As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, many students here at Cal Poly Pomona are trying to find ways to adapt their normal pre-pandemic routine to abide by social distancing and other safety measures. With gyms and other athletic facilities closed to the public, students now must find new ways to stay fit at home.
The Poly Post interviewed students on the creative ways they have been working out at home.
“I substitute a weighted vest with a backpack. What I do is I run up a hill with some weight on, and then at the top of the hill I do 10 burpees, 20 air squats and 30 flutter kicks. Then I go back down, not at a sprint but more of a casual pace. I fill the backpack with basically anything that has weight, like books, or you could even throw some rocks in there. Another thing I do is … lay down and hang on a table and use body weight to lift (myself) up like a pull up.”
“I basically do the same workout I used to do at the BRIC, but instead of using actual weights I just use my dog. I do a lot of squats and lunges. Sometimes I’ll do bicep curls with her and then I’ll carry her up and down the stairs a couple times a day. It’s just a lot of repetitive putting her back up and down. Sometimes we’ll just go out in the backyard and do laps around the agility course we have. She’s about 20 pounds right now, so she’s not very big but I’m not going for bulk — I’m going for tone.”
“I used the internet to find resources and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Mexico developed this prison workout where you do things in sets of 20 and then 19, 18 and so on until you get your way down to one. I do that for push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and squats. I just use my body weight or dumbbells. These new workouts have been really great. Before, my pushups were just kind of OK, but now I’ve actually been doing really well, and it’s increased my stamina. It’s also kind of funny, I’m actually building shoulder muscles; never had those before.”
“Basically, just taking the workouts and things I was doing in the gym and kind of trying to customize that at home by using common household items as weights. I use like a bag of rice, a bag of beans and even my cat’s food bag. I do deadlifts, lunges, squats and core work using anything at home as an extra weight. Doing these workouts have helped me remain active and have given me a sense of normalcy because I was used to working out regularly, so it helped me keep a routine.”
“I’ve been using this app created by Chris Hemsworth called Centr. I discovered it right before quarantine and when (COVID-19) happened, he gave around eight or 12 weeks free. The app has personal trainers that have helped him in his movies. They have a whole list of different workouts and they’ve changed it to where you don’t need any equipment, so it’s all mainly body weight, calisthenics or hit workouts. My go-to workout is a program within the app called Centr Six. This one is six days a week and it’s six exercises, six reps and six rounds. Some exercises I’ve done are sit-throughs, modified burpees and squat challenges. Before I got weights, I was using water jugs and my dog’s toys that were around 10 to 15 pounds.”
“I started doing squats and lunges on my stairs at home to get the cardio in… For leg days I would go running, but then I’d come back and do some leg presses with my couch. I sit at the bottom of it and I push it up with my legs so I’m laying down and my legs are the only things that are pushing it up. I kind of like slide under and lift it. It’s a pretty small couch, so it’s nothing too crazy, but a good amount (of weight) so I feel the burn. I feel like it’s helped me retain my muscle during quarantine.”
“I do a lot of crop gardening. I have big vertical planter units, and these require me to move them into the sun, move them out of the sun. There’s a lot of times within harvest where I have to get down and actually pull up weeds (and) pull up these big plants so I can get the next series of plants ready for succession planting. On top of that, I’m a musician as well, so I move a lot of gear within my own room … so that’s 10 pounds a case easily (and) I’m doing that constantly.”
Photos and quotes compiled by staff writer Audissey Hernandez.