With covid-19 restrictions in place a lot of people are working from home and the restrictions mean that most people are going out the house less. This can have a big impact on daily movement which can affect your fitness and triathlon training.
If you have an activity or movement tracker that counts steps have a look at it and see how many steps you’re doing compared to what it might have been before the restrictions. I know some people who have been doing less than 1,000 steps a day.
If you’re still training with running, cycling or doing home workouts you may still feel fit – but this can’t make up for sitting down for 10 hours a day and the decrease in daily movement can still have negative consequences. Main things I notice are that I stiffen up especially in the hips. But apart from that I’m still dealing with a painful shoulder from the lockdown back in November, partly caused by bad posture and a stiff upper back.
I also know of several clients and triathletes who have said that they just don’t feel as fit even though they’ve done the same amount of training as they did before. And the one thing we can identify as being different is working from home.
Of course you can go for a daily walk or add in an extra activity session but that does take time especially if you’ll be doing your regular training as well. And it also doesn’t make up for spending lots of hours incredibly static.
So the main thing is to see if you how you can include more movement in your daily life without making it another specific activity. Here are some ideas and a few things that I’ve been trying.
- Try using a standing desk. I have a simple standing desk converter which sits on top of my desk and easily raised and lowered. I’m not yet ready to stand up all day so this makes it easy to stand up and sit down whenever I feel like it.
- I make a habit of standing up while I’m in Zoom meetings (especially if I’m not teaching).
- When I’m on the phone, or even recording a podcast, I walk up and down the hall way and round the living room!
- We rearranged some furniture in the spare room so I can work upstairs. So now I have to walk down the stairs to make a cup of tea. This also means I take a proper tea break away from my desk. This has made a huge difference to my mental wellbeing as well as my mobility and I really don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.
- If you have an upstairs and downstairs toilet then use the one that’s on a different floor to where your desk is.
- Walk to the end of the garden before each meal.
- Every hour walk to the end of the garden and back which also helps with a little vitamin D.
- Walk round the block in your lunch break or before you start work.
- Walk or ride small journeys to the shops.
If you’ve got any other tips or ideas to get moving more then let me know!