Virtual Workout: The Need of the Hour

Most people find working from home a “blessing in disguise.” But is it worth a blessing if your physical and mental health is affected? While working from the comfort of your couch is tempting, there are drawbacks. Although it helps some professionals maintain their work-life balance. At the same time, it is difficult for them to maintain their personal health.

With the majority of people working from home, maintaining physical and mental health is a must. Remembering to exercise becomes much more challenging when you work from home. Additionally, you might not have much room to work with if you can't get to a gym or sports facility.

As people tackle remote work challenges, they see how tech, fitness, and wellness connect. Virtual workouts use wellness technologies or digital health tools to break barriers, making exercise fun and accessible from anywhere.

Staying physically healthy and active is a must for everyone, especially for those with a sedentary lifestyle. Not just for your body, but also for your mind! And on top of that, physical fitness can reduce stress, boost productivity, and provide energy.

Join us as we explore the importance of wellness activities for remote employees. We also provide detailed, entertaining, and imaginative suggestions for making your work more interesting. With this in mind, we've compiled a list of the top 21 ideas to help keep your employees' blood pumping even when working from home.

Why Does Employee Wellness Matter in Hybrid/Remote Work?

Remote working may give employees the freedom and autonomy to set their work hours. But on the other hand, working from home poses mental health challenges for everyone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 80% of Americans do not get the recommended amount of exercise per week.

Monotony reduces productivity because it causes stagnation. As a result, employers are boosting their efforts to improve remote workers' wellness.

Here are some reasons why employee wellness programs are so important:

• They ensure productivity by supporting worker health.

• Employees are allowed to decompress and cope with stressful work situations.

• They reduce employee turnover by increasing engagement.

• They generate a sense of belonging among employees.

Related Blog: 5 Excellent Wellness Activities For Remote Employees

21 Virtual Workout Ideas for Your Remote Workers to stay Healthy

Virtual workouts will give employees the motivation and encouragement they require while working from home. This list includes solo workout suggestions, team challenges, mental exercises, and online team fitness sessions appropriate for professionals of varying physical endurance levels.

Physical contests and exercises promoting the team's physical and mental health and fostering togetherness are examples of online team fitness concepts. The goal of these activities is to assist your organization in building a healthy culture, boost workers' mental and physical health, and increase productivity.

Go Solo

1. Walking

Before we get into the world of online virtual workout routines, let's talk about good old-fashioned walking. The advantages of walking to one’s health are manifold. Walking is also accessible to a wider audience because most of us walk daily.

Walking is a fantastic low-impact sport that allows you to enjoy the great outdoors while exploring new areas in the neighborhood. Because walking is low-impact, you usually don't need to change your clothing or shower afterward. You can also make your walk as long or as short as you wish.

Taking a break from a busy day to calm down and stroll can significantly impact your mental health and fitness.

2. Pilates

Pilates has been practiced for many years. This method consists of 500 exercises, and the movements are influenced by yoga, ballet, and calisthenics.

These workouts are low-intensity but demand a lot of focus. They demand that you extend and stretch all of your major muscle groups.

Pilates also has the following advantages:

• Increased adaptability
• Improved posture
• Muscular strength
• Increased concentration
• Stress control
• Increased body awareness
• Injury avoidance

You might like: Corporate Pilates: A Refreshing Break in Your Workday

3. Virtual Yoga Classes

Yoga is another wellness activity where you can encourage remote workers to participate from their homes. There are numerous ways yoga can benefit your remote workers; the list below provides some examples.

• Helps manage stress
• Helps with back pain relief
• Increases self-esteem
• Builds muscular strength
• Improves posture

Managers and team leaders frequently neglect virtual yoga as a wellness activity. However, it is one of the most effective and time-tested stress-relief practices. For best outcomes, employ an expert yoga instructor to lead the sessions.

4. Workout Videos and Online Classes

Online workout is one way to break a sedentary lifestyle. One of the most common ways to deliver and consume information is through video. And it is not going to change anytime soon. Workout videos are also an excellent approach to communicating expertise or information.

Online workout classes can greatly benefit employees as they won't have to leave their comfort zone and get it for free. And the recorded videos will be of great use to those who want to practice in their own time.

You can hire trainers to create workout videos for your remote personnel. You can have live classes for home workout sessions or prerecorded ones as per convenience.

