A year prior to Pregnancy and even throughout pregnancy I was an active person. I used to bike, go to the gym and do yoga (Only yoga during pregnancy). All this changed after the pregnancy and the baby. I tried going to gym with support from my mother-in-law, mother, and husband but couldn’t keep it up. It stopped before it could become a habit again. Then I started to take Maahira to a walk in her stroller and this also tanked soon.
All this changed last October. I had to lose a little weight at least to look good during my sister’s wedding. Who wouldn’t want that? Plus, I had to prepare a performance, after all, I am THE SISTER! I had to find a sustainable way to exercise through which I could lose weight and keep up when I don’t have anyone to support with my daughter. (she must become part of the exercise and enjoy along with me).
And I decided to use dance fitness videos on youtube to dance along and become fit all while staying at home. And doing this helped in the following five ways –
- I don’t have to hold my daughter as she enjoys listening to music and tries to jump and dance along with me.
- It gave a good foundation in getting my hands and legs co-ordinated which helped in learning dance steps later.
- Losing weight and keeping my whole body toned. (Almost 3 kgs in three months)
- It helped in improving the blood circulation to the brain – which results in improved mood, memory retention, and concentration.
- Now I can again wear all my old clothes, saving a lot of money!
I had once listened to this TED talk on youtube – The brain-changing benefits of Exercise. And can say with confidence that I did experience all those benefits she talks about in this video.
I started with 20 minutes in the first two weeks, increased to 30 minutes the next two weeks, now I am doing 40 minutes followed by 10 minutes of yoga to stretch. Initially, I was doing exercise 4-5 days a week. Now it is three days a week.
Let’s talk about the channels which I follow to create my dance fitness playlist. And you can use them or your own choices and exercise in your home, burn calories, have fun, all in the comfort of your home. This is even more beneficial during these times of quarantine and social distancing.
1. Pungra
I started with this bhangra workout from #pungra. Initially doing this was tough for me.
Before 10 minutes I would become breathless. Doing this workout again and again, day by day, I built up the strength. Right now, I can do this workout without any water breaks and getting breathless. Believe me, it will be tough in the beginning and you will feel like giving up, my suggestion – keep doing this one, and you will see the results.
The channel has other awesome workouts, this one is my favorite. The best part is for each bhangra step, he has three levels, beginner (slow), intermediate (fast) and expert (faster). I started with the slow ones even when he was doing faster ones. And slowly caught up with the instructor’s speed.
2. Vijaya Tupurani
Next I stumbled upon Vijaya’s channel. She has a lot of videos of doing zumba on bollywood tracks. I started with this one initially –
A peppy track with easy to follow steps. She has other amazing Zumba videos on popular tracks. Take your pick and dance. She has some curated playlists that could be used in case you don’t want to make your own ones. The videos are short, steps are easy to follow – that’s what I love about her videos. I still have a lot of her Zumba videos in my playlists.
3. BollyX
For some time I even had the workout videos from this channel. The steps are easy to follow. I had this one in my playlist for quite some time.
I had some other workouts from this channel for some time. The steps are easy to follow and peppy too. Some of these videos are really good for beginners. I don’t have any from this one right now, guess I have moved on to the next level.
4. Fitness Dance With Rahul
This is now one of my favorite channels. He has dance workouts on all the latest Bollywood songs. I love the energy and fun factor in all his workouts. He even has tutorials on some of his popular dance fitness workouts. That makes it easy to follow the steps.
I have many videos from his channel in my playlists. And I watch any new one he uploads to see if I should add that to my kitty.
5. Soul to Sole
This one is an old find. But I started to add workouts from this one recently. I had always wanted to do this workout from this channel.
I find many of the workouts from this channel tough. Yet they are fun to dance along with. It might take me another two months to finally do all the steps right. Till then grooving along is fine.
That sums up the channels in my arsenal. There are many others. These ones have dance workouts or Zumba routines that are easy to follow. Plus, if you have kids, they can dance along with you. They are entertained and you also get a workout. I would love to know any channel or video that you guys follow.
Till next post.
Stay safe and healthy.
