LOCKDOWN SLIMDOWN

The pandemic pudge is real! How one top trainer inspired locals to get fit at home — and what you can learn from their success stories

PTrainer Tarrant Anderson leads a socially distanced workout in Paramus, NJ.

ERSONAL trainer Tarrant Anderson was tired of seeing his Instagram followers complain about gaining the “Quarantine 15” during the coronavirus lockdown. The combination of shuttered gyms, boredom, stress and endless trips to the refrigerator while stuck at home has, for many, led to unwelcome weight gain.

“It’s been a challenging time for a lot of folks,” says Anderson. “It’s much easier to give in to temptation when you’ve been stuck within four walls. It’s very common to let your diet and fitness regimen fall apart.”

So the 32-year-old firefighter — who owns a gym, the Fit Factory, in Englewood, NJ, and has 11,400 followers on Instagram — came up with a 28-day quarantine challenge, all done remotely over the Internet. As much about weight loss as it is a “mindset makeover,” Anderson inspires clients to get healthier while self-isolating, e-mailing them custom workouts and diet advice.

“I’ve always trained people in-person, so this was completely new to me,” says Anderson. “But there was so much demand for virtual training, I knew I had to step up.”

He selected a dozen hopefuls who applied via his social media, each paying $280 (the equivalent of $10 a day) to take part in the challenge, which launched May 1.

One of the participants, Patrick O’Connor, lost 25 pounds — the most of anyone in the group.

“I feel so much better,” O’Connor, 51, tells The Post. “I’ve got a lot more energy, and my stomach is much flatter.”

Anderson’s plan centers on 45 minutes to an hour of exercise six days a week, starting with 15 minutes of cardiovascular activities — such as jogging, running or jumping rope — followed by resistance training.

It’s a pain to tote gym equipment to your local park, and “it’s hard to buy stuff like

dumbbells and kettlebells because they’re all sold out on places like Amazon,” Anderson says, “so you have to be inventive.”

He recommends classic body weight exercises — such as squats, mountain climbers and, yes, much-dreaded burpees — proven fat busters that quickly tone the abs, quads and butt.

Anderson also incorporates stand-up abdominal routines, including alternate-knee-to-elbow walks, twists and extended leg kicks.

“A lot of people think the only way to give your stomach a workout is to lie on your back, which can be off-putting and impractical,” he says. “You can actually burn more calories and better target the lower abs when you’re standing up as an alternative to crunches.”

Although the workouts are grueling, Anderson says what ultimately helped his clients’ success was accountability. He required members of the group to send him daily videos of their workouts, progress photos and even pictures of their Apple watches showing calories burned per session.

He also set up a private Facebook group so participants could share support and advice. “If someone is having a bad day, they get motivation from the others,” Anderson says.

Diet check-ins were part of the plan, too.

“I’d get people to send me photos of their meals three times a day,” says Anderson.

“It was a case of monitoring everything they ate, telling them to increase their protein or vegetables.”

The menu plan he recommends is loosely based on the Whole30 system — limiting carbs, favoring lean meats and skipping dairy and nearly all processed foods. For dinner, that might mean a piece of grilled salmon and a side of steamed green beans, accompanied by a “healthy” carbohydrate, such as a sweet potato.

There were ups and downs — espe

cially craving for comfort food and alcohol — for everyone during the 28 days, but the whole team stayed the course and, at the end of the month, boasted leaner abs, toned muscles and stronger arms and legs.

“I’m very proud of what they’ve achieved,” says Anderson, who is now seeing clients in person and teaching group classes while maintaining social distance. “They had a brain change and became healthy during quarantine. There’s a lot to be said for that.”