Strength Training During Quarantine

During these unprecedented times many of us are either:

i) working from home in a suboptimal work environment and/or

ii) filling our days with DIY home improvements, gardening, or exploring our local neighborhoods safely on a run, walk or bike.

However, what we don’t recognize is that that these activities place the body into postural positions that we are unaccustomed to for prolonged periods of time, which can lead to discomfort or worse, the development of a longer standing injury. So, what can you do?

         While many personal trainers and fitness studios are helping you stay fit and healthy during the quarantine through the development of “equipment-less” home-based workouts on social media, incorporating some load into these workouts is critical!! While load is most often associated with muscle adaption it also acts as an analgesic (aka it acts to reduce pain). But I don’t have a home gym or gym equipment you say? Not a problem. Lying around your home you have access to some great free-weight solutions…we just have to get a bit creative.

 To complete the following home-based workout, create your own dumbbells by filling pairs of containers with water (eg. water bottles, wine bottles, 4L milk jugs) and track down a spare towel. Be sensible with your weights seeing as many of us have not being exposing our bodies to weighted workouts since mid-March. Start easy and progress!

The Workout

2 Rounds

8 Repetitions of Each Exercise

Written by:

Elliott Marsh, Physiotherapist