The Home/Virtual Gym: In the Wake of the Coronavirus, Workouts Have Morphed to ‘Work-ins’

by Melinda Burris Willms

When the public first became aware of the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, many of us, from members of the general public to the media, and even health experts underestimated the serious, even deadly potential consequences of becoming infected or of unwittingly infecting others with the highly contagious community spread disease. Illnesses of this type are particularly hard to combat because they are very easily spread through even casual person-to-person contact. The CDC explains this strain of coronavirus is doubly difficult to fight because although it is easily spread, it is difficult to detect early because it takes between 2-14 days for a person to become symptomatic once they have been exposed to the disease.¹

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How Prevailing Wisdom on the Safety of Group Workouts Amidst the Pandemic Has Evolved

Initially, numerous experts in the field, including Dr. Michael Ison, a doctor who practices at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, specializing in infectious disease, mitigated the risks of spreading coronavirus through interaction at group workout facilities. In March, Dr. Ison was interviewed by NBC’s The Today Show where he remarked that those who were young and healthy, showed no symptoms of the disease, and did not live in a geographic area that had been hard hit by the spread of the illness, could continue with their normal health and fitness routines. These individuals were advised to go about their normal fitness practice, while taking care to be hypervigilant about wiping gym equipment down properly and practicing basic good hygiene such as proper handwashing.²

Continuing Your Daily Workout While Self-Isolating

However, as the vast majority of us who have now been under local and state mandated stay in place restrictions have witnessed, as public gatherings of more than a few people have been forbidden in a public health initiative to curtail the spread of the disease, we have witnessed the closing of all our regular group fitness haunts, from the neighborhood gym to yoga, Pilates, and cycle studios to meditation centers.

We must practice “social distancing” and avoid congregating in groups to protect our health; this situation presents a quandary due to the fact that for a significant portion of Americans and people across the globe, participation in group exercise or solo workouts done at a public gym or fitness center represents their primary form of physical activity, so crucial to maintaining and preserving their physical and mental health. Thus, the question has been raised: How do we avoid risking our health while continuing to maintain it?

Create Your Own Home Gym

Personal trainer, weight loss coach, and health and fitness expert, Stephanie Mansour, has long extolled the benefits of having a home gym. Mansour’s philosophy takes on renewed significance now, at a time when people are weighing not just convenience and time-saving measures when making decisions about how to get their needed exercise, but deliberating over the possible threat to their personal health and safety interacting with others now poses.

According to Mansour, at-home workouts can be all-around more convenient then attending classes or doing your workouts at public health and fitness studios for the following reasons:

1. You don’t have to worry about reserving a place for class.³
2. An efficient and effective home gym requires a minimum of equipment, a yoga mat and a pair of hand weights will do nicely.³
3. At-home workouts can help when you are pushed for time, as you save the time you would normally spend getting to and from the gym or studio.³
4. Inclement weather? No problem, because by working out at home, you don’t have to worry about facing the elements.³
5. No need to pack that gym bag, worrying what you may have forgotten that you will surely need!³
6. Self-conscious about working out in front of others? Worry no more, you don’t have to deal with that anxiety. Just dress for your workout and get yourself to work!³

Below is a list of easy, yet effective exercises Mansour recommends for those working out at home:

Intense Cardio Bursts:

What is a cardio burst? This term applies to any cardiovascular activity that is short in duration but involves intense physical action, which in turn increases the heart rate and causes your body to burn calories and shed fat. Engaging in regular high-level cardio activity allows your body to adjust to intense exercise, increasing your recovery time.⁴

Intense cardio bursts may sound a bit intimidating until you realize that doing simple moves like walking or running in place at an elevated speed qualifies as a cardio burst. This easy exercise can be done while you are watching a movie or T.V. or if you really want to get your cardio level up, do your cardio bursts while listening to a high octane play list that gets you in the right frame of mind to get moving! Enjoy your workout!

