How to keep fit during lockdown, using only a baby and a stroller
Specifically, a boxing-inspired workout you can do at home with nothing but your bodyweight, your baby and your stroller.
By SHARON FEIEREISENPick two focal points on opposite sides of the room. Balance on your tailbone and twist side to side(photo credit: JOE FERRARO)
Many parents are finding themselves getting increasingly irascible right about now. Being cooped-up at home as this pandemic continues to wreak havoc is no walk in the park – no matter how relatively good or bad your circumstances are.We’re not going to bore you with a platitudinous monologue about how “this, too, shall pass” (even though it will). Rather, we’re turning to actionable results: boxing. Specifically, a boxing-inspired workout you can do at home with nothing but your bodyweight, your baby and your stroller. (Optional: level-up with a diaper bag strapped to your body. The intensity will get endorphins flowing, which in turn will ease tension and anxiety while elevating mood, burning fat and building muscle.)BELOW, BOXING trainer Joe Ferraro outlines a calorie-blasting circuit. Do each move for 30 seconds, taking 10 seconds rest between each exercise. Repeat the circuit three times. Pull tabatatimer.com up to make timing the circuit easy. For more, you can catch Ferraro – and dozens of other trainers – live on IGTV via the Rumble Instagram page where free at-home workouts are posted daily.1. AB ROLLOUTS“This is a great move to build lower-body strength. In boxing, the majority of the power in your punches comes from your legs, so lower body strength is critical. For your stroller ab rollouts, grab your stroller at the base with your hands between the two wheels. Start in an upright kneeled position. Slowly roll the stroller forward contracting your abs and extending the shoulders. Squeeze your core at the bottom and roll back up to a kneeled position.”2. RUSSIAN TWISTS“This is a great core move. Boxers must possess a strong core because they have to be able to absorb punches. A strong core also gives punch power. To do this move, hold your baby out in front you. Try not to let your legs move. Pick two focal points on opposite sides of the room. Balance on your tailbone and twist side to side.”3. REVERSE LUNGES“This move will build shoulder strength, which helps with the quickness of your punches. Strap your baby on and slowly alternate your legs by taking big steps backwards. Keep your chest high and shoulders back. Stop your back knee just before it touches the floor and stand back up.”4. NONSTOP JABS AND CROSSES FOR SPEED“Grab two jars of diaper cream and get into your boxer stance: right-handed fighters, right foot back, hands up, elbows in; lefties, left foot back, hands up, elbows in. Now start punching. For an extra shoulder burn, punch towards the ceiling. Make sure to fully extend your arms, turn your wrists over, and pivot your back foot on the cross. The added weight of the jars will help sculpt those shoulders.”5. FRONT RAISES“Hold your baby down by your waist. With your arms fully extended, squeeze your core and slowly raise your baby with your arms straight and elbows locked. Squeeze your core and try not to arch your spine. This move will work your arms and your shoulders.”