5. Wall Sits for One Minute

This exercise is really simple and doesn't require any equipment. Employees will have to spend one minute against the wall in a squat position without a help of a chair. Make sure everyone adheres to the right form.

Participants that finish the challenge can receive a variety of points as compensation. The wall sits challenge can be performed before a workday, workweek, or meeting.

Team Challenges

6. Step Challenge

Introduce step challenges for your virtual employees daily. They're entertaining and simple to put together. Furthermore, they do not necessitate a significant investment of time or resources. Simply make a list of daily tasks for your employees to complete.

For this challenge, you will require all participants to log certain daily steps. Participants can record their steps using our own step-tracking apps, Vantage Fit, or other fitness apps, such as Samsung Health or FitBit.

It's an excellent approach to breaking up the monotony of work. They will need a smartwatch, smartphone, or fitness tracker to track activity. You can spice up the actions by incorporating incentives like bonuses and other awards to inspire your remote staff.

7. Fresh Air Challenge

Doing the same daily workouts can become monotonous. On the other hand, introducing a new routine each day or week can boost motivation to exercise.

For this challenge, you can provide a new outdoor workout to the team daily or weekly. Allow each participant to offer a new workout and discuss its benefits, obstacles, and safety issues.

8. Shadow Boxing Challenge

Boxing is a great upper-body workout. Participants in shadowboxing throw defensive blows at their own shadow. This challenge is an excellent virtual fitness practice that does not necessitate expensive workout equipment.

Participants should wear comfortable training attire and optional boxing gloves for this challenge. You can hold this challenge on Zoom or invite participants to record and share a 15 to 20 minutes shadowboxing session with the team.

9. Squat Challenge

Squats are exercises that work the lower body muscles. Participants will record themselves doing 15 squats for this challenge and share the video with the team. Or you can enroll them with various health-based apps such as the peloton app or Vantage Fit. You can go for the free trial and later become a premium member.

Participants may dread the next day's squat challenge at the start of the challenge. However, as endurance grows, so may excitement for the sport.

Start with five squats and progressively increase the number of squats to avoid pain and keep the team engaged. But first, ensure that none of the participants have knee or joint difficulties.

Read: 30-Day Squat Challenge- Track Your Growth

10. Running Challenge

A running challenge is an innovative way to get your team moving. Set an outdoor running route for this task based on your team's convenience. For example, you could aim for a five-kilometer run near their neighborhood park. Participants will use run-tracking applications to record their activity and share the results with the team.

Some of these apps are:

• Strava
• Run Keeper
• Charity Miles
• Runtastic
• Endomondo

You can give running shoes to the fastest participant as a prize or give some non-monetary gift.

11. Salsa

Salsa is a pleasant physical fitness exercise that works both your aerobic and cardiac systems. Participants can perform basic salsa steps with family members, partners, or friends. This is also a very good form of dance cardio.

Participants can videotape the dance and share it with the team. You can spice up this activity by having a salsa instructor teach participants new moves to practice with their families.

12. Push-up Challenge

If you're searching for a fun, simple, yet demanding fitness activity for your team, the push-up challenge is for you. You will determine the number of push-ups each participant will perform for this activity. You can also challenge people to complete as many push-ups as possible in a given amount of time.

Brief the team on the proper push-up form before the task. Ensure that every person has a proper form by having them do one push-up at first. You may award a prize to the participant who performs the most push-ups.

Mental Wellness Workout

13. Meditation

Meditation has positive effects on mental health and productivity. You can use guided meditation tools to practice mindfulness and reduce stress. These workouts can be quick but still powerful.

Find a guide before beginning a virtual meditation session by selecting a team member with a calming voice or watching a guided meditation video. Send a link to a quick 10-minute Zoom call to attendees, ask them to close their eyes, and then follow the guide's instructions. The impact of this workout at the beginning or conclusion of a workday is enormous.

14. Eight-Hour Sleep Challenge

Workplace stress and productivity issues are frequently attributed to sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality. Insufficient sleep may raise a worker's irritation, inability to focus, risk of injury, and the likelihood of catastrophic incidents. When working remotely, employees frequently experience disruptive and erratic sleep patterns.

You can launch a challenge where employees must get eight hours of good sleep every day. You can keep track of their sleep with the help of a sleep cycle tracking app. The challenge can be configured to last seven to 21 days. Once finished, staff members will discuss the experience's outcomes.