It’s important to remember that the body is only as strong as the lump sum of its parts, so use your whole body when doing intense cardio bursts. Pumping or rhythmically moving your arms in sync as you lift your legs will help you raise your heartbeat faster, encourage circulation, and improve your upper body range of motion. Moving your arms and remembering to breath in and out through your nose will improve the quality of your workouts, which in turn, will result in your burning more calories.⁵

There are numerous videos available online that demonstrate intense cardio burst exercises. If you’re interested, check out this 30 minute Marching Workout video, demonstrating basic intense cardio burst moves and ways you can adapt these exercises to challenge your fitness level and get that heart rate up.⁶

Strength Training:

Mansour also points to strength training as a great form of at-home gym exercise because no equipment is needed. Doing a series of exercises based on using the resistance supplied by your own body weight can give you an excellent upper and lower body workout. You may want some padding when performing these exercises so if you have a yoga mat, grab it. If not, just grab a towel. To get the most out of your strength training routine, be sure to rotate between exercises that focus on the upper body and those that work the lower body. Strength training is beneficial because it builds muscle, making the body stronger and able to shed fat.⁵

Mansour recommends doing 10 repetitions of each of the following exercises three times each to give yourself a workout centered on toning your entire body.⁵

Wide Leg Squats:

To perform wide leg squats, do the following sequence of actions:

1. Stand with your feet 2x shoulder width apart.^7,8 You should point your toes slightly outward as this will accentuate your balance and help you maintain proper form while doing the squat. Engage your abdominals to rely on your core to provide your back with support.⁸ Hold a dumbbell vertically in both hands, lifting the dumbbell up against your chest as you hold your elbows tightly against your body. Then squat down “until your thighs are parallel to the ground” without allowing your spine to arch or curve.⁸ Elevate your chin slightly.⁷
2. Pretend you are sitting in a chair and allow your spine to lengthen. Push with your heels to lift your hips up and forward, then begin to gradually bend your knees. Exhale, and return to your starting position. To see a demonstration of a proper wide-stance squat, check out this video.

Wide Arm Push-Ups:

To perform wide arm push-ups, follow these moves:

1. The alignment for this movement is much like that of a regular push-up, the primary difference being that you place your hands wider than your shoulder width, which increases the impact this exercise has on your chest muscles.⁹
2. Face the floor or an exercise mat and place your hands facing downward on the floor making sure your hands are wider apart than your shoulders and are held at chest height.⁹
3. Step backward until your feet are behind you and proceed to lift your knees.⁹
4. Keep your body in proper alignment by using your glutes, tensing your legs, and engaging your core.⁹
5. Lower your body to the floor by bending your elbows.⁹
6. Remember that the head and shoulders should move ahead of the hands as you near the floor. Your chest should lower between your hands as you get as close to the floor as possible while retaining your form.⁹
7. To return to your start position, push your hands against the floor to lift your tensed body back up.⁹

To see a proper wide arm push-up and be introduced to variations on this exercise to account for differing skill levels and to offer a challenge for advanced trainers, visit this online demonstration.

It is evident that though many of us will continue to miss our pre-coronavirus fitness routine, we have plenty of options, thanks to at-home excise videos and online streaming services. And, if you find that being quarantined after so many weeks (even with the ones you love), has you itching for that solid alone time your away from home workouts offered in the past, get outside and take solace in a nice walk or great run—just remember to retain that six feet of social distance we’ve all been warned repeatedly is so vital to beating back this virus and returning to our normal lives—whatever that new normal may shape up to be.

 

References

1. CDC. (2020). Coronavirus 2019 (COVID2019) Symptoms and Testing.
2. Pawlowski, A. (13 March 2020). Coronavirus Spreads, is it Safe to Go to the Gym?
3. Mansour, S. (22 Jan. 2020). Get Motivated to Work Out More by Setting up a Simple Home Gym.
4. Oxygen Magazine. (19 May 2017). What is a Cardio Burst?
5. Mansour, S. (2 Jan. 2020). The Best Exercises You Can Do at Home with Little to No Equipment.
6. Ford, J. (23 Aug. 2018). Minute- Marching Workout with Cardio Bursts (Walking at Home) Beginner.
7. The Best Fitness Trainer. (2020). Wide Leg Squats Exercise.
8. Poworkout. Wide Stance Squat. (2020).
9. Sworkit. Wide Arm Push-ups. (n.d.).

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