer, Badrul Islam to help you to get fit without spending a penny.

Our working world is designed so that we are sitting for eight hours a day. This is the most passive thing you can do which means that you’re not metabolising sugars and fats.

Research shows that long periods of sitting can have a detrimental impact on our health and wellbeing and cut years off our lives.

The World Health Organisation listed inactivity as the fourth biggest risk factor in global adult mortality.

But luckily there are some exercises and other initiatives you can take to combat fatigue and weight gain.

Here are some tips on how to kick start your New Year fitness programme and keep your muscles engaged:

Find a buddy

Once you’re back to working from home after the festive break, find a co-worker with similar New Year health goals so that you can support each other.

It is easier to stick with your plan if a buddy is going through the same resolution and helps you to adhere to your schedule and nutritional goals.

Alternatively, suggest a fitness initiative to your management team. This would be a great way to get everyone involved. Perhaps you could suggest weekly Zoom team workouts.

Maintain a healthy diet

Food preparation is a great way to control your consumption and saves you money as you won’t be buying the quickest, most expensive option when you’re in a rush.

Chicken, turkey and egg-based lunches are packed with protein and will provide you with the essential building blocks for calorie burning muscles. Fish like tuna and mackerel are cost effective sources of protein that will also increase your energy and the omega-3 will help you to maintain a sharp mind and improve your eyesight.

Remember to supplement your protein with vegetables; not only are vegetables much cheaper than meat, they’re full of vitamins, minerals and guilt-free calories and perfect to chop up into snack-size pieces to keep you going throughout the day. Fruit, protein shakes, salads and natural fibre bars are also great snacks.

Hydration

In terms of drinking, water is one of the easiest ways to manage body weight and reduce your food consumption.

To ensure that you are consuming a sufficient amount of water, keep 2 bottles of water (1.5- 2 litres) handy. This will leave you with no excuse for not drinking enough.

When full, your water bottles will also be a perfect substitute for dumbbells or weights! If you need to drink something warm, then try non sugary herbal drinks, black coffee or broth.

Standing meetings

If you’re having a Zoom meeting, then suggest a standing meeting. As well as getting you out of your chair (or sofa), research shows that these types of meetings are a good way of increasing efficiency, making sure that the meeting doesn’t stretch to an hour when it can be done in half the time.

Mobilise your muscles

When working at your desk (or dining table), if it’s possible, stand up and do your work. Standing uses more muscles and burns more calories than sitting and it’s good for your back and posture. If you can’t stand and work, then stand up every 30 minutes to stretch your chest and extend your spine to reverse the hunched position of sitting.

Use a towel or find a broomstick to use for stretching. Holding the towel or broomstick with straight arms at either end, rotate back and forth over your head slowly.

Doing this can help to open up your chest muscles and mobilise your back muscles. Stretching is vital for maintaining good posture, especially when working at a desk (or dining table) for several hours a day. It will also help to reduce back and neck pain significantly. If you’re feeling particularly energetic then why not try some deskercise. See below for home based exercise plan.

Set an alarm

Try and break up multiple chunks of sitting time (set an alarm if you feel you need it) with some movement by taking trips to the water machine. The general rule is to take a walk at least every half an hour to get a glass of water. People get dehydrated when they sit, plus at this time of year the heating will be on so you’ll need the extra h20.

What dead time?

When you’re stuck with some dead time, for example, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, don’t be embarrassed to do some light exercises like calf raises, squats or lunges.

Get some fresh air

If you can manage to brave the cold weather, then go for a walk in your break. Use your longer lunchbreak for a workout. Go to your local park for a power walk or run. If you’re new to running, then download the NHS’s Couch to 5K app podcast. It will ease you in gently.

For variety of exercises, look out for the communal gym equipment that has been installed in many parks up and down the country. Failing that, you’ll often find monkey bars in the children’s playground where you can work on your pull ups.