At Home Exercises for People Recovering from Substance Abuse
There’s a sense of confidence and accomplishment you feel during a workout when your body and mind are working together for a common goal. You can just enjoy the moment and any wandering thoughts or cravings simply fade away as you squat or jog on the treadmill. Going to the gym has given your recovery structure, and the release of endorphins helps you feel more relaxed.
The only problem is your gym has closed its doors until further notice as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19). And just like that, an essential part of your recovery routine is lost. When you’re in recovery, changes to your routine or structure can be hard to accept. Luckily, there has been a surge of at-home workout options due to COVID-19. In this post, we’re going to walk you through some home workout ideas you can use to keep your recovery on track.
3 At-Home Exercises for People in Recovery
Even though COVID-19 is having a significant impact on daily life, you don’t have to let it stop you from adjusting your fitness routine. Staying active can also help you from feeling isolated. In fact, with so many businesses temporarily closed, you’ll have even more time to invest in reaching your fitness goals.
If you’re struggling to adapt your exercise routine, try these three exercises:
1. Yoga
Yoga is the perfect at-home workout. You only need a little space to do the practice. There are a variety of yoga practices or “flows” that can scale up the challenge the more you get into it. No matter which style you get into, yoga uses your body weight, breathing, stretching and balance postures for a whole-body workout.
If you find yourself feeling stressed about your recovery, yoga gives you the opportunity to reflect on and address your emotions. Apart from the mental benefits, the steady movements of yoga strengthen your body and breathing.
One of the best aspects about yoga is that getting started is easy. There are tons of YouTube channels, apps and streaming options for guided practices. Here are a couple for you to explore:
- Yogea Yoga: This yoga YouTube channel has plenty of practices to get you going. They release a new video every Monday and even have addiction recovery focused yoga workouts for you to try.
- Daily Burn: This fitness app has a wide variety of yoga classes to choose from. No matter if you’re a beginner or looking for a hardcore workout, there’s a yoga practice for you.
2. Tabata Workouts
Tabata is a form of high intensity interval training that consists of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. It might not seem like it at first, but this type of interval training is a great challenge that will leave you feeling accomplished when done. There are also a wide variety of Tabata workouts on YouTube that don’t require any equipment, so you don’t have to worry about purchasing exercise equipment to make this exercise work for you.
Tabata offers your fitness and recovery a couple of key benefits:
- Fat Burning: Part of Tabata training is raising your heart rate. As your heart rate goes up, your metabolism works to keep up. The good news is that your metabolism keeps working even after you’re done working out. This means you’ll continue to burn fat throughout the day.
- Flexibility: Tabata workouts are usually an average of 30 minutes. That means if any other recovery or life responsibilities come up, you won’t have to miss a workout.
3. Bodyweight Training
While it’s nice to have the option to use workout machines and equipment, they’re not required to get a good sweat in. With the right combination of basic moves like push-ups, sit-ups, squats and using your own body weight, you can get a gym-level workout at home.
Plus, bodyweight training gives you the opportunity to engage your muscles, build your core and reduce your risk of injury. Bodyweight training is also flexible in the fact that you can find a workout for almost any skill level. You’ll be building and strengthening some fundamental muscle groups across your entire body, which can improve your endurance for when you return to the gym.
If you’re looking for a way to get started while learning some of the basic moves, fitness coach Gideon Akande is worth a look. His Instagram is filled with workout tutorials and routines that can all be done at home.
Fight for a Better Life at Silver Maple Recovery
If you’re still struggling with your recovery after getting your exercise routine back or have recently relapsed, Silver Maple Recovery is here to support you. Our addiction treatment center in Cleveland uses an evidence-based approach to help you with the unique challenges of your addiction.
At Silver Maple Recovery, we have a team of local addiction experts who have decades of experience in Cleveland. We offer a safe and supportive environment for you to heal. If you’re ready to continue your journey to lasting recovery, contact our team today. We have professional caregivers ready to hear your story 24/7.
