At first glance, there is only so much fitness work that you can do in the confines of your home in the Covid-19 scenario, but listen to functional fitness specialist Vani Pahwa and you will realise that quite a bit more is possible in these times of self-isolation, quarantine and social distancing. She passionately makes a call for discipline in these times.
“Covid-19 and its impact on our lives is a reminder that, at the end of the day, we need to assuage our basic needs. Everything else is a bonus which we have abused before. They have been taken away once. And can be taken away again,” she says, highlighting the fact that there is little control over the outbreak of the virus.
Yet, as an advocate of movement, Vani Pahwa stresses this is the time for all to develop discipline. “If you have to do something a thousand times over, discipline is what will make you do it without getting bored or distracted. This is the time to develop that,” she says, indicating that she brings this idea from dance where she practices a movement 500 times before it becomes second skin.
“This is a time to be building up habits. If we don’t develop fitness habits now, when would we? For those who are complaining that workload has increased, all I say is that they have the time to build a habit. If you have to be on your laptop, move the chair away some time and kneel down. The sitting posture can be changed. Or, you have a workstation so that you can be standing.”
She is speaking from solid experience. “As luck would have it, I find myself in the middle of one of the largest online wellness initiatives in the country,” she says of Body in Motion’s CoFit-20, the movement launched by Ceat Tyres for its staff and their families to ensure that sticking to fitness regimen would not be extremely daunting during these times.
Since Vani Pahwa believes activity during lockdown stems more from the mind than body and suggests that you allow the mind to look for and seek physical activity. “You will find plenty of ways to get active during self-isolation,” she says. “My inspiration is labour. They do the same things day in and day out because they have to do it to help secure their basic needs.”
She says people can find plenty of movement when cleaning their homes.
“We use wipers or long mops. Try using the broom and mop in a traditional manner, squatting on knees and bending. It is a solid workout. You may be active otherwise but when you subject the body to a different way of doing things, it gets a different workout than you may be used to,” she says. “You can go down on your knees and wash clothes.”
Vani Pahwa has other suggestions, too. “Most people follow a basic routine for about a half-hour or 40 minutes. I suggest some simple things for you to follow during the day. For instance, you can target a certain number of steps that you can accumulate when watching TV or working on your desk or while in the kitchen. Those who have stairs at home can keep going up and down.”
She says those doing this can add exercises like the heel to toe rolls when walking, tip-toe walk when walking forward and heel-walk when walking backwards. “The warm-up that runners and cyclists do, including drawing circles with raised legs, can be used too to open up some joints since you may not be doing the kind of exercise pertaining to them,” she says.
The functional fitness specialist does not ignore housewives. “They do not need to be standing beside the gas stove and watch the vegetable cook. They can use that space to be walking around or utilise kitchen counters to do pushes-up, toe-raises, heel-raises and single-leg exercises. It does not endanger them near the stove. It keeps them mentally and physically active,” she says.
“Those in bigger spaces can use the fitness apps that they downloaded but never made use of. This is a perfect time to start using them now. If you are going to a park, you can target kilometers rather than a number of steps. Why restrict to steps, which are primarily meant for indoors,” Vani Pahwa asks.
“If you have kids, you can play games like hopscotch with them. Also, encourage your children to do the sweeping and mopping their rooms themselves. It will help them enhance their appreciation for what life is all about. Encourage them to reshuffle their cupboards. For the seniors, get them to do a certain number of steps every day and some balancing exercises,” she suggests.
“There are some who love dancing. Now is a good time to start. It may be funny but that should not matter,” she says. “Gardening is another example. Even if you have a small kitchen garden, go beyond the watering of the plants and get some extra movement by replanting the plants from one pot to another.”
Vani Pahwa is delighted that after a week or so of following her suggestions, some have started thinking out of the box in getting movement going. “If you are cleaning the bathroom, don’t just wipe the floor. Pick up the mop and wipe the tiles too,” she says, indicating that more than a few are already doing this. “You don’t have to do everything every day.”
She warns that in its struggle not to lose relevance, the fitness and wellness industry is throwing up some harmful ideas. “Indoor running is an example of this,” she says, disappointment in her voice when asked. “Exigencies must prompt you to become smarter. You cannot blindly take an outdoor format indoors under the pretext that everything is possible.
“Of course, everything is possible as a one-off but to present it as an alternate way of life for 21 days and more is bad form,” she says. “Of course, if you put your mind to it, there is a lot that you can do wonderfully well in the confines of your own home.”
Well written.
Quite perceptive.
Kudos to Vani for promoting people to be agile, healthy and happy.
Word perfect, I say. And love the suggestions shared by Vani. Thank you!!!