Creating the Perfect Quarantine Workout
Nearly two years ago, COVID-19 has taken the world by storm and caught all of us unprepared. It succeeded in shutting down many of our day-to-day social activities including work, dining out, going to the cinemas, etc. But, importantly, it has halted visits to our local gym, something that most of us tend to believe is essential for staying in shape.
However, I am here to tell you that a gym is not required in order for you to get or stay in shape. In this pandemic which has forced us all inside for a while, I had learned that a plethora of effective exercises can be completed without weights or machines (which are the major reasons people go to the gym). The type of exercises that I am proposing to you are known as bodyweight exercises, or calisthenics. They use little to no equipment and mainly utilize your own body, hence the name. Because of their simplicity and practicality in nature, they make for the perfect home workout and, furthermore, quarantine workout when your local gym is unavailable or you just don’t feel like making the trip.
I am not here to lecture you on the curriculum of bodyweight exercises though. We are here to pick and use the methods from this wide-spreading practice to construct the perfect quarantine routine that can fully be completed at home and/or in your neighborhood.
But without further ado, let’s move onto the exercises that we’ll be performing.
Judo Pushups
Our first exercise is one that is popular with martial artists and wrestlers and it is called a Judo Pushup. They are also a great deal more exciting than regular pushups, which correlates to more of a challenge.
To perform them, you want to position yourself on the floor in a down-dog yoga position. With a straight back and a slight bend in your knees, your entire body should resemble an upside-down V shape. Your hands should be planted about shoulder width apart. This is your starting position. All within a controlled motion, bend at the arms and shoulders to lower your head and nearly brush your chin against the floor in the halfway position as you slowly drop your hips. Then, push forward and rise up as your hips continue to sink. The final contracted position should leave you in an up-dog yoga form. Reverse the motion, pulling back down to brush your chin against the floor again and rising back up into an upside-down V position. This makes one repetition.
Judo pushups are magical because they target three major muscle groups, your triceps, chest, and shoulders. They also strengthen other muscles such as your hamstrings and back but these aren’t nearly as targeted.
Assisted Pistol Squats
The next exercise could have been a simple squat, but that may be too easy for some of us or too boring for others. Instead, I chose an Assisted Pistol Squat which is much more challenging than the former.
For this exercise, you want to stand up tall and raise one of your legs out from the floor, holding onto something that can support your weight with either the alternate or both hands. This is your starting position. Following the motions of a traditional squat, bend at the hip and knee of your planted leg all the way until either your hamstring meets the calf or you are unable to go any further. Pause and return to the starting position using the strength of your planted leg and the help of your support. This equals one repetition.
Assisted Pistol Squats are a great step up from your usual squats but work the same muscles: your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. However, if you find this exercise too difficult, you are free to settle for normal squats.
Horizontal Pullups
Instead of your typical pullups, which may be too difficult for some, the third exercise on this list is a Horizontal Pullup, also known as an inverted row. It may be a bit challenging to find a place to do these but the easiest method would be if you had a doorway pullup bar. In such a case, you would just need to hang a towel onto it and grab both ends. Alternatively, if you have a sturdy table or desk to hang down from, that will also suffice.
To start this exercise, you want to grab onto your support with both hands, plant your feet ahead of you and hang down with your body in some degree of a diagonal line from head to toe. This is your starting position. From here, you want to pull yourself up, only using the arms. Make sure to keep your elbows close to your torso as your chest reaches the height of your grip. After a brief pause, slowly reverse the motion, allowing yourself to lower back down until you’ve reached your initial position. This equals one rep.
Horizontal Pullups are a few steps easier to do than regular pullups but target the same muscle groups: your back and biceps. To make these more manageable, simply raise the height of what you are holding onto. The higher your grip, the easier but ideally you want your grip to be around the height of your hips.
Planks
Now it’s time to work the abs, the most popular muscle group. And the single best exercise for working the entirety of your core is none other than the Plank. Regularly doing planks has a list of benefits sizeable enough for another article but just to list some: it works your entire abdominal area, improves your balance and posture, and even gives you a mood boost.
Planking is a stationary exercise, meaning that there is no movement. This is what makes it challenging. Holding one position is a lot harder than it sounds. To get into position, lie down flat on your front side. Prop your torso up by laying your forearms right below you, parallel to the rest of your body. Make sure that your elbows are directly beneath your shoulders. To start the exercise, lift up off of your toes and elbows to create a straight line from your head to your feet. Hold this position for the given time.
Elbow Plank is the specific name for the exercise that I speak of here and is a great toner for your core. It targets your abdominals, quadriceps, and even the shoulders.
Putting It Together
These are the four exercises that we will use for our homemade quarantine workout. Between them all, we are making sure to hit a majority of the eleven major muscle groups and effectively execute a full-body workout. To fit them together into a nice thirty-minute routine, you want to take each exercise and break them into three sets of ten repetitions, excluding the planks. For the elbow plank, you should aim for three sets of thirty to sixty-second holds. The routine should look like this on paper:
Home Quarantine Workout
• 10 Judo Pushups (3 sets)
• 10 Assisted Pistol Squats (3 sets each leg)
• 10 Horizontal Pullups (3 sets)
• 30–60 second Plank (3 sets)
Of course, this is your workout so if you find the need to tweak, change, add on, or take away features, feel free to. Don’t be afraid to move up or down a variation if a specific exercise isn’t the right difficulty for you. Just make sure that you are listening to your body and are feeling pressure in your exercises, not pain or discomfort.
