Staying fit at home
(Fourth of five parts)
PUTTING chess players under home quarantine due to the state of public health emergency caused by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is no doubt easier than any other athlete as they can play the sport anywhere, anytime.
Dabawenyo chess international master (IM) John Marvin Miciano, in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao, said, “Because of the outbreak of coronavirus, both foreign and local chess tournaments I was scheduled to join were either postponed or cancelled, so I just continue my training at home which is now all online. No more face to face training games. “
But his daily routine, aside from training and playing online chess games, also includes exercises.
Woodpushers, too, need to keep their bodies fit and healthy as sitting in front of a chess board for hours entails a good physical shape since mental work, which chessers often do, requires more physical strength. They need to endure the mind challenge of every chess puzzle.
Thus, Miciano also has an exercise routine he does at home.
“I usually do my exercise routine of push ups, squats, jumping rope, dumbles every morning. Now with home quarantine, I added half an hour to one hour of treadmill in the evening,” he said.
He also encouraged parents to exercise with their childern everyday to make it more fun and enjoyable while community quarantine is in effect. The 20-year-old Miciano, a varsity scholar at Far Eastern University, became a national master(NM) at age 16 and Fide master (FM) and international master (IM) at 17.
In the past three parts of this series, PBA Meralco Bolts pointguard Baser Amer, Rio Olympian marathoner Mary Joy Tabal, 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games wakeboard double bronze medalist Maiquel Jawn “Mikee” Selga also shared their respective fitness regimen to keep their bodies in shape.