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Athletic Support: How To Stay in Shape During a Pandemic
Both physically and mentally.
By Eli Cranor
Dear Athletic Support: With school closed, my son is itching to get back in the weight room. He’s been running around the neighborhood, but we don’t have any dumbbells or weights he can use for strength training. Do you have any home workouts we can do with minimal equipment? — Weighting Dad
Dear Weighting: Strength gains can be lost in as little as two to three weeks of inactivity. So, your son is absolutely right — he needs to be working out. Luckily, even without a home gym, there are many different exercises your son can be doing to stay in shape.
Most high-school-aged boys are overly concerned with bulking up their upper body. They want the bulging pectorals and biceps of a bodybuilder. The problem here is those muscle groups don’t translate well to the field.
So let’s start with the lower body. Regardless of the sport, an athlete’s hips are very important and oftentimes neglected. As a culture, we’ve grown accustomed to sitting for the better part of our waking hours. Whether kids are sitting in a desk at school or on the sofa playing video games, our youth are very good at being sedentary. As a consequence, we are a nation of stiff hips.
