We wake up and shit has hit the fan, there’s a worldwide pandemic, the news report is telling us that the gyms are shutting and we can only exercise once a day. Wait, what? Exercise is cancelled? So where does this leave us?
For somebody that trains usually 5-6 times a week I struggled with this, I’ve been training over 4 years and I have just finished my level 3 personal training – I was so ready to help other people get to where they want to be. The thought of not being able to train gave me anxiety, I had thoughts that all my hard work would go to shit, id end up leaving isolation with all those negative feelings I had before I found the gym. Sound familiar?
We’re 7 weeks into isolation, everyone is learning something new, so what are you doing? Are you coping? Are you training? Its been hard, don’t get me wrong, its not easy to train within your living room when the couch looks 10x so much more appealing than doing squats and high knee runs. Although the desire was still there, the motivation just wasn’t. You have good days when you hit your calories, you train hard and by the end of the week you’ve almost forgotten that no gyms are open. But its week 4, you’re feeling lethargic, if you’re not a key worker, that’s a whole lot of time spent at home. Where is that motivation coming from, the fact is, sometimes nowhere.
I struggled with this exact problem, I feel you completely. Im lucky to be a key worker so I haven’t spent the past 7 weeks stuck indoors, but the training aspect is still equally a struggle. But then I realised, what is my alternative? Do I take in reality, live in despair and keep my glass half empty, or do I accept the fact the gyms being shut – it is what it is – kind of approach, remember why I ever did started training and get my shit together. The choice, is, always has been, always will be, yours.
Finding new hobbies and new ways to exercise is going to save you during lockdown, whilst a lot of places are short of equipment you can do your research on body weight exercises and find the new strength within you that you never knew was there. Youre working your body actually even more than you did in the gym because youre having to use your body weight alone, youre working your mind even more than you did before lockdown because youre relying on your own knowledge more than ever.
I think one of the reasons gyms are so successful is because of the motivation it provides whilst youre there, but is that motivation youre getting when youre on the squat rack only from other people? And now those people aren’t there and you’re stuck indoors either alone or with people who don’t understand how much you need exercise and that endorphin release in your life. So utilise this time, this is the time you might never get back (which we will be glad of) but for you to find motivation within your own action, rather than waiting impatiently for it to come by itself, this lockdown doesn’t have to be a struggle, it doesn’t have to cause you anxiety it can be the making of you, the time you realised that your successes were going to come solely from you, the time that you started moving rather than complaining.
Make this time count, because when the rush starts again, the hustle of life and we cant get on the squat rack because the gyms are too crowded, you will be so glad you did not allow this time to tarnish your progress, but rather improve it.