Staying Fit and Healthy During Quarantine

During the beginning of the quarantine, I was one of those people who are worried about staying fit and healthy while staying indoors. Of course, this means I’d have limited time to shop plus all the gyms, even our CrossFit Box, will not be operating. My feed is just filled with “missing the gym” memes, I tell you. But staying fit and healthy during this time can still be done.

We all go through different things, we have different ways of coping, and different means of living. So, before I begin, let me just say that it’s important to do a routine, which will work best on your current living situation. I live on my own, I don’t have a car to take with me when I do grocery shopping, I still have work (they let us take our work home), and I do my own chores. Weird enough, even during quarantine, my schedule seems pretty tight. But here’s how I manage:

When doing grocery shopping, I head to fresh food and meat section first. First of all, the wet market is quite far from where I live, but luckily, grocery stores are pretty close. However, these grocery stores aren’t the bigger ones with great selections, but most often than not, just the basics. So, before I buy any food beyond the fresh and meat section, I check what I can do with the current selections in the whole food area, then proceed outside of it.

There was one time when vegetables and fruits were scarce, so I had to make do with canned veggies and frozen mixed veggies.

I make sure to follow my usual workout and training schedule, so I won’t miss it! On a non-quarantine day, I usually go to the box and workout at around 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM. So, even here at home, I try to keep that schedule. Good thing, our head coach in Crossfit Cabalen, Coach Chris Garcia, sends us daily workouts (Mondays to Saturdays) we can do at home even without any equipment. Aside from that, I also do my usual extra workouts when I’m at the box, plus I challenged myself to do 100 Burpees per Quarantine Day (except on Sundays, I need rest lol).

I post on social media more frequently now regarding my workout and what I eat. This is more for accountability purposes. This helps me with staying consistent with my workout and with the food I eat. I know I can just cheat it and post only the healthy stuff or just say that I’ve done the workout, but I really haven’t… But I’m just not that type of person. I take pride in accomplishing the task given to me and I love achieving the goals I’ve set for myself, knowing I’ll reap the rewards later. One of the things I also love about posting my workout and meals on social media is that I’ve received messages from people about how they’ve been inspired and motivated to follow a healthier lifestyle too because of how consistent I’ve been.

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Whatever obstacle that comes in my way, I will never give up. I will crush it, because I know I'm stronger than before. From doing legs-crossed assisted push-ups, to doing CrossFit push-ups, strict push-ups, and now I can also do diamond push-ups. Pre-quarantine, I can't even do a single rep. Thank you to my @cfcabalen fam for the daily home WODs that pushed me to be better and stronger despite the situation. 💪🏽 #GelleeshGetsFit #wimsports @wimsports

A post shared by G (@gelleesh) on Apr 13, 2020 at 7:34am PDT

I make things more exciting by trying out new things and setting goals. For example, since I just make the most out of what I can buy at the grocery store, I need to experiment on what I can include in my stir-fry, how I can marinade my chicken breast this week, or how can I make my pre and post-workout meals differently this time? In terms of working out, I set new goals to achieve my working on specific workout movements I want to do. Before quarantine, I cannot do a single diamond push-up, and now, it’s a regular in my extra workouts. I also cannot do pistol squats on my right leg before, and now I can. I pushed myself to try it out during quarantine, and I made it happen!

Staying fit and healthy during quarantine can be tough, but it isn’t impossible. With the right mindset, discipline, and determination, you can find ways on how you can make things happen. My progress will be different from yours, but it’s totally okay. We have different situations so we just need to make do with what we have. So, don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t workout as long or eat as clean as I do (I don’t eat THAT clean, but I try to be mindful of my calories and macros at least), because you may also have other responsibilities and priorities. What matters more is you tried and gave it your best shot.