Fitness and Gyms, Post COVID-19
Fitness Friday Interview Series
Welcome to The Not Old Better Show. I’m Paul Vogelzang, and this is episode #452. Today’s show is brought to you by SunBasket and True Botanicals!
Our show today is part of our Fitness Friday series, and it’s another great one in our Fitness Friday programs. We’ll be hearing from returning guest, Sabrena Jo.
On the Fitness Friday program, we talk with Sabrena Jo about excise and fitness. We all know that exercise is important, especially for our physical and mental health. Returning to exercise after an illness is often a very tough battle, and during our COVID 19 quarantine period, when we’ve cooped up, without our gyms, we need to be mindful of easing ourselves back into exercise again, particularly after the current Coronavirus outbreak.
I love speaking with Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise (ACE) Fitness Director of Science and Research Content, because of her research orientation. Research, fact-based analysis, and outcomes orientation is critical to our Not Old Better Show audience.
I spent considerable time researching some questions to ask Sabrena Jo, and we’ll talk about steps back to exercise, such as:
1. You might feel as if you are starting from scratch but your fitness will return quickly once you begin.
2. Take it slowly..don’t overdo it and fatigue right out of the gate
3. Listen to your body, and do what feels right, even something easier until you’re back to full strength.
4. Always remember to rest and recover, and heal yourself, then add more and more exercise until you’re feeling your previous levels of strength.
5. Stay positive, and pace yourself. Things return gradually. It might feel like you’re taking baby steps at first but will be surprised at how quickly you will regain your fitness. Remember that being active will help to keep your immune system in good shape to fight off future infections.
Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show via interview phone, ACE Fitness’ Sabrena Jo.
My thanks always to Sabrena Jo, ACE Director of Science and Research Content for joining us today. Of course, my thanks to SunBasket and True Botanicals for sponsoring the show…remember, please support our sponsors by checking out their products, which you can do with full discounts right from our show notes. And to you, my wonderful Not Old Better Show audience. Please keep your emails coming to me with show ideas, suggestions, and comments: @ info@notold-better.com. Practice smart social distancing, be safe and be well.
Remember, let’s talk about better…The Not Old Better Show. Thanks, everybody.
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Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show :
Welcome to the national better show on Paul Vogelzang, and this is episode number four 52 today’s show is brought to you by Sun Basket and True Botanicals. Our show today is part of our fitness Friday series and it’s another great one in our fitness Friday programs. We’ll be hearing from returning guests of Jo on the fitness Friday program. We talk with Sabrena Jo about exercise and fitness. Of course, we all know that exercise is important, especially for our physical and mental health. Returning to exercise after an illness is often a very tough battle and during our covert 19 quarantine period when we’ve been cooped up without our gyms, we need to be mindful of easing ourselves back into exercise again, particularly after this current Corona virus outbreak. I love speaking to Sabrena Jo, the American council on exercise, ACE fitness, director of science and research content because of her research orientation, research, fact-based analysis and outcomes orientation is critical to our not old, better show audience.
Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
I spent considerable time researching some questions to ask Sabrena Jo about this subject of getting back to exercise, and we’re going to talk about some of these steps back to exercise such as, you know, you might feel as if you’re starting from scratch, but your fitness will return quickly. Once you begin, you know, take it slowly. Don’t overdo it and fatigue yourself right out of the gate. Listen to your body and do what feels right. Even something easier might be a good way to start until you’re back at full strength. Always remember to rest and recover and heal yourself. Then add more and more exercise until you’re feeling your previous levels of strength. You know, you got to stay positive and pace yourself. Things return gradually in my field, like you’re taking baby steps at first, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly you will regain your fitness. Remember that being active will help you keep your immune system in good shape to fight off future infections. Now, please join me in welcoming to the not old better show via internet phone, ACE fitness, director of science and research content. Sabrina Jo, Sabrina. Joe, it is great to speak with you as good to hear your voice actually too. Thanks. Call. Yeah, it’s great to talk to someone.
Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
I know, gosh, I, I uh, we were talking about photos, you know, we’re both on Skype. I can see your bright shiny face and you know, you just look so upbeat, you know, all of this mandatory stay at home, this inactivity because of Cobra 19. It’s going to cause some issues you know, for, for, for all of us in so many ways. But you know, I’ve heard of the, you know, the coven 15, you know, it’s the 15, but it’s kind of calories in, calories out. That’s what kind of keeps weight gain down and
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
if we’re not exercising it’s, it’s going to catch up to us. But, but as we, as we get closer I suppose closer to a time where we can return to a little bit more of, um, of kind of a communal exercise group exercise and getting back to gyms and there are lots of issues with that. I know and I welcome your opinion about all that stuff. But as we get there, I mean, aside from just kind of shouting for joy, we’re just going to have to face some things that we might be a little more stiff, you know, we might have to do some things that are going to free up some muscles in ways that we hadn’t quite considered. And, uh, and I wonder if you have some suggestions about any of those things and, and uh, that again, it’s nice to hear a voice, so, so tell us what’s going on and, and you don’t have to mince words here.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
I wish I had just the best advice and everyone would follow it and then we would all be wonderfully happy and, you know, the Rose colored glasses and all that. Um, it’s, it’s been a challenge. And in terms of staying physically active, I know for myself, I’ve been doing that. Um, but it’s certainly not the same as it was. And maintaining physical activity throughout the day has, has taken a, a conscious effort. Like I get up and I think about, okay, uh, I know I’m going to be sitting a lot today in front of the computer, perhaps on the zoom call or just on my laptop typing away. But when I get up, I, I do try to plan where I’m going to be active throughout the day and that might mean going for a walk or it might mean I really need to do some housework and I know that I can move my body in many ways doing that.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Um, or it might just mean a real, you know, structured, specific exercise routine. And that has been something that while we feel like we have a lot of time, perhaps because we are indoors, it’s interesting how psychologically you still do have to plan for that. And I’m finding that, um, some people, um, are, you know, talking to me about that while they do have this time, they’re seeing other people who are making it their goal during this time to, uh, get in the best shape of their lives. Cause, you know, they’re gonna work out two hours a day nonstop. And I don’t know how realistic that is or if that’s just talk, but I do know that we during this time, probably shouldn’t, uh, expect to break any performance goals or records or really, you know, have those expectations. I really think we should be kind to ourselves and, uh, not feel like we have to do anything other than just try to stay healthy and well during this time.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more I think. I think they’re just their mental health issues that we’re all experiencing right now. Issues of stress. Sometimes we can stress out over just the subject of exercise and we certainly have plenty of stressors in our lives. And so you, you always are so upbeat and you have so many wonderful ideas. I know that this subject of mental health is particularly, um, it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s an important one to you. It’s an important one to, to ACE. It’s an important one to me. And so how are you kind of juggling some of the need for exercise with some of the important kind of distressors and making sure to say, okay, this time I’m going to exercise because it’s going to help me distress it. Cause I think that that motivation is going to be important for our audience.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Yeah, I agree. That isn’t one of the motivators for me without a doubt. Because the act of being physically active, moving your body even for as as few as like five minutes at a time can really send some great, uh, you know, feel good chemicals throughout your body. The, uh, any type of deep breathing can also help relax you and, and distress you. And that can be accomplished with physical activity, whether it’s walking or, um, lifting household items for weights. Um, but also even with, um, let’s say stretching or yoga type of exercises, one of the reasons that I think I, I let you encourage, um, yoga or just any type of stretch or flexibility activity is because you tend to slow down, you tend to breathe deeply. And those things have a way of really helping calm the body and the mind and another benefit of doing specifically, let’s say yoga type of activity is that there’s typically a balance challenge involved so you get a little bit of strength, a little bit of flexibility, you get some deep breathing and you get to de stress all at the same time. So if anybody is, is kind of thinking about madness, I don’t know if I feel up to a vigorous workout, but stretching might feel kind of good. It might be kind of nice. I would highly recommend doing that every single day even even if only for five minutes.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Let’s take a quick sponsor break, but stay tuned to from Sabrina Jo about muscle atrophy during a layoff using yoga, web resources and more. Great advice. Please stay tuned. Hey, it’s Paul. I want to take a quick moment and tell you about our sponsors today and we’ll be right back with Sabrina.
Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
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Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
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Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
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Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
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Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
And, and, and I liked what you have to say about, about not stressing out about some of these things because we could really, you know, we can, we can stress out about, about the amount of exercise that we’re getting. Perhaps losing muscle bulk for example. But muscle atrophy is, is important in all of this too. And so the stretching can come from yoga. It can come from some of these videos.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Well, you know, I, I’m glad you mentioned the ACE website because what is going to let everyone know, um, is that on the ACE website@acefitness.org we have something called an exercise database and library. And it’s, it’s, you know, it’s free for anyone, but if you come on there, you’ll see hundreds of different movements and exercises that you can put together in a workout. Um, if you’d like, or we’ve got some predesigned workouts for you that you can look at and some require just your body weight alone or maybe some small equipment. But what I like about this is that there are so many exercises and on here that are actually explained with descriptions and actual pictures as well. Um, and some, even some little video images. But what I like about this is that you really could take each day and pick, Oh, let’s say five different exercises and, and do those exercise, uh, exercises a different set every day for, I’d say several weeks and never get bored.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
