Vitality weekly column : COVID19, when sport doesn’t rhyme with sedentarity

Winston Churchill said : ‘’ The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’’ You probably know what I mean when I talk about this feeling of accomplissement and happiness after a good workout session. After 30 minutes of intense workout, when you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. Regular exercise can positively impact serotonin levels in your brain. Raising your levels of serotonin boosts your mood and overall sense of well-being. It can also help improve your appetite and sleep cycles, which are often negatively affected by depression. Regular exercise also helps balance your body’s level of stress hormones, such as adrenaline. Adrenaline plays a crucial role in your fight-or-flight response, but too much of it can damage your health. To be clear, you get the feeling to become Superman everyday when you pratcice. And nothing is better than that when you are in quarantine ! The only problem is to find the motivation ! Even if being in quarantine is not the best life, it is an opportinity to take, so you can finally take time for yourself, focus on what is important, breathe from the stressfull life we all have nowadays.


 

As a professional figure skater, I can say that the fact to workout is a big part of my life. It is very difficult for me to not doing it everyday. Thru the years, I saw my body change, improve and getting stronger. I think sport is a big part of personal development in life. But nowadays, sport are not very an option due to a lot of lifestyle factors. In fact, most people living a sedentary lifestyle are unlikely to be meeting the national physical activity guidelines. Research suggests that only 21 percent of adults are meeting the physical activity guidelines, while less than 5 percent perform 30 minutes of physical activity per day. So why is it that we are more sedentary now than we were just 50 years ago? The main contributing factor to our increased sedentary lifestyles is technology. Technology has brought about more inactive modes of transit, caused an increase in sedentary desk jobs and has developed more activities that can be done while sitting (i.e. watching TV, surfing the web, playing video games). Overall, sedentary jobs have increased 83% since 1950 and physically active jobs now make up only about 25% of our workforce, which is 50% less than in 1950. Additionally, our average work week is longer. Americans now work 47 hours a week–164 more hours a year than 20 years ago. In a world where everything goes to fast, having time for ouself is a priceless gift. And it take just 3% of a journey so no excuse to procrastinate !

What we purpose to you, with the help of the personal coach, Nicholas fernandez, is a way to do sport, even if you are stuck at home without gym and gym equipment. The best to practice without any pressure and keep the motivation up during those hard day !



- Can you present yourself and what are the benefits for you of working out at home particularly
with the current situation and COVID19?
 
My name is Nicholas Fernandez from Sydney, Australia & am a figure skater & a personal trainer.
As most of us are sitting at home in quarantine wondering "I wish I could be at a gym" or "how can I do my workouts at home without any gym equipment’s" etc.
Easy! Some of the greatest benefits of working out at home during this time are:
 
1. Convenience - Once you have a little gym set out at home, you will never want to leave your place again. Remember that one of the most important aspects of working out is consistency, never missing your workouts & it will never lead you to anymore excuses to not going to the gym such as timing, weather, feeling lazy and so fourth.
 
2. Saving Time & Money - This also links up with convenience too. Think about how long it takes you from once you prepare yourself to the gym until you step foot back in the house (5 mins to get dressed, the drive to the gym, situate yourself, workout, drive back home and etc) & all of this saves money too such as petrol for your car, paying for weekly gym fee's etc.
So think about the money you save and the extra time you get to extend your workouts.
 
3. Freedom - This is the best time to be in your own zone without anyone around you distracting you during your workouts. Also, not having to wait in line for the next equipment that someone is using, especially those that love to be on there phones during rest periods & get side tracked. You can blast your own music in the house because you know nothing is greater then listening to your on tunes that gets you motivated to push that last rep and you get your own privacy and no judgemental zone. We don't like to do a certain exercises next to someone who you are intimidated by because you don't want to look weak or feel embarrassed as I imagine a lot us do at times. You never want to feel self-conscious about trying a new workout.
 
4. Hygiene - We all know the gym is germ paradise. We all know that one person who doesn't wipe down there equipment after an exercise, sweat left on the bench (even though wipes and towels are provided and signs all over the gym to inform people to clean after yourself), guys lifting weights way to heavy then they can actually lift and cutting there hands leaving potential blood stains and so on. Being at home means you are in the cleanest environment keeping you away from all the germs and not spreading it to anyone around you.
 
 
- Do you have some tips to motivate people to start working out in their place
while most of them think that you can't work outside of a gun environment?
 
Of course! Use this time in particular to work on yourself mentally & physically.
Remembering that some of keys of working out is building your own physical strength, core stability, flexibly & mental rest/relaxation. So if you can't do fundamental exercises with your own body weight, how will you try to lift weights that are too heavy for you leaving to injuries that can set you back, therefore, leaving you unmotivated to work out again.
 
 
- Can you give us few exercise to do and where we can follow you for more?
 
Definitely, I will give you an exercise to work on each body part.
 
Chest - Push Up
Back - Superman Towel Row
Shoulders - Pike Push Up
Biceps - Doorframe Rows
Triceps - Triceps Dips
Abs - Sits Ups
Glutes - Squats
Quads - Lunges
Hamstring - Bridges
Calf - Standing Calf Raises