Staying Active During the Haze: Easy Ways to Exercise Indoors

As worsening haze makes outdoor exercise unsafe, experts recommend moving workouts indoors and adjusting their intensity to reduce exposure to pollutants.

Associate Professor Swarup Mukherjee, Deputy Head of the Physical Education and Sports Science Department at the National Institute of Education, explained that exercises such as planks and wall sits can help maintain muscular strength but cannot replace aerobic activity. There is no reliable formula equating a set duration of strength training with brisk walking or other cardiovascular exercise.

During temporary periods of haze, A/P Mukherjee advised people to focus on preserving mobility, strength and flexibility instead of trying to match their usual training load or calorie expenditure. Suitable indoor exercises include wall sits, slow squats, planks and dead bugs.

He also cautioned that breathing less heavily does not make a polluted room safe. The priority should be to reduce the total amount of pollutants inhaled. If indoor air quality is poor, individuals should shorten their workouts, reduce the intensity or postpone exercising. Using an air purifier, keeping doors and windows closed, and cleaning floors and exercise mats with a damp cloth can also reduce exposure.

Read the article on Lianhe Zaobao here.