Staying in shape during quarantine

Two blog posts ago I mentioned that I have been working out more in quarantine than I have ever done before. In life BC (before corona,) I dreaded going to the gym. Something about FitRec just really made me want to walk past it and pretend that it wasn’t there.

I’ve identified a trend in my life and it is whenever something bad is happening to me or something is clearly unbalanced, I find the motivation to run. When this did happen at school I would go to FitRec a few times a week for 30 minutes, run 3 miles, and dip. I recognized that there was a lot more I could’ve been doing but I was satisfied with the 3 miles. Although, when I’m chilling and generally in a good place, I won’t exercise for weeks at a time.

It took coming home early from college and having to shelter in place for days on end, for me to start working out this time around. When I first got home, I loved being able to run around the Rosebowl, which is a beautiful 3.2-mile loop around UCLA’s football stadium and golf course in Pasadena. I would go every other day and time myself so I would finish in under 30 minutes. And then the city of Pasadena took that outlet away because I was not the only one enjoying that run. 

After the Rosebowl got closed, I started running around my neighborhood. There’s this app called “Strava” that I recommend that records where you run, your pace, and your average mile time. It’s kind of fun to try and challenge yourself by beating previous records. Although, the problem I faced when I started running around my neighborhood is that since it is so hilly here, it hurt my knees when I ran up the hills. Because of that, I started losing my motivation (again) to get back out there on a regular basis.

One day I got a direct message from an old coworker named Nikki. Nikki and I are friends but since I went off to school and stopped working at the restaurant where we met, I hadn’t talked to her in a while. Nikki is studying to become a personal trainer, and in quarantine, she has been holding one-hour workout classes over Zoom every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  So she DMs me and says, “I better see you in my work out class tomorrow.” When I saw she reached out and that she wanted me to join I was thrilled. Not only did I join too, but so did my friends from high school (Paolo and Emily) who also worked at the same restaurant.

In a time where work and play are happening all through a screen, doing an online workout class with other people (especially when they are good friends) gave me a sense of community, even if it was done virtually. I’ve been having so much fun taking Nikki’s classes and seeing my friends in the tiny squares on the screen doing the same workout gave me motivation and something to look forward to.

If you are interested in taking Nikki’s class, her work out account is @fitxnik and she posts information about her Zoom work out classes there. I really recommend these classes not only because they are fun, but they are a serious work out that has you very sore (in the best ways) the next day.

So after taking Nikki’s class all the time and watching Youtube and Tik Tok videos about other at-home workouts that are targeted towards the areas of my body I am trying to tone, I have come up with my own at-home workout. I do this work out on the days I’m not in taking Nikki’s class and it takes about x. This work out is designed to target my abs and butt. 

My go-to work out:
*Each exercise is done for 30 seconds and I do the work out 2 times
FOR ABS:
PLANK
PLANK ROCK
PLANK HIP DIPS “RAINBOWS”
CRUNCHES (BRING KNEES AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN TO YOUR CHEST)
TABLETOP TOE TAPS
ALTERNATING TOE TOUCHES
MODIFIED RIGHT AND LEFT SIDE PLANKS 
        SEE VIDEO
RIGHT AND LEFT PLANK OBLIQUE TWIST
HIGH/ LOW PLANKS
MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
BICYCLE CRUNCHES 

​FOR THE BOOTY: (you will need a resistance band and one weight)
ALTERNATING JUMP LUNGES
RIGHT AND LEFT LOUNGES WITH FRONT LIFT
SQUATS with resistance band around mid thigh
JUMP SQUATS with resistance band around mid thigh
SQUAT AND CURTSY (for one minute instead of 30 secs) with resistance band around mid thigh
SQUAT with resistance bands around mid thigh and lift weights
LEFT/RIGHT/BEHIND LEG LIFTS with resistance band around your ankles.

I am attaching a Youtube video to give you guys a better idea of what some of the specific moves look like if you want to try out this set out at home. I hope you guys enjoy :)