Working Out When Trapped In Your House
One thing i sort of knew about myself, that has now become abundantly clear, is that I love exercise. I mean, I don’t know if I love it - I’d certainly rather lay on the couch that intentionally get uncomfortable and sweaty - but it’s a part of my daily routine that I need to maintain any sense of order and peace.
I had a great setup where I’d go to a barre studio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, spin classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and take Hero for a 2ish mile walk on Saturday and Sunday. My anxiety was under control, my joint pain was minimal, I felt like I was getting stronger in my body and my mind… and then Seattle imploded. Now we’re stuck in our houses for who knows how long and I’ve had to find a way to get in exercise while staying 6 feet away from any other person.
Thank God for tele-therapy, because it took me a week or two (and a whole other person telling me about myself) to realize that 1) I need more exercise in my life than just walking around the neighborhood and 2) I need to make it super easy to get a good workout at home. It was my therapist who told me to just set up a little workout area and leave it there. Before, I was moving my coffee table, unrolling a yoga mat, grabbing all my props from wherever, and then disassembling the whole thing once I was done. Now, I’ve taken my guest bedroom and turned it into a little gym, and it’s great. Here’s my setup.
Luckily, I haven’t actually done any decorating in the bedrooms yet. I’ve lived here for almost two years, but I’m only now to the point where i’m thinking of what art to hang where, how I want the furniture arranged, etc. So this room has a bare floor and a lil’ twin bed and plenty of room to move around in. I have a yoga mat down in the middle of the floor, where I just leave it (revolutionary), and all my accessories and laptop are on a luggage rack I keep in the room. (Hot tip: Be an exemplary host and put a luggage rack in your guest room!). While a luggage rack is great for, you know, luggage, it has turned out to be an excellent workout prop station. This could easily be recreated with some other type of side table, a cardboard box, whatever you have.
Because there’s no solid surface on the top of the rack, only straps, I put a sheet pan down so that it could hold my laptop more securely. I bring my laptop in here because I can’t stream barre workouts from my barre studio on my tv, and my den (where the TV is) isn’t set up well for an at-home practice. With my laptop I can switch from barre to a workout on YouTube to just watching Netflix while I foam roll (more on my favorite workouts later).
The lower rack is where I hold all my workout junk. I don’t know if you’re tried to buy weights or other at-home workout equipment lately, but it’s not easy to find. Hand weights are sold out all over the place. I’m very glad I got these 4 pounders before things got crazy. I also have a kettlebell arriving later this week AND found some 6lb weights at Target that are coming soon as well. There’s also a set of TheraBands that I keep in an old iPhone box. Another hot tip: If something comes in a sturdy box, save it! I have so many drawers that I’ve organized with boxes from Warby Parker, Tiffany, and Apple. They’re also very easy to cover with paper, paint, or even washi tape if you want to hide their origins.
Behind the TheraBands is a small stability ball used in barre workouts. They sell these directly from my barre studio, but for $15, which I just couldn’t abide by, so I waited until I could get one at Target for around $5. I can’t find the one I got, but it’s basically this. There’s a foam roller to the left, as well as some accessories that go with it on the lower rack, but more on that Thursday. Then I have a container of antibacterial wipes to clean my mat after a workout, and a towel. Fun fact: I bought some cheapo towels from Target to bring with me to spin class. Not because they don’t have towels (they do!) but because I get so sweaty that I needed to keep my own towel in the car so that I could wipe away sweat on my drive home. I miss it so much.
The only other added accessory isn’t necessary, but it is great. I have set up my Dyson heater/fan at the end of my yoga mat, and OH MAN is it nice to turn on the fan when things are getting sweaty. One unexpected hurdle to working out at home is the temperature. In Seattle it’s still Have the Heat On weather and it’s not feasible to turn the heat off and have it actually get cooler before a workout. It’s much more efficient (I mean, not energy efficient, but it’s not BAD) to just turn a fan on for a half an hour and have it blow cold air directly at your sweaty bod.
And that’s the setup. I just leave it all as-is in my guest bedroom and it’s super easy to just open my laptop and get in a workout. Speaking of workouts, I’ve been trying a few different things and these are my favorites. I’m a member of my local Barre 3 studio, so I get free access to their online workouts. I’ve never used them before, and they’re really good! There are SO MANY workouts on the site and you get 15 days free when you sign up. They even have foam rolling tutorials! And you can search by length of workout, so if I’m feeling like only doing 60 minutes of barre, or I did a YouTube video and I want just 20 minutes of barre, I can easily find what I’m looking for.
Me, working out alone at home.
I’ve also been loving the classic, Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. Her Yoga for Chronic Pain video is very nice, particularly if, like me, your pains are flaring up in this tumultuous time. I’ve also been doing her Yoga For Low Back and Hamstrings video when my pain is particularly focused in those areas. And for some strength and interval training I’ve discovered MadFit, who I love. She has a whole series of workouts for apartment dwellers (ie, no jumping) and while I live in a house, I don’t like how jumping makes my stuff rattle, so I’ve been doing a lot of those videos. I have loved doing this 15 minute interval workout with no jumping and curtsy lunges which absolutely BLAST your side butt. Here’s my tip for finding workouts on YouTube. Instead of getting all ready for a workout and then searching for one on the site, look for workouts when you’re in your pajamas on the couch. Scrub through the videos and see if you’re interested in every part (or at least think it’s feasible and you want to try it). Then make a playlist of all the videos that appeal to you. Now, when you’re ready to actually workout, you will know what to expect, that you have the props you need, etc. Then if it turns out you don’t like it, just take it off your playlist!
I hope this helps, even a little. I have discovered that I MUCH prefer going to workout classes to working out at home, but needs must and here we are. I have found ways to make it work, but I also know the second the spin and barre studios open up again I will be THERE.
