During the reno, we had no workout space. It was raining buckets outside so we couldn't exercise for the first week. When they left, I painted until I crippled myself daily for hours on end which I counted as my workouts. The following week I stress ate here and there but we walked every night for 3 miles until I crippled myself again because I wasn't smart enough to roll and stretch when we got back. Then I started reading all of these articles talking about how "losing weight is not what you should be focusing on right now" or "the worst thing that could happen to you right now isn't that you gain weight." True. I bought into that too.
Is gaining weight at the top of my worry list? No. But I also have zero desire to work off a bunch of weight I gained using this pandemic as an excuse not to exercise. I hadn't done strength in 3 weeks by the time I did it for the first time last Friday in a 30 minute session. I didn't like the way I felt because even though strength training hurts sometimes, I also feel less soft which has zero to do with weight and everything to do with feeling strong. For some reason, that "dude with a sign" guy got irritated and posted for people to stop posting their home workouts. Apparently, almost 2 million people "liked" that idea. I know one person who didn't, my Beachbody trainer Joel Freeman who posted his own response to that.
I understand that people are scared, I am too. I understand that people want to eat cake and brownies without feeling judged for some comfort, me too. I understand that somehow even though we have all of this time to work out at home now, some people don't want to and feel judged for not doing it. Sometimes, I don't want to work out but I always feel better when I do, especially mentally. Doing cardio whether going on a walk, run or doing an at-home workout isn't being done in this house for weight loss purposes, it's to keep our hearts pumping efficiently and our immune system boosted. I think the worst thing anyone can do is get sucked into the old way of thinking that people only exercise to lose weight. If you choose not to, that's fine. (I hope you do just for your own immune system and overall health at least 3 days a week because really, there's only so much binge-watching you can do.)
But making people who are sharing their workouts into social media villains who should have their eyes rolled at them for focusing on what society deems "the wrong thing" at this time makes me shake my head. These people are looking to connect. They're saying "I may not be at the gym or my routine is different but I'm still taking care of myself." A lot of those same people posting workouts are also talking about the weight they're gaining because they mix a workout with a pint of ice cream. We've been doing the same. We're living in unprecedented times and everyone is going to react differently. It doesn't make it wrong, it makes it different. I see a lot of things I shake my head at but I don't have to comment on it. If we are all truly "in this together" then sit back and let people do what they do, boo.
Hopefully, we all come out of this on the other side with a lot of lessons learned in general and how we choose to take care of ourselves when the going gets tough says a lot about us.
Are you sticking with (or starting) your exercise routine?
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Even just a brisk walk makes all the difference in how I feel compared to that very first week where we skipped. Obviously the stress that week was ridiculous too and I kind of wish we had somehow found a way to work out but we truly did not have the space for it or the weather to do it. It is not about weigh loss. It's a necessity for health just like brushing your teeth at this point.
ReplyDeleteI am sticking with my routine, although I admit I don't do any formal exercise on Thursdays because that's become my long day at work (does sweating in an 80+ degree apt for 9 hours count? lol), but the other days I do my DVD's. It helps get my mind off of what's going on and I'm always thankful when I'm done.
ReplyDeleteSince I have been working from home for the last month I have been using the extra free time from reducing my commute down to a trip from my bedroom to my living room to add some extra movement into my routine. Not commuting to the office has added about 1.5 hours to my day.
ReplyDeleteMy regular weekly yoga class is no longer possible, so I started looking for videos on YouTube to replace it and from there I ended up starting a 30 day 'Yoga with Adrienne' program. So, my mornings before work are now 30 minutes on the elliptical (previous routine) five days per week, and 20 - 30 minutes of yoga seven days per week. I've also added a 30 - 60 minute walk outside in my community each evening to force myself to leave the house.
After years of trying and failing to workout at home, I finally joined a gym right after Thanksgiving. I was using my membership 3-5 days a week and taking an exercise class on days off from the gym. I was working out 5-7 days a week. I finally had a routine, and was working to stablize it and make it a non-negotiable part of my schedule. Then the gyms closed and no more class, so I'm back to trying to work out at home which I've already established does not work for me.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to get out and walk every day, but I'm only successful about half the time. I have a workout app on my phone and videos online - but I'm no better at using those tools at home now than I ever have been. Plus the only equipment I have at home are 2lb hand weights and exercise bands that I've never used. I'm trying, but man it's hard.
One thing I did add yesterday though - everytime I take a pee break during "work hours" I roll a green and a red dice. The green dice tells me what exercise (1-squats, 2-wall push-ups, etc) and the red dice tells me how long (1-10 seconds, 2-20 seconds, etc). So at least there's something happening throughout the day even if it's not much. Kiddo decided to play along and he calls it "exercise gambling".