The Next 6 Months of Corona-Living Exercise
Sawyer Paull-Baird
Administrator, Moderator, Practitioner, AFS Staff admin
Hello AFS Fit Fam-
During these times, it is quite understandable that certain parts of our lives would be put on hold as we focused our time and attention on the most pressing matters.. Job insecurity.. taking over the education of our kids... the simple mental health implications of limited social interactions for the last handful of months.. These are just a few of the challenges we've faced..
Certainly these past 6 months of pandemic living have led to many changes in our lives, presenting new barriers to physical activity and exercise to go on top of the existing sizeable barrier list.. Some of us were likely quite successful in our exercise routine modifications, while others of us might be going on month 6 of very little activity.. many more (myself included) likely fall somewhere in-between.
Where you fall on the spectrum of success in maintaining your fitness routine is not a reflection of your value or worth as a human being.
There is no judgement from us here either way.
That said, if you were planning to just wait out this pandemic when it comes to your fitness routine, you've been waiting quite a long time by this point.. and it seems quite likely that if this is your plan, you'll have to keep waiting a while longer.
Thus, if you're reading this, I invite you to share some your thoughts on what you'd like your nest 6 months to be like, when it comes to physical activity and exercise. What has gone well these past 6 months, and what has not gone so well? How can we use these past 6 months of experiences to plan for, our fuel our next 6 months? How, if at all, can us at AFS help you find success over the next 6 months?
I hope that people will share from both sides of the spectrum- incredibly successful at modifying their routines during COVID.. and those less successful.. Again, there is no judgement here.. Sharing struggles shouldn't be a shameful experience. By sharing our struggles or successes, hopefully we can learn and be inspired by one another.
I will share my experience in the first comment below to kick things off. Again, hopefully this exercise can help us feel inspired to continue fighting the good fight of staying healthy and active during the future stages of pandemic living.
Sawyer
Agent of Change / Fitness Innovation & Education Coordinator
Comments
Alright, so for me, my past 6 months has been a mixed bag. I have gone from 4 days per week of heavy resistance training at AFS for 60-75 minutes.. to 3-4 days per week of 20-30 minute home workouts using only body-weight, bands, and some shoddy home equipment..
Admittedly, I have had trouble finding the motivation to be as consistent with my routine as I was pre-COVID. Going from the nice amenities of the AFS gym, to what I have at home, has made the workouts less fun, and less effective.. and thus.. less motivating to stay consistent with.
My wife has been pregnant throughout this pandemic (she is going on month 8), and we made the decision to be strict in our social isolation to keep her and baby as safe as possible. Thus, even though AFS is open now, I have still been working, and working out from home. Leaving my workouts still in the sad position of being gym-less.
That said, I have been trying to tell myself that even this, even if far from ideal, and not with 100% consistency, is much better than nothing throughout these challenging times. Something is certainly better than nothing.. even if that somethin has meant 10-15 lbs of muscle loss the past 6 months. LOL.
Over the next 6 months, I plan to stay consistent with my home routine. I have been working on switching my mindset from being worried overly about maintaining muscle mass, to one of simply maintaining my muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness. I am able to get behind this goal knowing that I need to be healthy and fit for the upcoming challenges of parenthood.. This plan may be a far cry from my previous routine, but it is what I can do right now, and I will try to continue to find peace with that for now =).
Agent of Change / Fitness Innovation & Education Coordinator
I decided to train for a new race next year to challenge me & keep me motivated to stay active. I will be training for a half Ironman Aquabike (swim, bike, done). I will swim 1.2 miles then bike 56 miles. My new magnetic bike trainer came in today to help train over the winter months. My plan is to ride 1-3 days a week, complete the Volt workouts Chris develops 2 days a week, swim 1 day a week, and eventuality get back to Fitness Solution classes 1-2 days a week (depends on how many times I get on my bike that week).
Signing up for races keeps me on track to train. I don't train to win - I train so I can challenge myself and finish/reach my goals!
That's awesome, Susan. Having an event such as a race can be a great motivator to keep you going. It sounds like you've got a solid plan for the Fall and Winter months!
It's good hearing from you and I hope you and your family are well.
Agent of Change / Fitness Innovation & Education Coordinator
I have been fortunate to have a good home setup with a Peloton bike and full set of dumbbells from 3# to 40# sets. I have resistance bands and loops and TRX and a slam ball at home. I have been a team lead for a series of 6-8 week Peloton challenges since December with a group of 250 awesome women, so that has me doing 300-350 miles per month on the bike. Cardio-wise, I'm in great shape, my heart rate is low and recovers quickly with exercise. But because of the amount of time taken up by the challenge, and the extended work hours I am now expected to maintain, including weekends, my strength work has suffered and I feel a lot weaker than I was pre-pandemic. I am now doing outdoor FSx once a week which is great, but I miss doing barbell back squats, barbell deadlifts, barbell bench presses, and pretty much anything else involving barbells. I need to strike a better balance and do at least one dedicated full body strength session per week at home to see what strength I can regain over the next 6 months (still not returning to indoor group fitness given the risk I pose to other people, and also, I would have to have a 5am class in order to make it work with my work schedule anyway).
Glad to hear you've been in a good routine, Beth. That is great. Hope you're able to get back tom strength training soon! Makes sense re: your apprehension to return. Glad we're seeing you outdoors!
Agent of Change / Fitness Innovation & Education Coordinator
The biggest hurdle I encountered with my home workouts during the pandemic was the limited weights I own. Once the gyms shut down, all the stores totally ran out of weights, and the prices on FB marketplace were absurd. I did the virtual circuits quite a bit, but as my first time back at AFS since reopening taught me, there's no substitute for the real deal! I've also been doing quite a bit of running, but that's going to go down when it gets colder and I no longer have a half marathon providing motivation to train haha
Home workouts March-September were almost exclusively bodyweight + a few bands. I returned to AFS within a few days of re-opening and although I'd definitely lost some strength it started to come back quickly and I was happy that my consistency in doing my bw workouts had paid off. Unfortunately, the progress came to a screeching halt when I tested positive for Covid in October (from a contact at work) . I went from lifting 4x/week and riding my horses 5-6days/week to no activity for 2 weeks followed by very minimal activity for the following two weeks. Two months post-Covid and I'm slowly working my way back. So thankful for each day and thankful for the lessons learned along the way. As we head into 2021 I'm looking forward to my weekly lifts @ AFS and utilizing my newly acquired equipment for my supplemental lifts at home.