@gumcareblog I live with my partner in a 1 bedroom in NYC, and I hate doing home workouts because he is always there! We used to go to the gym together frequently, but I guess the extra close quarters are making me feel self conscious? He 100% is not judgemental and he 99% does not pay any attention to me when I do a home workout. He's usually already working at 730am when I start, and now he often does a home workout at 5pm when I'm still working - so I don't pay him any mind either. But I feel so weird about doing a pilates video or whatever whole he is 4 feet away working. I need to just get over it, but I've been making a lot of excuses and this discussion is really helping me. Thank you for starting it!
@gumcareblog Thank you. I, like many others here, really needed to hear this right now. I’ve been SUPER unmotivated and basically a potato. This has me feeling guilty and therefore it’s becoming quite the mental burden every day. You’ve reminded me that we all need to give ourselves whatever break we need, especially during difficult times like this...
@gumcareblog I love this post, I see so many people in this sub beating themselves up for not being perfect. It makes me so sad because fitness should be mostly fun. Obviously there is always room for us to grow and push ourselves but there are times, like right now, where optimization isn’t possible.
@gumcareblog Today was first at home workout and I honestly hate it! I lost my job yesterday and am now officially in isolation, staying in shape is one of my biggest concerns at the moment so thank you for writing this
I don’t think I realised how much I need the gym for my mental health and energy release.
I think I will keep trying to do something active everyday, either with resistance bands or walking, but I’m not going to stress about losing my gains. It’s more the impact on my mental health and feeling like a have a purpose that I’m concerned about.
@gumcareblog I go back and forth on this because my mental health is tied so directly to exercise.
I started working out regularly at the gym a little over a year and a half ago and it cut my moderate depression down to almost nothing. It also stopped so many random aches and pains I used to have.
I've not done much working out from home and I know my mental health is suffering and my hips and back were aching last night.
Ugh. I think I will just take this advice as "don't stress out if you don't get in a hard workout like you used to"
I got through a short barre workout today with many interruptions from my kids needing help with homeschooling. That's gonna have to be enough for now.
I'm going to try and not stress about doing more than a little bit each day!
@malky2000 I really understand the exercise tied to mental health thing. I feel the same. The closest I can get, I think, is to go outside for a walk or short run. Even just 1 mile and it seems to boost my mood a bit. It definitely doesn't fix everything, but it's something. I hope you can find something small that might work for you, too
@gumcareblog Thank you for sharing this thought, I’m completely capable of exercising from home and expected to but everything is so overwhelming right not that it is just not happening as much. Self compassion is so vital right now, the reminder that this is a long term journey is so spot on.
We love being fit and these are difficult and uncharted times, perhaps being fit right now means something different than it did a few short weeks ago.
Cheers to all of you xoxo! We all will reengage when we can.
@gumcareblog This is a great reminder. I’m trying to do home workouts (which I hate) at least three times a week to stay active. I’m used to lifting heavy and I hate high rep exercises so I’m just not going to force it. Prior to the lockdown I was working out 5-6 days a week but my diet has was all over the place. I’m using this time to focus on my diet, eating healthy, stopping when I feel full, and avoiding the binge/restrict cycle I have been in for the past four years!
@gumcareblog Lol idk... it’s kinda depressing just sitting at home doing nothing >_>. Like srsly just sitting around. I mean, I work a lot so it’s refreshing to do random workouts when I need a break.
@gumcareblog I just did an at home workout after weeks of no gym or exercise . I have a yoga mat, 10 lbs dumbbells and a 7lb ball.
Managed to do legs (bumped up the reps!) and finished with some core stuff. It was in no way the best workout but better than nothing so I’ll make it work, still felt great after!
@gumcareblog Yes! I came to a similar thought today: my goal each day is movement and meditation. But, movement doesn’t have to be a “workout.” Dancing is good. A walk is great. Yoga is perfect. Stretching works too.
Giving myself the freedom to move in any way that makes sense to me that day - that feels like the right balance of structure and grace.
@gumcareblog I struggle so much with this. I've seen so many gains over the past few years for exercising after work regularly that I want to keep it up to be consistent, but just can't find the motivation when I'm working from home or am on Christmas break. Part of be feels bad for skipping my without but another part knows that I'll be able to make it up once things get back to normal.
@pawello I feel you - I was prepared for a lot but not the gym being closed. I just feel really right too, not sure about you? I've been doing yoga which has helped, going to order a kettlebell and some weight resistance bands to hold me over. Also got a foam roller - omg I miss that
@pawello Girl SAME. Sending you lots of hugs. It doesn’t help that any dumbell set of over 50kg might be sold out for months where I’m at. I’m so sad. I just want to lift weights dammit.
@dawn16 Have you thought about getting bands? I'm thinking of doing that and then a kettlebell (just like 10lbs so I can curl them) since those can be used for a bunch of things and then up resistance with bands. Not great but I'm hoping it'll be better than nothing.
