A Fitness Instructor's Guide To Working Out At Home
Due to COVID-19, gyms are closed, the For You Page on TikTok is endless, and your PJ’s are calling your name. You’re probably not sure if you’ll ever be able to be motivated to move again. In all honesty, especially for us-- most of the reasons why motivation is lacking, is because we don’t know where to turn for great workouts when we’re stuck at home. Thankfully, there are a multitude of ways to find great workouts online. We spoke to Fitness Instructor Dara Sypes who shared her favorite ways to get a workout in without leaving the house (and advice for those of you in need of some motivation).
Photo by Kaylie Murphy
Certified fitness instructor and a registered yoga teacher, Dara teaches Barre, Yoga, and Pilates at Elon as well as yoga at a local studio called Om Shanti in Burlington, NC. To stay active during quarantine, Dara has been teaching as well as taking classes live on the Elon Fitness Instagram. She says, “It’s been awesome to see how the fitness community has turned to social media to share quarantine workouts.” Dara suggests searching within the Elon Fitness page as it’s “linked to so many knowledgeable instructors and personal trainers with great workouts.”
Dara finds fitness challenges on Instagram to be one of her biggest motivators to get active as well as to hold her accountable to get moving. She explains, “being nominated on Instagram stories to try out different challenges has been a fun way to be held accountable and work on different skills with friends virtually.” In addition, some may prefer doing one workout in the day to “get it over with” and move on with their day, however, Dara suggests breaking up your physical activity, “Going on a walk in the afternoon and having different workouts in the morning/evening keeps things exciting.”
With her recently started YouTube page, Dara posts workout routines and other fitness challenges for her followers. She recommends searching for other instructors on YouTube such as Andrea Rodgers, Jillian Michaels, and Shaun T to get in amazing and free workouts.
If you don’t feel like searching through YouTube, Dara suggests looking into fitness studios in your respective hometowns as, “Most of the fitness world has moved online and is very accessible for anyone.”
Follow Dara on her personal Instagram @darasypes as well as her health and wellness blog @yogi_dar for more suggestions on fitness, wellness, and motivation!