Recognize individuals with the healthiest sleeping habits to promote healthy sleep habits. This exercise will motivate staff to improve their sleeping habits.

Read: Guided Sleep Meditation To Beat Workplace Stress.

15. Deep Breathing Challenge

Exercises that involve deep breathing can help you feel less stressed and have a calming effect on your brain. The competitors will engage in a three-minute deep breathing exercise for this challenge. Decide when everyone will connect to a collaboration tool like Zoom.

Begin by instructing everyone to inhale, hold, and exhale with a count of two when performing this challenge.

16. Virtual Mental Health Fair

The importance of mental and physical wellness is equal. You can organize several online activities to motivate staff to care for their minds as they do for their bodies. For instance, Zoom workshops on stress management, an online yoga and meditation classes, checklists for depression or burnout warning flags, and AMAs with an online therapist.

These encounters encourage all workers to be aware of their emotional and mental well-being. These meetings help them to de-stigmatize the idea of caring for one's mental health and seeking assistance.

Read: How Can Managers Support Mental Health in the Workplace

Online Fitness Apps

These workout apps work as a catalyst to change your lifestyle. Listed below are some of the best workout programs providing apps.

17. Strong Teams

Strong Teams are 45-minute professional fitness classes incorporating various training disciplines. The workouts are led by a fitness instructor experienced in all levels of physical fitness. These workouts do not require the use of any equipment. Participants should, however, bring exercise or yoga mats for floor activities.

Yoga, dance cardio, strength training, HIIT workouts, barre, and Pilates are among the many workouts included in their classes. Each session may accommodate up to 30 people. You can arrange multiple sessions or let the teams choose their favorite class if you have a large group.

18. Booya Fitness

Dance, Barre, bodyweight sculpting, HIIT, boot camp, and sports conditioning are among the cardio programs available at Booya Fitness. The routines are great for virtual teams because they require little equipment. Expect your team to have fun while working out with the live-streaming pop music alternatives.

Learn more about Booya Fitness

19. Johnson and Johnson's official 7-minute workout

Workouts by Johnson & Johnson are around 7 to 22 minutes long. You can opt for low-intensity workouts as beginners, but their high-intensity circuit workouts are one of the best options. Although brief, these exercises can be strenuous and may not be appropriate for those with medical issues.

Therefore, your team may subscribe to a premium version and choose workouts at their convenience. When done correctly, this is one of their best online fitness routines for getting your team to work out.

Learn more about The Johnson & Johnson Official 7-minute workout

20. Vantage Fit

Vantage Fit is a one-stop solution for corporate wellness programs that offers all the tools staff members require to lead healthy lives. This mobile-friendly application is ideal for your well-being.

The app keeps track of workouts such as running, walking, and other forms of exercise. Using a gyroscope sensor and GPS information, the app also maps outdoor activities like runs, jogs, and even sunset strolls.

Users can participate in challenges and competitions on the app, and they can interact with live leaderboards. When such challenges are successfully completed, employees get reward points.

Popular fitness trackers can be seamlessly integrated with Vantage Fit as well. Without the use of a smartwatch or fitness band, a specially designed heart rate monitor uses the capabilities of computational image processing to identify and measure your heart rate.

BMI Calculator, Calorie Tracker, and Customizable Trophies & Badges are additional features. Through Fitness Points & Gift Cards, Vantage Fit provides incentives. Thus, you can inspire everyone in the office to lead a healthy lifestyle by introducing them to Vantage Fit.

21. Crunch Fitness

Crunch fitness is one boutique fitness class for home exercise regimens. On Crunch Live, you can access over 100 exercise videos in episodes like Ab Attack, Balance Body Yoga, and Barre None.

Real gym trainers of different fitness levels are featured in each workout episode led by a Crunch fitness teacher. Additionally, you'll get access to 15-minute "Quickie Workouts" for days when you are slammed with work and need to squeeze in a workout.

Learn more at Crunch Fitness

Conclusion

Virtual workouts, and online team fitness sessions are excellent ways to boost employee health and productivity. For your remote employees, these sessions promote daily movement to improve their physical and mental well-being.

When combined with wellness efforts, the challenges can be enjoyable and aid in the bonding of remote workers. A wonderful strategy to ensure employees develop and uphold healthy behaviors is combining fun and fitness with wellness challenges.