New tips for home fitness

There is no need to save tens of thousands of yuan in home fitness equipment, no need to squeeze an hour of free time, no need to force yourself to keep up with the high-intensity rhythm of the famous bloggers. The new home fitness method that is most suitable for the general public at the moment is essentially a non-standardized solution that "embeds fitness movements into daily scenes, uses somatosensory loads to match one's own status, and relies on lightweight data to calibrate movements." Even office workers who usually sit all day and are too lazy to move around can feel the actual changes in relaxed shoulders and necks and loose pants without having to endure a painful adaptation period.

To be honest, I used to be a loyal supporter of "home fitness must have a sense of ritual." I bought a lot of yoga mats, dumbbells, and elastic bands, and I had to put on fitness clothes for each exercise. As a result, it took me 10 minutes to get ready. When I got home from get off work after a busy day, I just slumped on the sofa and didn't want to move at the thought of having to prepare so much. The equipment was piled in the corner collecting dust. I once thought that I was born without perseverance.

Later, a friend in the fitness circle introduced me to the "scene-embedded" training method, and I discovered that it completely opened the door to a new world. Take me for example. When I watch a TV show, I hook my feet on the edge of the sofa and do leg raises on my back. After a 45-minute episode of the show, I have just completed 3 sets of 15 movements each. I don’t feel like I am “working out” at all.」 ； During the two minutes while cooking and waiting for the water to boil, hold on to the stove and do two sets of Bulgarian split squats, or stand with your feet on your hands for a while. After doing seven or eight sets in a day, your leg strength will increase much faster than before doing it once a week.

Of course, when this training method first came out, there was a lot of controversy. One group insisted that "fragmented fitness is useless. You must do 30 minutes of moderate to high intensity to reach the fat burning threshold." The other group believed that "moving is better than not moving. If the cumulative amount of activity reaches the standard, it will be effective." I have recorded it myself. I used to devote 1 hour to going to the gym. If I could do it 5 times a month, I would be very happy. Now that I practice in fragments, the cumulative activity per week can be stabilized at more than 180 minutes. I have lost 2.3% of body fat in 3 months, and the waistband of my pants has become loose by a whole size. I dare not say who is right and who is wrong. At least for ordinary people like me who have no perseverance, the latter is more effective.

In addition to not having to allocate a whole block of time, practice at home has long gone out of fashion and the practice of "having to buy professional equipment" is no longer popular. Many friends around me directly use existing items at home as counterweights: 5 liters of cooking oil filled with kettlebells for deadlift training, a backpack filled with professional books on the body for weight-bearing squats, half of a mineral water bottle used as small dumbbells for muscle training on the back of the arms. Not only have I saved thousands of dollars to buy equipment, but I also don’t have to worry about the equipment getting home and used as clothes hangers.

However, some people have warned that non-standard weights can easily lead to movement deformation and injuries. This statement is indeed true. My own experience is that the weight you choose is appropriate as long as it allows you to complete 12 standard movements without shaking. If you can't help but bend over when doing deadlifts with an oil barrel, then don't forcefully add weight. Doing it with bare hands is better than getting injured. My mother has bad knees. She used to follow the blogger to do squats at 90 degrees, and it hurt for several days after the exercise. Now I ask her to squat at 15 degrees, as if she is sitting on a very high stool. She does 20 squats a day, and the old knee pain has been alleviated a lot.

Of course, the biggest fear when practicing blindly is not knowing if your movements are wrong. The lightweight movement calibration tool that has become popular in the past two years has just made up for this shortcoming. You don’t need to buy thousands of dollars worth of somatosensory equipment. Just put an ordinary mobile phone next to it and open a free AI movement calibration APP. When you are practicing, it will remind you in real time that "the knees are buckled in", "the waist is collapsed" and "the core is not tight". The accuracy is definitely not as good as offline personal trainers, but for ordinary people to practice at home, it is more than 10 times better than practicing without anyone caring. I used to practice planking by myself, and I always had a habit of slumping my waist. My waist would hurt for most of the day after doing the exercises. Later, I used the APP to adjust it. Now I feel no discomfort when I hold my waist for 3 minutes.

A while ago, I met my friend who bought a rowing machine to hang clothes. He said that he no longer forces himself to row three times a week. He does 3 sets of cat-cow poses to move his spine in bed every morning when he wakes up. He also does a 1-minute ani levator while brushing his teeth at night. Most of the hemorrhoids that have troubled him for a long time have been cured. He jokingly called this "the most cost-effective fitness investment."

After all, there is no standard answer to home fitness. In the past, I always thought that fitness requires gathering equipment, enough time, and completely standard movements. Now I understand that the best new techniques are the ones that make you willing to move, able to persevere, feel no discomfort after practice, and see some small changes. After all, we ordinary people are not going to compete in fitness. Being comfortable and useful is better than anything else.