How to Stay Fit During COVID-19

I think it’s safe say our lives have been turned upside down with COVID. Not only are we stressed to the max with the unknown, but we’re stuck at home. Maybe you’re homeschooling your  kids … or trying to work from home with the kids screaming (or your spouse in your “work space” LOL) .  Or you have no work because you were layed off or lost all your clients. Or you watch the news all day. Then the kitchen is calling your name and grocery stores are only left with crappy food. You used to be able to exercise your frustrations away, but the doors to Soul Cycle, Equinox and Orange Theory are CLOSED. So what are you doing to do now? You have 2 choices: sit around until this breaks or find a creative way to stay fit during COVID-19. Read my blog post for some ideas to help you stick with the latter.

While I love to bike outside, I need the structure of a gym to get in good workouts. I’ve never been a “DVD exercise” kinda person. Somehow that never motivated me. So I’m not loving this “mouse in a cage” feeling. But I decided it’s time to get creative and came up with a few ideas on how to stay fit during COVID-19 … and most are free.

Benefits of exercise during COVID-19

You might be thinking why even bother exercising now? But the reality is that exercise has health benefits …. especially during times of stress, including:

Helps combat our stress. What is more stress relieving: listening to President Trump or getting in a good workout?
Regular exercise helps with sleep
Lowers blood sugar
Lowers blood pressure
Helps keep the immune system strong 
May help you stay motivated to eat healthy

Tips for how to stay fit during COVID-19

If you’re used to a gym, you might be thinking, what can you possibly do now for exercise in your home? A lot! (and even more if you are lucky enough to have a Peleton or other home exercise equipment)

Basic tips

1. Do body weight exercises at home. As CBS Sports says “If inmates can get ripped in a tiny prison cell, you can get ripped during the quarantine” (not to compare you to a prisoner … though you may feel like one now) . Bodyweight exercises are a good way to stay toned with limited resources. Examples:
   Crunches
   Push-ups
   Planks
   Squats
   Lunges
   Wall sits
   Burpees
2. Take long walks. You can even alternate with walk/jog. Try the couch to 5 K app! Getting outside will also help clear your mind and relieve stress
3. Take the stairs in your building if you live in apartment. My building has 21 flights and my plan is to do at least 5 “sets of stairs” a day … and maybe more AS I’M STUCK HERE ALL DAY
4. Get into yoga! If you’ve never done it and always wanted to, here is your chance. There are tons of beginner (and advanced) yoga videos on Youtube and amazon. By the the end of this crisis, you’ll have turned into a yogi.
5. Bike outside (this is what I’m doing) or set your bike up on a trainer inside
6. Buy some weights and other exercise equipment like exercise bands, exercise balls. Unfortunately, this one is getting tougher to do as there may be a wait for a few weeks on Amazon.

Youtube or OnDemand exercise classes

You can’t go wrong with good old FREE YouTube exercise classes. Do a search and you can pretty much find any class you want. And did I mention (again), they are free! Search for a 15 minute ab workout, Zumba or glute and leg workout out and you are good to go. You don’t even need equipment for most of them. If you like yoga, I’ve heard great things about Yoga with Adriene!

Online exercise classes with free trial membership

All of the sites below have a free trial for 14 days or more. If you don’t want to stay subscribed, make you sure you remember to cancel to avoid being charged. These have a wide variety
of classes including types, level of expertise and time.

Peloton
Alo Yoga
Core Power Yoga
Crunch
Daily Burn (see pic)
Yoga Works 
Nike Training (see pic) 
305 Fitness
Beach Body 
JessicaSmithtv

Live streaming exercise classes

Fitness studios have come up with a creative solution to keep you moving: live-streamed and recorded digital classes you can join from anywhere.

Barry’s Bootcamp 

Blink Fitness

Orange Theory

Your favorite exercise instructor may be going online

Two of my favorite yoga NYC instructors are having zoom yoga classes for a small fee! Maybe your fav instructor is doing the same.

What I’m doing for stay fit

Pre-COVID: Long bike ride (50+ miles) 1x/wk ++ maybe one shorter ride, gym 4x/wk (yoga classes, lift weights as heavy as I could, jump rope)
Now: Still one long bike ride + one shorter one in Central Park, 5 mile walk in the park 2x/wk (trying to get in 8 K steps/day) and some light weights in my apartment (which feels like a joke but I’ll still do them 3x/wk).  Will start to do online yoga classes and more body weight exercises. Trying to take a “set of stairs = 21 flights” in my apartment building a few times a day.

I’d love to hear how you are trying to stay fit during COVID!