Instructors provide fitness tips for home

With gyms and recreation centres around the country forced to close, YMCA Narrogin Regional Leisure Centre instructors have shared their suggestions for keeping fit at home.

YMCA instructor Nicki Gambrell said this quote by Vietnamese monk Tich Nhat Hanh was great advice for staying active during the pandemic: “When it comes to health and wellbeing, regular exercise is about as close to a magic potion as you can get.”

Ms Gambrell’s suggested home workouts include a 20-minute full-body workout consisting of six rounds of intense exercises that can be found on the YMCA Narrogin YouTube channel.

For seniors, Ms Gambrell suggested her 10 by 10 workout which involves a list of low-intensity exercises.

She said chair exercises were a great way to stay active while watching TV.

Group fitness instructor Sharon Ackerman recommended Les Mills On Demand Body Balance — a yoga and mindfulness workout.

Alternatively, she said the Deck of Cards workout was one way to keep things interesting.

“Split your card deck into suits,” she said.

“Choose one exercise per suit, for example burpees for diamonds, shuffle, then pick a card from each suit and do the number of reps that matches the card.”

Ms Ackerman suggested that residents keep a timetable on their fridge and stick to a schedule of workouts.

Group fitness instructor and personal trainer Sherrie de Gruchy said one of her tips was to find ways to turn household objects into weights, such as bottles filled with water or sand.

“Do as many reps as possible in 15 minutes of your favour-ite three exercises — and for the kids, I recommend setting up an obstacle course using household objects,” she said.

The YMCA Narrogin Regional Leisure Centre plans to create an online shared folder consisting of workouts and videos that match the instructors’ suggestions.

For access, contact the centre at narrogin@ymcawa.org.au.