Month: January 2023

It’s 2023 and I’ve decided to upgrade from a couch potato to a more active human being this year.

Being a couch potato is great, but if I could exercise while watching Netflix, why not?

In this post, we’ll be showing you some sofa exercises that consist of cardio, core and arm workouts that will help you to get strong, even while you’re technically relaxing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Easy core exercises
2. Easy cardio exercises
3. Easy arm exercises

Easy core exercises

Many people don’t know the importance of core-strengthening exercises. Daily activities such as walking, running, moving heavy objects all require core strength. A strong core will help to improve balance, reduce back injury, improve posture and also burn fat.

Core Exercise 1: In & outs

1. Sit close to the edge of the sofa, use your arms to support your body while you lift both legs off the floor.
2. Move your legs in and out a controlled manner to work your abdominal muscles. Repeat 15 times.

Core Exercise 2: Side reaches

1. Sit up straight, close to the edge of the sofa.
2. Reach your right arm towards the ground while keeping your back straight.
3. Repeat on the other side. Do this for 15 reps.

Core Exercise 3: Hollow hold & extend

1. Sit close to the edge of the sofa, with only your toes lightly touching the floor. 
2. Lift your hands up straight and hold them there. Slowly extend your right leg and left leg alternately. Do this for 30 seconds and remember not to slouch!
3. As you get more used to this exercise, you can increase the time to challenge yourself.

Core Exercise 4: Side twists

1. Sit close to the edge of the sofa with your back straight.
2. Put your arms behind your head and rotate your torso left and right for 30 seconds.

Tip: For all these couch exercises, remember to keep your back straight and engage your core muscles so that you don’t injure yourself.

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Easy cardio exercises

Cardio exercises are beneficial to your body in so many ways – from your brain, joints, muscles, lungs to your mood and energy. Regular cardio exercises help to keep your brain active and your joints flexible, strengthen your heart, boost your mood and give you lasting energy for the day.

Let’s get your heart pumping with these simple couch exercises!

Cardio Exercise 1: Sit stand calf raise

1. Stand up straight at the front of your sofa. 
2. Slowly bend your knees and go down to a squatting position. 
3. When your backside touches the sofa seat, come back up to a standing position. Do 15 repetitions of this.

Tip: Remember to keep your back straight and do not sit on the sofa during this exercise! The sofa is there merely for you to gauge how low you should go. 

Cardio Exercise 2: Squat to standing

Stand up straight in front of the sofa. 

1. Move your left leg one step to the left and squat until your backside touches the sofa seat.
2. Return to standing position, then move your right leg towards the right side and squat. Do this for 30 seconds.

Tip: Make sure your knees are facing straight or outwards to reduce knee injury.

Cardio Exercise 3: Tricep dips

1. Stand in front of your sofa, leaving a small gap between you and the sofa. 
2. Bend your knees and lower your body almost into a squat position, with both your knees facing forward. 
3. With your fingers facing the front, place both your palms on the seat cushion. Then, use your arms to push your body upwards and lower it down slowly.
4. Every time you lower down your body, extend each leg outwards alternately. Keep your back straight.

Cardio Exercise 4: Couch tap

1. Stand facing your sofa. Lift your right leg up until your foot touches the seat cushion.
2. Repeat on the other leg. Do this exercise for 30 seconds.

Easy arm exercises

Don’t forget your arms! Working out your arms and shoulders means a lower risk of injuries, stronger arm muscles and the protection of bones. Plus, toned arms could look very attractive and make you feel good about yourself.

Keep reading for stronger arms!

Arm Exercise 1: Around the world

1. Sit close to the edge of the sofa with your back straight. 
2. Hold 2 edges of a square pillow with both hands, and move it around you in a circular motion. Do 15 reps of this exercise.

Arm Exercise 2: Prayer up

1. Push two palms together with a pillow in between them, like in a prayer position.
2. Move your arms up and down for 30 seconds to work those biceps! It also helps you to exercise your shoulders and chest as well.

Tip: Keep your elbows together!

Arm Exercise 3: Tricep extension

Watch the video to see how it works:

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Comfort Works | Sofa Covers (@comfortworks)

1. With your arms raised high and straight above your head, hold the pillow between your palms while sitting on the sofa.
2. Bend your arms backwards and raise them again for 15 reps. Get those triceps pumping!

Arm Exercise 4: Sven Press

1. Similar to “prayer up”, you hold the pillow between your palms. But this time, you don’t need to keep your elbows together.
2. Extend your arms frontwards, then upwards while keeping the pillow between your hands. Do this for 30 seconds.

Arm Exercise 5: Curl & press

1. Hold 2 edges of the pillow with both hands in front of your chest.
2. Extend your arms downwards and return them to their original position.
3. Then, extend them upwards and return. Do 15 reps of this.

Did you enjoy doing our Comfort Workout? These couch exercises are definitely worth trying out if you’re looking to lose some fat.

If you do have a fitness goal, don’t forget to set it this year with a vision board so that you stay focused. Eyes on the prize!

Create a vision board

First of all, Happy National Vision Board day!

It’s great that this day was created at the start of the year, because with a new year, there’s always hope for new beginnings and a fresh start.

What is a vision board?

Based on the law of attraction, vision boards are a visual, motivating way of setting goals. Putting your goals out there is the first step to achieving them!

What does a vision board look like?

As a general guide, a standard vision board should have pictures, quotes and any kind of visual items that are part of your goals for the year or the future.

Let’s say, you wanted to be physically active this year: put up a photo of your ideal celebrity body, a new bicycle that you want to get or even a schedule of the fitness centre that you’d like to sign up at. It motivates you to work for it and also it offers the steps you need to take in order to reach your goal.

Ideally, this board should have a number of things that you’d like to achieve in various aspects of life. It could be on your career, relationships, finance, health and many others. In the end, this board would turn out to be a collage of photos, motivational quotes, encouraging notes and even documents (if it’s relevant).

How to create a vision board

1. Gather your materials
You’ll need a board as a base and some images to fill up your board.

2. Clarify your vision
Ask yourself: “What do I want to manifest with my board?”

3. Gather images and objects that match your vision
Use old magazines, catalogs, print-outs, old photos or postcards

4. Have fun and arrange your materials
If you like it tidy, go for the grid layout. If you like it messy, do it the way you want it.

5. Place your vision board where you’ll see it often
Place it on your desk, hang pictures on a gridwall panel against the wall or paste the photos all over your refrigerator – just make sure you can see them everyday!

In a digital age, vision boards do not necessarily have to be offline. They can be digitised and saved in your devices, acting as a reminder to you every day to keep going!

 

Benefits of a vision board

1) Set goals
If you have something to achieve, then use a vision board to help you set goals. With something concrete in place (despite being just on paper at the moment), you’re able to focus working on what you have on your vision board.

2) Motivation
Seeing is believing. When you see your personalised board, you’re envisioning hitting the goal every single day while you make progress. If giving your home a makeover is one of your goals this year, the vision board helps push you to do a little day by day for the ultimate transformation.

3) Stay focused
We understand that your plans can be disrupted especially when there are unexpected challenges. However a vision board is a constant reminder that you need to stick with the plan and get to where you want to be.

4) Explore your creative side
With our busy lifestyles, sometimes we don’t get the chance to be creative like we were allowed to back in school. Use this opportunity to unleash your creativity and make your board as beautiful and as “you” as possible.

5) A reason to host a party
Host a vision board party with the people you’re close to or even your community. Sharing your vision for the year with them could be good. This ensures that you follow through with the plans with the help of the support system who’ll keep you in check.

Add our fabric samples to your vision board

 

Tell us how your board goes this year in the comments below!