During the summer, you usually see people out and about on the town, enjoying themselves and the city. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a lot of that time hanging out at events away, as more people are in quarantine or staying away from large crowds. Along with the events, another popular place that has been affected is the gym. With restrictions on gatherings and people observing social distancing, the gym has been a casualty of the pandemic like many other places.
As a result of that, more people are sitting at home, gaining that five, ten or 15 pounds while hunkered down in the house and less active than they usually are. Instead of just sitting there, why not try to be active and find some things to do? For those that are lacking things to do and don’t know what to do to keep in shape while at home, Tonisha Jones and Antoinette Stout, two local trainers in the Nashville area, have a few things to mention.
For those who aren’t familiar with Stout, she has been working out people for over ten years and has her own fitness company, U4U Fitness. She loves working out outside and shared a few tips in regards to that.
“Body weight, functional movement in circuits are great when doing workouts outside.”
If you are not sure what to do when outside, Stout offered up a circuit to get you started.
- Side lunge to single leg jump back into single leg stance (you go into you side lunge, move the extended leg toward the weight bearing leg going into a jump, landing softly and gliding back into the side lunge position). – 10 to 12 reps
- Follow with bear crawl position to plank walk out and in to squat with overhead reach. -7 to 10 reps
- end with sumo squat pulses. -12 to 15 reps
Stout recommends at least three rounds of this workout and if you’re looking for a fun non-circuit workout and have an empty parking lot near you, she mentioned car push & pulls. Of course, please put the car in neutral as you push it to one end and pull it back to the other end of the empty parking lot.
Outside workouts can provide a chance to be out in the sun while burning off the calories, but for those that are not comfortable working out outside in the times we are in, Tonisha Jones has you covered.
Jones originally starting training people at various facilities, client’s homes, and out of her own home, but she is now the proud owner of Gridfit, which she opened back in July 2018 as a central location for her clientele.
She immediately gave a list of things you can do with minimal space and no weight is required.
- Jumping Jacks
- Push- Ups
- Lunges
- Sit-Ups
- Squats
- Mountain Climbers
- Plank
- Burpees
Along with these different exercises, Jones gave these fitness tips:
“Complete each exercise for 10 – 15 repetitions, take 30 second to one minute breaks after each exercise, take one to three minute breaks at the end of each round and complete as many rounds of the exercises as you can, starting with at least two.”
Her recommendations for increasing the intensity of the workout if you are looking to make things even tougher is to “take shorter breaks, complete more repetitions, and/or complete more rounds.”
Being without a gym does not mean workouts and staying in shape stop. Of course, the first thing Stout and Jones will tell you is your diet is important with or without the workouts you have been missing. However, using your natural body weight and using the tips and exercises Jones and Stout provided should be something that can either take off that quarantine weight you’ve gained or help you maintain you current fitness level.