And so then you don’t have to really rely on someone telling you to do this unless that’s your jam. Which of course that’s fine, but you could also kind of get creative and really just create, build your own workout yourself. And so one of the things that I’ve been doing and, and, and your audience hopefully will, will find interesting. I know I do. I, I do what I call five for five. And so I just pick five movements and the ACE fitness.org, the exercise library is a great place to do this, but it couldn’t be, it could be any exercises that you enjoy, but I pick five movements and then I do them one minute each. So it’s basically five exercises for five minutes and I just just rotate through the exercises and it’s a, it’s a great five minute burst of activity, um, energy throughout the day.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
And it really, you know, since you’re home, it’s not like you need to change clothes or that you can’t just do it right there in your living room or your, your office. So, um, that’s kind of something that I’ve been doing because for me, I’ve found that I enjoy going outdoors and walking a lot cause it helps break up the day. And it’s nice to get some outdoor time and breathe the fresh air. Um, but um, for some reason just I’m less motivated to just, uh, whip out like 30 minutes or 45 minute long strength routine. So I’m much more likely I found if I do these little bits, these little segments. So this five for five thing, um, five minutes of strength really, uh, has been working for me. So if you, if anyone wants to try that, I highly recommend it and I can tell you the things that I’ve been, the five exercises I did today.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
If you want to hear it, I’d love it. So remember, so I just do a, basically just set a timer or just watch my stopwatch and I do one minute, I don’t even count reps. I just do one minute, um, of each of these five exercises. So I started with a countertop pushup, then I went to a chair set. Basically I’d just stand up and sit down from a chair. So it’s some version of a squat. Then I do a bent over row and you can use hand weights, dumbbells or um, laundry detergent, which is what I used today. Great. Awesome.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Yeah, there you go. Um, then I did, uh, an alternating sidelines where I just kinda stepped side to side and you know, went as low as I was comfortable going and that was it. And then I kinda finished it with the knee tuck. So I was sitting in a chair and I leaned back just a little bit and pulled my knees up to my chest and then straighten my legs. So I did five different movements and I got a whole body workout and it took five minutes. And if I wanted to, I could repeat that several times throughout the day or even just right there. Of course I would take longer than five minutes, but I found that if I have something that’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of time, uh, for me, I’m more likely to do it. And I hope, hopefully that’s helpful.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Oh my gosh, that’s wonderful. I love that because that’s just a great at home exercise routine and it’s upper body and lower body, heart, lung. It’s just really, it just is very complete. That, that’s awesome. And, and as I say, I, uh, we’re going to put up a link to where people can find some of these resources on the ACE website. ACE fitness.org is the, is the actual website, but we’ll put up a link specifically to these resources and we, we so appreciate all your, um, thoughtfulness around this and, and uh, all the time that you give us your, you’re such a generous person. I guess. I wanna I just want to give you the opportunity to maybe tell our audience what, what, what we can kind of expect perhaps from some of the gyms, uh, you know, throughout the U S what, what’s ACEs perspective on kind of what this, what this might look like over the course of the next month. How were, how were some of these gym owners fairing and, uh, and, and what can we do as a, as members and, but as, as exercise, um, you know, fans literally exercisers ourselves. What could we do to help?
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Wow, great question. I wish I had all the answers. Uh, I think one of the biggest struggles right now is that because of the, uh, shelter in place orders, um, and the orders, but also just, you know, reluctance to go back into public spaces and crowded together even when they are reopened where we’re, we’re the industry is really struggling with how we’re going to approach that and make the, the members and the clients safe. And I think everyone, that’s everyone’s top most concerned. And so there are the guidelines from the CDC where, you know, the sanitation and the, the, the physical distancing, the six feet apart and all that. And, and I do believe that when we do get to reopening phases, gyms will take those measures into account and they will, um, abide by those measures very strictly. I think that’s what we’re going to see as things start to reopen.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
And it’s really just going to be a matter of the client and the membership feeling comfortable going back in. And that’s really a decision that, you know, no one can make for you. You just have to, uh, you have to decide what you feel comfortable doing. And so I can kind of envision, envision a situation where I, there, there could be people still visiting gyms, but at a much reduced capacity to keep that physical distancing space appropriate. Then I can also see whether it’s exercise professionals independently or even the businesses that the gyms and facilities offering more of an extension of their online services. So I think it could be helpful if we, you know, if you have the wherewithal and the means to continue to support your, uh, gyms or exercise professionals, if they’re providing services that are a value to you, whether that means, you know, the, the streaming or the online services or if they have those, those strict, uh, physical distancing and sanitation measures in place. But I just don’t think we’re going to know until we get more into those phases, the reopening phases, how, how it’s going to go. And I wish I had more to say on that. I just think a lot of that remains
Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
well, we absolutely appreciate your thoughts on this. And of course we, our audience just loves hearing from you. So it’s an important topic, you know, the more that we can become literate about our physical activity, the better. These are tough times. It’s, it’s almost crucial to get some exercise to distress, but sometimes that causes stress. All of this is very complicated, but you, you always help us so much sore through it. So as reinjured thank you for your time, we’re going to revisit this of course with you, but hope you and your family are doing well and we’re thinking of you and we absolutely value what, what you have to share with us. So thank you.
Sabrena Jo, American Council on Exercise, ACE:
Thanks so much Paul. Yeah, we were all fine and it’s great to hear from you and I’m glad you’re healthy and well
Paul Vogelzang, Not Old Better Show ::
my thanks always disagreed. And Joe, the ACE director of science and research content for joining us today. Of course, my thanks to send basket and True Botanicals for sponsoring the show. Remember, please support our sponsors by checking out their products, which you can do with full discounts right from our show notes. So please check those out and to you, my wonderful Natalie. Better show audience. Thank you for your time. Please keep your emails coming to me with show ideas, suggestions coming at paul@notold-better.com practice smart, social distancing. Be safe.
Let’s talk about better. The Not Old Better Show. Thanks everybody.