Staying Active: Social Distancing Edition

Being active is a very important part of my life, and I know a lot of other students share this sentiment. Our regular physical activity regime often provides us not only with physical and mental benefits, but also a lot of social value as well. Given how important exercise and our workout routines are to us, I know that having the closures of fitness centres is an added challenge during this time. But, we do not have to give up on being active; we just have to adapt to a new normal. Luckily, we are all in this together and can continue to support, encourage, and challenge each other.

Here are four ways you can stay active during social distancing:

Time to breakout your home gym equipment

If you have any dormant gym equipment in your house such as a bike, elliptical, or treadmill, now is the time to reactivate its use and establish a new routine using your available home equipment. Though there are no fitness machines in our house, I have created a makeshift gym area in the basement consisting of scavenged gym equipment laying around my house (five-pound dumbbells, a skipping rope, a yoga mat, and a foam roller). Noticeably missing from my equipment are just gliders, resistance bands, and a medium heavy dumbbell set, but once I get these, I will be set up to do a workout identical to the class I used to attend on Mondays. These smaller items are very affordable through Amazon and Canadian Tire and even when fitness centres do reopen, on days where I don't feel like going to the gym they will provide ongoing home alternatives! I know that this is not perfect especially when we are used to having access to a plethora of equipment, but I have enough equipment to get my heart rate up, sweat, and do core exercises and some resistance exercises. Use what you have, identify what is essential to your workouts and what is feasible for what you can actually have in your home, and create a routine that can support that.

Be creative

I'm going to be honest that a big barrier for me, one that is likely shared by other students, is that I don't have enough money to support buying all the gym equipment that I may want. When fitness centres reopen, I will be going back to them because the value of creating a full- fledged home gym is simply not there for me. However, creativity is key here. For example, dish towels can substitute as gliders if your floor is slippery. On Instagram, I have been seeing videos of people incorporating their pets for core and strength exercises. I have also been seeing people using items like milk and juice cartons, canned goods, and books as their weights. At home you can also do activities such as yoga or HITT where no additional equipment is needed. Apps such as Down Dog (which offers Yoga for Beginners, HIIT, Barre, and 7-Minute Workout) help support these sorts of workouts. (Bonus: Down Dog is free until April 1 because of the pandemic. Other apps are offering similar initiatives).

Online classes

I love fitness classes so when transitioning myself to home workouts, I felt myself struggling to figure out what my workout of the day would consist of. These are unprecedented times and we are all in this together, and that includes fitness instructors. If you were attending a boutique fitness studio for classes, check in with them - they may be offering classes streamed online. Aurora Yoga & Spa Leduc has put up a few free yoga and bootcamp classes online. Orange Theory Fitness is sharing a free workout of the day, everyday. Barry's Bootcamp Canada has instructors sharing workouts daily through Instagram live. Finally, there is always the tried and true method of searching through the workout videos available on YouTube. These ideas are just some of the ones that I am aware of, but I am sure that if this continues longer, we will have more companies joining in and providing us with their workout classes online. My fingers are crossed that my favorite instructor at the City of Edmonton will stream some of his classes.

These classes can be fun and social even virtually. Post your workouts online, share the workout videos you like with your friends, challenge each other, and keep each other accountable.

Nature's Gym: The Outdoors

Anytime the weather is nice, seize the day! Exercise and the sunlight will surely brighten your day. Go for a bike ride, enjoy the river valley, or just go for a walk and take in the fresh air. Just remember to stay a safe distance of two metres from others.

[Editor's Note: As per the Chief Medical Officer on March 30, 2020, anyone who has symptoms, has travelled outside of Canada, or has been exposed to someone who has COVID-19 and is self-isolating cannot leave their property.]

Whenever I feel challenged or stuck or frustrated by a situation, I try to look for the positives. With the closure of fitness centres I get a break from my monthly gym membership fees. Secondly, I am no longer wasting valuable time in my day commuting and potentially getting stuck in traffic on my way to the gym. Also, because I am in my own home, I don't have to follow gym etiquette and can roll in for my work out in my pajamas and blast my music as loud as I want. Thirdly, when the yoga studio by my apartment closed, I truly thought I would never experience another yoga class from my favorite instructor and owner, Jaime. However, due to the necessary closures, Jaimie streamed her classes from her other studio online and I got to enjoy three amazing yoga classes from her. Finally, I am learning different exercises and workouts that I otherwise would not have tried. When the fitness studios do reopen, I will be back with a deeper appreciation for what they provide me but also with new ideas and workouts!