Inspired by the recent social distancing and stay-at-home directions, here is how our household has been staying motivated, keeping movement a part of our day-to-day and staying inspired. Try a new idea each day.

*Tip: We are also learning that it is okay to do nothing and just RELAX and SLOW DOWN (hard, I know, believe me).

The Challenge: Staying motivated and healthy while stuck inside.

While both of my jobs have been shut down due to the directions from the Governor, I have tried to take the time to focus on resetting and reconnecting to myself and our family. I have been able to spend time working on my new business venture (once I get my massage license), art projects and playing with our dog.

In between those activities, I try to stop and add a little movement to refocus, get some healthy blood flow and gain some happy endorphins. I hope you find some of these ideas inspiring and ways you, too, can add to your new day-to-day. They are simple and maybe ideas you already know, but challenge yourself and try one idea a day and see what you think. I surprised myself and did 300 squats just by stopping and squatting between my daily to-dos and it felt like a great addition to my yoga practice and walking our dog.

And, please, if you are working on projects and activities not listed, share with me! I would love to hear what you are doing to stay positive and moving.

Our Family's Way to Add Fitness to our Day-to-Day

1. Grease-the-Groove - Chin-ups

Every time we pass our pull-up bar in our main hallway, we do at least one chin-up. You will be surprised by how many chin-ups you can rack up in a day. Our hallway connects the living areas (kitchen and living room) to the back bedroom and bathroom, so if you stay hydrated you can get some good reps in! If you have a pull-up bar choose a spot you are likely to pass throughout the day. If you do not have a bar, choose another simple body weight exercise like hold a plank for 30-90 seconds every hour. Set a reminder on your phone and go for it!

Not great at a chin-up? Do a "reverse" chin-up - jump up to the bar at a 90 degree at the elbow and slowly descend down. Basically, this is an eccentric chin-up which allows you to train the muscles over time, so that one day you are able to do a complete chin-up!

2. Yoga in the House (or Backyard - weather and backyard permitting)

I love to free flow our yoga sessions. My favorite is asking for a main goal or body part to focus on, whether to loosen or strengthen, and make up a flow on the fly. If you do not want to make up a flow there are so many incredible instructors that post online - check out YouTube and find a flow that speaks to you! Set up your laptop and choose a sunny spot, so you can soak up some Vitamin D.

Who are my go-to online instructors?

Here are flows that I have enjoyed:

Bryan Kest - Power Yoga 1 (the original that I had on DVD and loved)

Cat Meffan - Strong and Slow

Travis Elliot - Short and Sweet

3. Play with the Dog

Just like any dog, our dog loves to greet us at the door when we get home from work or being away from the house. He usually has a toy in his mouth or the nearest object, sometimes our shoes, and trots to the back door to be chased outside. We used to make this our warm up for our workouts, but now we try to make it a main event to keep us moving more than 5 minutes and our dog extra happy. The two sounds that get him going the most are his "Mr. Piggy" a rubber pig squeaker toy, or a balloon. These two items are guaranteed to make him sprint laps in the back yard.

And we keep playing with him, even inside. Lately mealtime has turned into a training session. We fill up his dog bowl with the normal amount of food and take it into the living room where we work on our dogs tricks from "sit", "down", "crawl", "rollover" and "bang" to "pickup", where he picks up a toy and brings it to us as well as other tricks. This has been a great practice and a great opportunity to be creative. It keeps our dog happy and his mind stimulated as well as making mealtime more fun and an opportunity to bond.

4. Partner Circuit Workout

We did this a lot when we lived in Georgia and it was a lot of fun.

First, determine how many sets you want to complete before the workout as well as a focus (full body, legs, arms, core, back etc). If you have two people, pick four workouts and four random numbers each and assign the number of reps to each of the workouts. And before you know it, you have a full workout and a little competition!

In Georgia, we grabbed some sidewalk chalk and wrote down our circuit on our driveway and crossed off as we completed each set! Now, we just write it down on paper and mainly work via the indoors, but you document and cross off (that's half the fun and motivation) as you think would work best - white board, chalkboard, paper, etc!

