1. Dining Chair/Stool for Push-ups and Tricep Dips: We know that chair is a designated laundry dump, but it can be used for purposes more than that. Tricep dips will show improvement in stability, flexibility and range of motion in your shoulders and arms. For the push-up, rest your hands on the chair seat instead of the floor and continue with a regular push-up.
2. Backpack Magic: As a kid, you would remember carrying 15 kilos of books to school everyday. Well, you have to do just that, but at home. To add weight to body weight exercises, such as squats, lunges, and pushups, carry a backpack full of books and canned foods (make sure it’s an amount you can handle). You can even take the backpack off and grasp the straps to perform curls, shoulder presses, or makeshift kettlebell swings.
   
3. Bookworm’s Blessings: A thick hardcover book can be great for strengthening the core muscles. Look to a thick volume, such as a hardcover dictionary, to use in abdominal exercises such as crunches. Keep the book on your chest as you’re lifting your abs and middle up, but be sure not to strain your neck.
   
4. Fabric Hand Towel and Paper Plates: These can be used as an alternative to sliders. You can easily re-use these for your next exercise too! You’re actually working your muscles harder to maintain your balance because the amount of friction between you and the floor has decreased. You can modify some exercises to include lunges or mountain climbers to give them a different spin. Controlling this sliding motion is challenging, so be sure to take it slow and steady!
5. Fruits, Not to Eat, but Workout: Fill a carry bag with fruits. Trust us, a bag of fruits can go a long way as the health benefits can extend to your tricep development! Use that bag as a tricep extension. The same bag can be used for kettlebell exercises. But make sure that the bag is sealed to prevent yourself from making a mess! 
6. Pack that Suitcase: You can fill up a luggage bag with canned goods to try to replicate the barbells in the gym. With bigger equipment in your home, you can now perform those deadlifts! You can also use a laundry basket for a deadlift.
7. Use a Couch for Glutei Bridges: Lie face up on the floor and rest your heels on the edge of your couch. Squeeze through the glutes and raise your hips, creating a straight line from shoulders to knees. Lower back to start for 1 repetition. Repeat.
   
8. The Old School Workout With Stairs: If you’ve got stairs in your home, you can get a cardio workout just walking up and down them a few times. Carry around any heavy objects while you do, and you’ve added weight resistance. Avoid the lift as much as you can.
9. Beer Bottles: These can be used a substitute for super lightweight dumbbells. The narrow bottle makes it easy to grip. Plus, if you pull the bottles straight from the fridge, they’re nice and cool to hold!
10. Beach Towel as Yoga Mat: Lay down your towel. It won’t feel as thick as a yoga mat, so you can double up if you want extra padding. And if you’re on a smooth surface, you can fold them up and use them for sliding exercises, much like the paper plates mentioned above.
11. A Duffel Bag As Sandbag: Fill a duffle bag with a bunch of clothes, and get ready to test strength, balance, and patience.
12. Use a Bag of Flour as Heavyweight: Use the heavy weight to make basic bodyweight moves such as squats and lunges more challenging. Avoid a messy situation by placing the bag of flour in a Ziploc bag before you begin.

Heavy weights and complicated machinery are great, but they’re not necessary. All you have to do is get a little creative with what you’ve already got.

The effect of Covid-19 varies from person to person. Some might feel mild symptoms or not feel any symptoms at all, while for some the disease may be fatal. “If symptoms are mild and limited to the upper respiratory tract (cough, runny nose), then light to moderate exercise might be beneficial. More intense exercise should be avoided during covid infection, even if symptoms are mild, as higher-intensity exercise can temporarily reduce immune function, which would not help one combat the virus,” explains Alexander J. Koch, professor and program coordinator for Exercise Science at Lenoir-Rhyne University, North Carolina, US.

Once you have recovered from Covid-19, you can plan working out again. As much as it is important to exercise and continue being fit once you’ve tested negative, you need to remember and follow certain health rules. The first and foremost is not exerting yourself beyond what your body permits. Remember that even if the symptoms were mild or none at all, you have just regained the energy and you need to be cautious about your muscles as well. Secondly, it is best to consult your physician and take into consideration the level of workouts recommended by them.

According to Namita Piparaiya, a yoga and Ayurveda lifestyle specialist, and the founder of Yoganama, yoga is an excellent aid during the recovery process, because it helps to boost energy. Even attempting half the moves will make you more mobile, which is always good after long periods spent lying in a bed.

To begin with working out again, here are a few asanas that you can follow:
– Preparatory asanas (5-10 minutes)
– Cleansing breathing kriyas (2-3 minutes)
– Pranayama (5-15 minutes)
– Meditation (10-20 minutes)

Post-COVID period is not for training hard, rather it is time to train smart. If you get down from 40 push-ups to 4, it’s okay. Your body needs time to gain back the strength and you need to respect that. Once your body is adjusted to the yoga routine, you can switch to low intensity aerobic exercises. Begin with stretches following jumping jacks, kneeling reverse leg lifts, lunges, side step squats, side leg raises, single leg runner, warrior jacks and bird dog for 40 seconds each. You can also do a plank for 30 seconds if your body allows. Make sure you cool down with light stretches post this work out. Along with that, notice your heartbeat and make sure it doesn’t shoot up. If it does, rest more in between exercises.

After this phase of about 7 days and when fatigue level is normal, you can return to your regular exercise pattern. People have returned to more strenuous exercises after recovering from Covid-19, but remember to be patient as your body gets back to normal after fighting the infection. This is not to say you cannot return to your old lifting and strength training exercises, but take your time with this and be grateful to your body for the fight it puts up and focus on convalescing.

It is important that you seek medical advice in case of any abnormal shortness of breath for a given activity level, or return of symptoms including temperature, lethargy or chest pain. Monitor your mood. If you feel more anxious, down or low, speak to someone, and stay as healthy as possible.