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Quarantine Fitness Kit

Things have been pretty crazy and uncertain over the last few weeks. Settling into Austin’s “Shelter in Place” order has required an incredible amount of energy and patience. Our children are attending our conference calls, workouts are blending together with our morning check-in meetings, and all the bits and pieces of life are just swirling together. But hey, we all know how happy the pets are to have us home all the time. 🙂 

While we haven’t been training in person at the studio, our clients and personal trainers have kept up their workouts online! Protecting this time together has helped us clear the space for us to separate ourselves from the big swirl through dedicated personal time. These sessions are typically only 30 minutes, and our trainers make sure it’s the most effectively used time of your day so that you feel refreshed and ready. And hey, if you want it to be family time — invite the household to join. 

During our online training, we’ve been taking stock of what clients and trainers have found helpful and created this amazing Quarantine Fitness Kit. Bodyweight exercises are great and adding in some simple equipment that you can order on Amazon will offer more variety, and resistance to your workouts.

Here’s what we’re recommending:

  1. Everyone should have a Foam Roller. We’re in a lot of different positions with our make-shift offices and workspaces, and our bodies feel it. This versatile tool helps keep your muscles primed and blood flowing. Use it to warm up for a workout or any time throughout the day to give your body some love. A few minutes of targeted rolling can change the way your body feels for the entire day! I dare you to roll out for half an episode of The Office!
  2. Lacrosse Balls are a powerful massage tool that can help reduce pain and improve function of sore muscles. We are all missing our inimitable massage therapists (shout out to bodyworkers!), but in the meantime, lax balls can be used to target specific knots in your body (think: upper back, pecs, glutes). Prime your body with a foam roller, then go deep with a lax ball.
  3. A Yoga Mat can make your workout more comfortable and help you shift the intention of a space. Working out at home is hard – the dishes and the laundry call to you at the worst moments – but rolling out a yoga mat in your living room can help you commit to your workout and prime the room with some fitness energy.
  4. Exercise Bands are a great way to add resistance to any exercise. In fact, you can put together an entire workout with only bands – no weights needed! You can also order the same EliteFTS bands we use at the gym.
  5. Hip Bands or circle bands bring your hip, glute, and leg workouts to a new level. Add this band for extra hip and glute activation in any exercise. 
  6. Jump Ropes are a great way to get in your cardio and bring up your coordination. Start slow – jumping rope is hard but as you get the rhythm you’ll be able to pick up the intensity and add more challenge and variety to your workout.
  7. An Ab wheel is an inexpensive but versatile tool to add intensity to your at-home core training. This is a fairly advanced exercise, so ask an ASF trainer for tips to get started. 
  8. Kettlebells are an incredible piece of equipment. They add so much dimension to an at-home strength training and conditioning program, and there are tons of resources online to easily put together a great workout even when you’re not in an online session with your trainer. (Kettlebells are currently SOLD OUT on Amazon! Let us know if you find one.)   
  9. Dumbbells are a staple for a home gym. The can be used in conjunction with any body movement and will aid in faster muscle growth and fat burning results. Most people would do well with a pair of 15s or 20s, but many sizes are SOLD OUT on Amazon.
  10. Sandbells are built for being picked up and thrown back to the ground. These are an ASF trainer favorite because they can be used for a variety of exercises. Many of us have some pent-up energy right now – slam that energy out while strengthening your entire body!
  11. If you really want to become Tyler Durden during the Great Quarantine, you will absolutely need a way to do pull-ups. Doorway pull-up bars give you the ultimate at-home way to increase your upper body and core strength. Ask an ASF trainer for the best ways to progress/regress your pull ups and emerge on the other side with an impressive new party trick.

While you most certainly can get a good workout with no equipment at all, these kinds of tools can add variety and fun to your daily routine. Ask your trainer for recommendations specific to you! We are here to help feel as good as possible throughout this chaos – thank you for being a part of the Austin Simply Fit community!