So I have no job, I’m home all day without anything important to do, and I can’t really go anywhere because everything is closed. I thought to myself “Well, if you have all this extra time you can use it to go to the gym more.” Why not, right? Maybe I’ll finally be able to get that summer body everyone dreams of. But oh no what do you know - all the gyms are closed too.
It was right then when the whole ‘Working Out at Home’ saga really started to blow up. It came to a point where it was impossible to scroll through social media without seeing at least five ads for fitness-at-home apps, two or three fitness challenges passed on through stories, and at least one or two friends or celebrities you follow sharing their special home workout routine. Even the App Store would start recommending all these workout apps without me even looking for one.
I decided to dive right in. A quick scout around the house and this is the equipment I found: A dusty yoga mat my mom bought years ago and used for maybe a month, a pull-up bar I inherited from my college roommate (more like he forgot to take it so I adopted it), and a single 25 lb dumbbell.
*A record scratch sound followed by dead silence - yes, there was background music this whole time*
Why just one dumbbell, you ask? Well, you know those friends that ask to “borrow” something of yours but then you never see it again? Soo yeah…
After gathering all the equipment, I started looking for inspiration as to what I could do with it. Workout apps requiring payment - out of the question (I just lost my job and it kind of looks like getting those unemployment benefits and a COVID vaccine coming out have the same likelihood of happening soon), and since I like to work at my own pace and have the freedom of choosing what kind of workout I want to do, I couldn’t count on my friends or celebrities. So I went to where everyone who wants to learn something without paying for it goes - YouTube. There is such a big variety of different workout options there. Whether you’re looking for yoga routines, workouts that involve handstands and making different shapes with your body, quick 5-minute interval routines, or regular gym-type workouts only without the equipment, you are definitely going to find what you like in there. I personally like to mix a little bit of each. I divide my days into different muscle groups and mix between high-intensity and gym-type workouts, with at least one mobility and cardio workout a week. I even went as far as buying a used punching bag (for a steal price) in order to do some HIIT (high-intensity interval training) boxing.
Now I’ve always been an advocate of keeping an active lifestyle - you know, the whole healthy body healthy mind kind of guy. But I think that especially at this time when the entire planet is on edge, being active can be very helpful to cope with the stress and uncertainty (especially when you’re in the house with the same people all day, every day. If you stay consistent, results will show, and then you’ll be able to take pride in the fact that at least physically, you look better coming out of this crisis than you did going in.
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