¿How and with what attitude can I do excercise at home?

Today, the 'de-escalation' has no fixed end. However, the protocol for swimming pools will be used one third of capacity, will be mandatory to disinfect: hands, shoes, contact surfaces and water. In Feliu we invite you to discover an alternative: to do gymnastics at home. 

Block 1: Basic concepts, exercise mentality and the importance of a trainer 

Is 'getting physical activity' the same as 'exercising'?

No, physical activity has no purpose even though it requires movement. Instead, when we "exercise" movement follows a method and has a clear purpose.

There are three types of exercise: aerobic, which strengthens resistance, is of medium intensity and long duration. The anaerobic one focuses on shoring up strength and power and is of high intensity and short duration. Finally, flexibility, is heavenly music for muscles and tissues.

2. Why is it key to understand sport as a pleasure not an obligation?

A former elite gymnast - whom we thank for her collaboration - answers: "When we consider doing sport, the most important thing is to change the "tengo que" for the "quiero". Many times we don't feel like what we perceive as an obligation. On the other hand, it costs much less to carry out something that we want to do and see its positive effects... if we think like that our motivation is greater and this makes our performance much better".  

3. Why, at some point, should a professional coach direct us when we exercise?

Very simple, although Youtube is full of content on the subject and you can even spend many years exercising ... an immense majority of us are and will always be amateurs.

The contest of a professional trainer is fundamental for: 

- Evaluate your physical condition: first with an effort test that confirms your aptitude to do sport without risk. Then, he/she must determine from where parts and what "physical load" your body can support.

- Modulate your goals: the goal of amateur sport is to reach "optimal performance". To do this, you have to personalize your goals according to your own possibilities. To talk about "possibilities" and not "capabilities" is to be realistic. We explain, everyone likes to "have more capabilities" but sport must serve to increase well-being. You don't compete with anyone, not even with a desire or a previous state of being is about "gaining physical background", ie having more resistance to prolonged effort. 

- Designing personalized exercise "routines": training requires adapting to whoever learns and correcting them. On the contrary, it requires: courage, humility and perseverance. 

Block 2: Under what circumstances should you never do sport?

1. When you have eaten less than 90 minutes ago.

2. When you have: fatigue, tachycardia, dizziness or fever.

3. When you have: muscular pains, contractures, lumbago.

Resisting pain is neither heroic... nor practical: a body in these circumstances will not reach optimum performance. 

Block 3: How to prepare for sport?

1. Wear light and breathable clothes. Also, given the circumstances, wear a mask. 

2. Prepare water or an isotonic drink rich in salts: hydration ensures constant physical performance. Remember: keep the bottle or glass you use clean.

3. Get a heart rate monitor: to measure your heart rate before, during and after exercise. 

4. Take advantage of being at home and control the temperature: in winter you should be at 21 degrees, in summer your house should not exceed 12 degrees difference with the outside. 

5. Spend some time warming up: avoiding injuries is the goal. It is essential to adapt your warm-up to the type of exercise you want to do: aerobic, anaerobic or flexibility.

Block 4: Where is the best place to set up a gym? What equipment do you need?

Our interior designer, Pep Feliu, replies: "If I wanted to set up a gym in a common area, I - before the COVID broke in - finished one next to the access to lifts, which is domestic and communal. If, as the article does, we talk about placing it in a private home, it will have to be done where there is more space available. I usually opt for the ground floor in front of the window so that you can see the horizon. I never forget that exercising is a sensory experience, therefore, the view must also play its part in increasing our well-being.

In the space that serves as a gymnasium we can install, with more than two meters of distance, some of these elements:

- Exercise bike 

- Elliptical

- Ropes on the wall 

- Ergonomic parallel steel bars -very stable-

- Gymnasium trellis (the wooden bars attached to the wall)

- Ball on which to ride and practice proprioception (imbalance)

- Weights 

- Mattress to cushion the body's friction or impact with the ground.

Now you can fulfill a new year resolution: go to the gym.