Tips to keeping up your physical fitness with gym closures
With mandated shutdowns impacting some businesses, such as gyms, you might be in a bit of a tizzy figuring out the best way to keep up your workout routine since you no longer have access to the fitness equipment and accessories you’re used to.
“Some might be walking around as if their head is cut off and don’t know what to do,” said Jeff Harrison, a certified fitness professional in Lower Pottsgrove who offers one-on-one training to clients in his home fitness studio or at their homes.
Some, like Harrison who have small fitness-centered businesses, are doing what they can to continue offering a connection to the community. He has found that some are shying away from having people in their homes and therefore have cancelled his regular training visits despite him being open to fulfilling them.
“Two people this week are selfquarantining themselves because they were in New York last week,” he says. “They didn’t want to take any chances.”
Online coaching
Most of Harrison’s clients are keeping their arrangements with him, but he does expect a significant drop from his normal activity of 30 clients per week. For those clients opting to isolate, he has been offering them online coaching in the form of written fitness programs that mirror what they have been doing with him to enable them to keep things up.
“Some have no idea what to do on their own,” he says, adding there are others who don’t have a problem self-initiating, such as one client under self-quarantine who recently told him they took a seven-mile walk.
“Just get outside and walk,” Harrison suggests to all who may feel stuck in how to carry out their routines. “Being outside is one of the best things you can do.”
For those having difficulty in finding motivation outside of a gym atmosphere, Harrison said he is open to taking on new clients.
“If they say, ‘I’m not going to the gym now and I’ll check you out’, I’d be happy to take them on,” he said, adding that he fully wipes down all equipment before and after a client leaves his studio.
Streaming classes
For Ronnie Coughenour and his wife, Coco, owners of Human Breathing Yoga Studio in Morgantown, unlike Harrison, they had to shut their business down for two weeks since it is centered on group classes. They came up with a solution to keep up business for their close-knit community of yoga lovers.
“When we realized things were going to get real with coronavirus we decided to live stream classes on our normal schedule,” Coughenour said. “We just couldn’t not let our subscribers have yoga.”
This is their first time offering live streaming classes, something they see as a temporary remedy that, so far, has been working well to satisfy their members, most of whom have paid for the year in advance.
“When we were told by the governor we had to close, we were left in a bit of a bind and then it all fell together,” he says. “That we are able to do this is a real testament to the 49 subscribers.”
It is also a way to enable those who might be feeling cooped up to take advantage of the benefits of yoga that can come in handy during stressful times like we are facing right now.
“We need yoga right now,” Coughenour says. “Everyone is feeling the tension of what is happening and yoga is there to treat exactly that.”
Ever since they started streaming classes they have found people are making more of an effort to connect with their studio.
“We are getting more Facebook traffic, more phone calls and text messages,” he said. “The bonds of community are galvanizing now.”
Greater challenges in keeping up wellness routines
For those with kids at home due to school closures who might be facing greater challenges in keeping up their wellness routines due to higher demands for their attention, a good solution, according to Harrison, is finding creative ways to include kids in your physical activity. The goal is to move your body in whatever way you can.
“They can jump rope, play tag, jump on the trampoline, chase a ball around,” he suggests of
“Just get outside and walk. Being outside is one of the best things you can do.” Jeff Harrison, owner of Jeffrey S. Harrison Fitness in Lower Pottsgrove.
things parents and children can do together, along with taking a bike ride. “Involve the kids and run them down, so they sleep for you at nighttime.”
Harrison said it’s a unique opportunity for lots of family involvement since many people are home-based right now, so given they might not have the equipment they’re used to, he suggests not thinking too out of the box.
“Think about all that movement you got in the gym when you were in high school,” he said. ‘Jump, hop, bounce, those kinds of things.”
Workout inside home or venture outdoors
Whether you opt to workout inside your home using a fitness app, venture outdoors for a run, or head to a park for a walk, there are many options to help you stay fit.
“You can go to a park with obstacles or if there is a bench you can step up on that,” Harrison said.
To make for an easier transition back to the gym once they reopen, Harrison suggests keeping yourself on a schedule similar to what you had previously to ensure you get physical activity in and don’t risk losing everything you have worked so hard to accomplish this year.
“My recommendation is to try and keep everything as normal as you can,” he said. “A lot of people are working from home now and it’s good to get up at the same time every day and do your workout in the morning and get it out of the way.
For those who prefer to be less rigid during this time off from the normalcy of life, he has a tip for you.
“If you want to sleep in an extra hour, do it, but when you get up, make your workout a priority,” he says.