Keeping Fit At Home During A Pandemic

Let’s assume you have NOTHING to work with. 1) Outdoor Running. Don’t expect running to tone you up unless you’re eating healthy and during resistance training also. But running will keep your cardiovascular system in shape and also work toward burning calories. Remember, if losing weight or shredding fat is your goal, there’s simple math to be done: burn more calories than consumed. Tip 1 for street running: sidewalks and streets are slanted. Sidewalks slant toward the street and the street slants toward the nearest sidewalk. Don’t do all of your running on a surface that only slants to your right (or all of your running on a surface that only slants to your left). Tip 2 for street running: concrete is the hardest surface to run on, so shock forces are going to be very high. When running on the streets, listen to the sound of your footsteps every now and then and make sure they’re quiet. Quiet steps usually mean you’re absorbing the shock forces with your muscles rather than through your joints. Tip 3 for street running: use a foam roller on those legs before AND after your runs (I’ve done tons of research on this). 2) Calisthenics. Don’t expect to build muscle with this, but you can definitely keep a firm, toned look. When doing body-weight exercises, I recommend picking a few exercises and doing a sequence like this (it doesn’t have to be the exact number of reps I put, it just has to be a high number of reps to give you a feeling of working toward fatigue): Exercise 1: Some type of Squat for 20 repetitions (high reps), Exercise 2: Some form of Push-Up for 20 reps, Exercise 3: Some form of Dip for 20 reps, Exercise 4: some for of Abdominal Crunch OR Plank for 20 reps or 60 second hold (respectively), and Exercise 5: some sort of cardio movement like Jumping Jacks for 60 seconds. Do NOT rest once you’ve completed all 5 exercises. Instead, repeat the sequence until you’ve gone through it 3-4 times. 3) Plyometrics. AWESOME stuff to do if trying to build muscle when you don’t have weights available. This stuff is for highly advanced people and shouldn’t be done by everybody. Injuries can definitely happen when plyometrics are done improperly. Plyometrics work by activating fast-twitch fibers in the muscles being used. When people lift heavy weights to build muscle, this ALSO works fast-twitch muscle fibers. Therefore, we can build muscles by either lifting heavy weight (challenging our muscles with resistance), or with explosive/powerful movements (challenging our muscles with speed). As a general rule of thumb, a set of a plyometric exercises rarely exceeds 5 repetitions. Our Office next to Grand Central is open for typical Physical Therapy visits, but ALSO for PT visits to on EXERCISE CONSULTATIONS (No, you do not have to be in pain for Insurance to cover a PT visit). Home appointments are also available upon request. Please feel free to pass this information on to a friend or family member in need. Contact: (646) 455-1312 or email: info.JLPT@gmail.com