No Gym? No Problem: Exercising in Quarantine
Four months into quarantine and gyms and dance studios are still closed. Gill Pressman shares what she’s learned from exercising in isolation and how to do it well.
By Gillian Pressman
The week of March 9th, 2020, I spent a total of 8.5 hours in the gym, went to three pole classes, two ballet classes, and logged 55,125 steps. This is a typical week for me. I fricken love exercise. It’s about my body, for sure – experiencing it moving in new ways, feeling challenging things get easier, seeing new shapes and new lines. But it’s also totally critical to my mental health. I’ve had many a morning where I woke up drowning in sadness or anger or disappointment or fear, and rediscovered myself at the gym, re-anchoring myself to the strong, intelligent person that can handle any of that.
The next week, March 13, 2020, San Francisco’s mayor issued an order shutting down all gyms and fitness studios and launching an indefinite shelter-in-place. There was a lot to be scared of, but the lack of access to exercise was high on my list. Not exercising was NOT an option for me. What was I going to do???
I started exercising from home, experimenting with creative ways to do it, and most importantly, experimenting with creative ways to stay accountable. Four months later, my gym and dance studios are still closed, and I’m still exercising from home. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to do it well:
Step 1: Recognize that the number of ways you can move your body is INFINITE.
This is the time to discover new, creative ways to challenge your body. I finally got back on a bike after probably 10 years of never riding one. I started experimenting with sandbag squats. Remember that exercise can involve:
Standard Equipment: If you are able to get exercise equipment, great! I have a rowing machine, which I LOVE, a doorway pull-up bar, and was able to borrow barbells and dumbbells from my gym. But you don’t need any of that to exercise, or even to make progress.
Makeshift Equipment: I mentioned sandbags – you can go to the hardware store and buy a 50 lb bag of sand for less than $10. Reinforce it with a garbage bag and then squat with it, lunge with it, carry it over your shoulder as you run, put it on your back as you do push-ups. You can also fill a backpack with books, use heavy water bottles, or pick up your pet/child and give it a go.
No Equipment: You’ve got legs! Running, walking, biking (I’ve been using Bikeshares), climbing stairs, climbing hills, squats, lunges, burpees. You’ve got arms! Pushups, tricep dips, learn how to handstand, try to handstand walk. You’ve got a core! V-ups, sit-ups, planks, hollow rocks, Russian twists, Supermans.
Here’s a burpee. It’s probably one of the best exercises of all time, and you can do it with no equipment and almost no space.
Step 2: Find a program or a class.
Program: The number 1 thing that has kept me accountable to exercising is that I follow a program. A program is a prescription for what exercises you do each day and how much, and often builds in intensity or builds to a goal. For example, you could do a:
- A pushup program that builds to a 100 pushups (yeah, I did the program and didn’t get to a 100, but I got much farther than I would have!)
If you find a program and it’s too hard, scale down by reducing the repetitions by a standard percentage, and then sticking with that version.
If you find a program and it’s too easy, add intensity by adding weight/resistance (throw on that sandbag!) or just doing it faster (10 pushups in 30 seconds will give a greater hormonal benefit than 10 pushups in 1 minute).
Classes: If you don’t have a particular goal in mind or you don’t want to pick and choose programs, find classes! Gyms around the country are offering virtual classes, often for cheap, and often designed for people who don’t have access to equipment. Personal trainers are available for Zoom sessions. Support Black businesses by finding a Black personal trainer at aggregators like this one.
Pro-tip for starting classes: Start small. If you haven’t been exercising, anything you do is an improvement over the status quo. Start with going to a fitness class 1 day per week. Don’t try to do more than 1. If you love it, move to 2. Don’t move to 3 until you think that you will love that third class. If you only stay at 1 or 2 classes a week this whole time – wow, that’s more exercising than you thought you could do!
Step 3: Find a partner
I think exercising with other people is one of the most nourishing things we can do as human beings – we were made to move with others. I strongly encourage you to recruit someone to do your program or do your class with you.
This doesn’t have to be in-person! For a week in April, I did burpees every day over Zoom with some friends from my gym. This also means limitless workout partners: you could post on Reddit and find someone somewhere who will be your workout buddy!
I convinced these sweaty dudes to do burpees with me over Zoom
Step 4: When in doubt, just move.
This whole thing sucks. A lot. But our bodies are still here. Stretch your arms to the ceiling and then down to the floor and then back up to the ceiling and do that 10 times. Put on great music and dance around. Put on a mask and go for a walk. Stand in your kitchen and march in place and sing, or cry. Just move. Happy moving!
This is my new cat, Hazelnut. In the middle of the night, she likes to do sprints back and forth across my apartment. If she can exercise in quarantine, so can you!
Gill Pressman lives in San Francisco, California where she fights to make housing more affordable as a staff member at YIMBY Action. When she’s not talking about zoning reform, she’s doing Crossfit, ballet, and pole (now all in the confines of her tiny studio apartment). She has a cat named Hazelnut who’s very soft and tiny. Prior to moving to San Francisco, she lived in Boston, MA where she was a proud member of the Lipstick Criminals, and strongly encourages you to follow their beautiful shit.