Moving more: building a new daily routine in lockdown

Sophie shares how social distancing and working from home have positively impacted her relationship with activity.

There’s a lot of doom and gloom right now. But sometimes being forced to change your daily routine can help you discover something great and new.

So here’s the thing, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut and not always prioritise the things that you know, with a little effort, are good for you.

A new daily routine

What has COVID-19 meant for my activity levels? Well surprisingly, when movement is restricted, I’ve actually found myself moving more. I have built a daily routine around 1 #StayInWorkOut and 1 walk/bike ride. The latter has been a very standard part of my daily routine for a long time. Whether it’s a lunchtime walk from the office, home from the train station or out in the New Forest.

Being active outside and in the fresh air is important to me. Of course I have intended to do more for some time. But I survive the average day on very little sleep and have a long term problem with my shoulders which causes ongoing pain and discomfort. This combination over a prolonged period of time has often resulted in a lack of  energy. However a change in routine, albeit a forced one, has oddly sparked a motivation and craving to expend energy that I didn’t know I had.

I was chatting to my sisters about the challenges of home schooling and the importance of building in daily physical activity. As such, I drew their attention to Joe Wicks online daily PE. There I was bestowing my wisdom on the need to engage. Effectively preaching about the importance of building something like this into the day! Surely what’s good for the goose, is indeed good for the gander. How could I be encouraging others to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do myself!

So here I am, day 14 in and 14 daily doses of Joe. It’s my first excursion into online workouts and I’m really enjoying it!

What have I reactivated/remembered?

That expending energy gives energy; that I’m not as unfit as I thought; that being active for a relatively short amount of time in your 24 hour day really does make a difference. There is a sense of satisfaction. A feeling that you’ve worked for something. And when your muscles are aching the next day, it’s a reminder that it’s doing some good!  I get a boost from that as well and it’s encouraged me to get my ‘PE kit’ back on every morning.

Do I sleep any better than normal? No! Do I still have problems with my shoulders? Yes! But I’m not sleeping any worse, so I might as well get on with it, and I can adapt what I do to cater for my shoulders! So effectively nothing lost and a skip in my step gained.

Changing habits

Will I change my habits when I get back to my daily commute? I can confidently say I will. It’s a small adjustment to a daily routine that is having positive impact!