Here is a sample of a SMOKIN' workout:

Goal: Back and Legs with Cardio Mixed In .. 4 SETS

Props Needed: Kitchen Chair, Water Jug (If you have: Kettlebell or Dumbbell)

*Tip - Do what you can! And, have fun.

52 Jumping Jacks - for a metabolic boost

18 Chinese Push-ups - to focus on those triceps and deltiods

34 Squats (feel free to add weight) - to feel that lower body engage

26 High Knees - to help improve strength and speed

20 Kettlebell/Dumbbell or Water Jug Swings - to work total body

4 Suicides (50 yards) - for your heart

32 (16 each leg) Bulgarian Split Squat - to work on your hip flexors and glutes

16 (each arm) Single-Arm kettlebell Rows - to add a little more arms and back (triceps, deltiods, shoulder)

Closer: as many as you can for 6 minutes

45 second Plank

1 minute wall sit

30 second butterfly kicks

5. Board Game - Winner Chooses an Ab Workout

We love to play board games. In fact, we just went to Target to stock up on new games before everyone else got the same idea. I actually went back a few days later and the puzzle section was completely cleared out. I am glad that I grabbed two puzzles, while we found a few board games to add to our collection.

If you are playing a long game like 7 Wonders or House of Danger, it might be nice to just enjoy your board game and each other's company; that's what we do. It's all about balance. And sometimes you have to slow down in order to stay motivated. On days we just want to read, watch movies and play board games, we walk our dog a few times and only get up otherwise to refuel. And, let me just say, that is the BEST thing you can do sometimes.

But, if you are spending the rainy day indoors consumed with board games and they each last around 30-minutes to 1-hour, take a break between the games and choose a workout before you rematch. Don't like board games? You can still do the workouts after a movie or episode marathon on Netflix. Here are some fun examples:

1-Minute Plank / 30-second Side Plank

50 Butterflies, Bicycles, Running Man, Reverse Crunches

25 Spinal Balance Pulsing (Knee-to-Elbow), Bear Crunch

6. Dancing / Acro Yoga

After a long day and dinner is still on the menu, I enjoy dancing or practicing our Acro Yoga flows. We don't do it enough, but my favorite evening activity to get moving is to turn on some music and just free flow. I am not a great dancer and I have a terrible ear for the beat, melody or anything musically trained, really; but I enjoy listening to music and dancing or connecting together through yoga.

If I want to be a little more serious, we watch instruction videos. We went to a salsa lesson for a date one night about a year ago and we revisit the video the instructor captured while she was counting the steps as well as watch supplemental videos online of advanced steps. It is so fun.

When we got into Acro Yoga, we would watch various tutorials over and over again until we were confident we could mimic the new posture or transitions and try it in our living room floor. This is a time we can laugh together, trust one another more and completely let go. After all, you can't really practice yoga when you hold your breath.

Here are some videos we watched (and still watch as a refresher) in our beginnings to Acro Yoga:

Acro Yoga Basics and Introduction

Beginner Sequence

7. Make Chores Fun - Get Something Done on the List, Add a Squat In Between

I don't know about you but a squat makes me feel pretty powerful and since I enjoy running and train for various races, a squat helps me build more strength and power in my legs for those extra long runs. Feel free to keep the idea or change the workout. Either way, it's nice to break in the list of chores and a little boost of endorphins. Here is an example to the chores I did at the beginning of this week:

• Wash Dishes

• Clean Bathroom

• Sweep / Vacuum

• Mop Floor

• Laundry - Wash, Dryer, Fold

• Take out compost

• Make Beds

• Water Plants

And between each chore, I add 25 squats (with or without weights), which I can get at least 200 squats the day I have chores. It makes chores a little more fun and interactive and I take a breather between running around from room to room, which is nice.

I hope you enjoy these exercises and activities as much as we have these past few weeks. Enjoy!