For all of you gym lovers out there, hearing COVID-19 closed your gym was difficult to accept. I didn’t know what could replace the gym because it never closes. Little did I know I would fall in love with at-home workouts.

As soon as the gym closed people started panicking and price gouging. The sale price for one set of ten-pound dumbells skyrocketed. The weight section at Walmart was completely picked over; the dumbells had become the new toilet paper fiasco.

I hate to admit, but I ran to Walmart and bought the first set of dumbells I saw. However, quarantine has taught me that the only thing you need in order to have a great workout is yourself. This was my time to get creative.

There are so many exercises you can perform with just your body weight. For example, I have been practicing push-ups, pistol squats (one-legged squats) and increasing my cardiovascular endurance. I even pushed a car down the street which used muscles I didn’t even know I had.

Due to COVID-19 there are many workout resources available for free. For example, the Peloton app is free for three months and offers everything from at-home weight training to meditation. The professional trainers who lead the classes make it easy to follow along while motivating the participants. https://www.onepeloton.com/ap

The time away from the gym has allowed me to work on neglected details. I have focused on perfecting my form, targeting different muscles and utilizing items I have around the house. I was surprised how many exercises I can do with a couch: incline push-ups, decline pushups, split squats and seated dips, just to name a few.

At-home workouts may be a weightlifter’s worst nightmare because body-weight exercises can only go so far. However, with a few resistance bands and creative thinking, the gym will seem like an unknown place.

I have discovered that I can perform almost every exercise seen in the gym by using resistance bands. There are many ways to build a set of weights at home: filling a school back-pack with heavy items, canned goods and bags of apples.

If quarantine has taught me anything, I have learned how to make the best out of situations, even if that means pushing a car down the street in place of the gym.

Working out at home has opened a new style of training for me that I hope to incorporate into my routine post-quarantine. If you are someone who loves working out, wants to start training or is in denial about a closed gym, at-home workouts could be your best friend. Who knows, maybe I will cancel my gym membership… just kidding.