As the monsoon season sets in, outdoor workouts might seem like a distant dream with heavy rains and wet grounds. Embrace the season with these five exciting indoor workout options that are far from your usual gym routines or typical yogic exercises. This monsoon try something offbeat and get your stamina soaring.

HIIT Workouts

HIIT, or High-Intensity Interval Training, is a dynamic exercise method that alternates between intense bursts of activity and short periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise.It’s known for its effectiveness in burning calories and improving cardiovascular health in a shorter amount of time compared to traditional workouts. HIIT sessions typically last between 20 to 30 minutes, making them perfect for squeezing into a busy schedule.

Pilates

Pilates aims to improve general body alignment, increase flexibility, and strengthen the core muscles. People of all fitness levels can benefit from this low-impact training technique, which can be customized to target particular body parts including the legs, back, and belly. Precise movements and regulated breathing techniques are common in Pilates exercises, which enhance mental and physical health. Pilates courses are widely available at gyms and fitness centers. Trained Pilates teachers lead students through a variety of exercises on a mat or with specialized equipment.

Aerial Yoga

Aerial yoga uses silk fabric or a hammock suspended from the ceiling to blend classic yoga positions with aerial acrobatics. This type of training gives you a unique full-body workout while you navigate in the air, improving flexibility, balance, and core strength. From absolute beginners to seasoned practitioners, aerial yoga programs accommodate all ability levels and provide a welcome variation from traditional floor-based yoga practices. It’s a fantastic way to push yourself and experience weightlessness at the same time.

Kickboxing

According to Drishti Chhabria, founder, chief experience officer, Orangetheory Fitness India, “Kickboxing is a high-intensity exercise that improves endurance, coordination, and agility by combining martial arts techniques with cardio aspects. Punches, kicks, and knee strikes are performed against a heavy bag or with a partner in this full-body workout, which is a great way to relieve stress. A well-rounded exercise experience is ensured by the inclusion of warm-ups, skill drills, and cool-downs in kickboxing lessons. Kickboxing offers an enjoyable and motivating exercise choice, regardless of your fitness goals: strength training, calorie burning, or learning self-defense skills.”

Capoeira

Brazilian martial art capoeira is a fluid and rhythmic movement technique that incorporates dance, acrobatics, and music. Its fluid kicks, spins, and sweeps set to the rhythm of traditional Brazilian instruments like the berimbau define it. Capoeira develops creativity and a respect for culture in addition to physical conditioning, flexibility, and reflexes. Partner exercises, music lessons, and games (called “jogos”) are common in classes, which foster a lively and supportive environment.
With these five exciting indoor workout options—HIIT workouts, Pilates, aerial yoga, kickboxing, and Capoeira—you can beat the monsoon blues while staying fit and active. Embrace these unconventional fitness activities to maintain your well-being and make the most of the rainy season indoors.

Not everybody has enough room for a designated gym or studio, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on working out at home. You don’t need a full-size treadmill or a giant exercise bike taking up the limited free space you have to get your heart pumping. There are so many pieces of fitness equipment that you can store under your bed or behind your couch between sessions that’ll still give you a full-body workout. To help you out, we’ve rounded up some of the best compact fitness equipment you can use to get your daily sweat sesh in without cluttering up your space.

Here are the best pieces of fitness equipment that won’t take over your home:

 

 

If the current trends continue, the study projected that by 2030, 60% of the adults could be insufficiently engaging in physical activity as in India, a little over 22% of the adults engaged in insufficient physical activity in the year 2000 while in 2010, close to 34% of the adults were insufficiently physically active. This raises an urgent wake-up call for India as a 2023 Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) study, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, estimated that 101 million people in India were diabetic in 2021 and about 315 million had hypertension the same year.

India’s Fitness Challenge:

Given our deteriorating health graph, it is crucial to start our fitness journey now and adopt actionable steps to get active and begin exercising. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Manish Pendse, Senior Consultant Physician and Diabetologist at Medicover Hospitals in Navi Mumbai, shared, “Poor lifestyles and unhealthy food choices are some of the main reasons behind the major population being unfit. People tend to choose processed, packaged, or junk food instead of eating healthy food. This significantly hampers their health resulting in several health issues like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, digestive problems, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke and skin problems.”

What You Can Do Now:

Dr Manish Pendse asserted, “It becomes essential to indulge in physical activities or exercise, to keep your body fit and away from multiple diseases. Your fitness regime could include low-impact exercises like walking, jogging, meditation and Yoga and intense physical activities like running, cardio, weight lifting, and hitting the gym. Being physically active for at least 30 to 40 minutes daily can stimulate metabolism helping in managing weight.”

The health expert suggested, “Eat well-balanced food that contains equal amounts of essential nutrients like protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and omega-3 fatty acids. Make healthy food choices that are low in calories, cholesterol, and saturated fats, and contain sugar, and salt in moderation. Keep a daily track of your body weight to see if you are gaining weight or losing weight. This can help you create a tailored plan to maintain your physical and psychological health.”

He cautioned, “Avoid unhealthy habits like drinking alcohol, chewing tobacco, smoking, sitting in one place for prolonged hours without taking adequate breaks and eating at unusual hours. Consult your doctor for expert guidance and tips to maintain fitness in this fast-paced life. Stress also leads to weight gain and gastric problems, It is imperative to de-stress by doing activities that calm you down.”