By Marti Feyerabend

As the COVID-19 pandemic made its way into our communities, everyday life began to come to a halt. In an effort to protect the vulnerable, businesses that were deemed non-essential closed and people have been ordered to shelter in place. As a result, many people are struggling to maintain their health and stay active.

If you are feeling this way, you are not alone. Many people have spoken up to express their frustration with being stuck inside almost all day.

“I’m used to alway having places to go, so now I feel really cooped up inside,” said SUNY Oswego Senior Mara Henson. “And now I don’t have a lot of motivation, I just want to lay in bed most of the day.”

For people like Henson, the change of routine has made it difficult to find the motivation to get up and move. Though a challenge at first, Henson and others are discovering new ways to be healthy and active while inside.

“I started using MyFitnessPal on my Apple Watch. I can track my calories and exercise with it so it keeps me in check. It will also remind me to move if I’ve been sitting or laying for a long time,” said Henson.

Though fitness apps like MyFinessPal are useful in motivating people to be active, there are still many others ways to get the body moving.

“I was very upset when quarantine started because the gym closed,” said Abby Feyerabend, a Sophomore Track and Field runner at SUNY Cortland.

“I’ve started to run outside instead. I’ve gotten used to it and I’ve actually started to enjoy it more. Not being able to go to the gym and being forced to run outside reminded me how much I enjoyed running outside. I like feeling the sunshine when I run, spending time in nature and waving at people I know.”

Health experts say that a steady increase in heart rate is one of the best ways to keep your body healthy.

“Anything you can do to get your heart rate up will be good for your heart, your health, your body. It can be easy to fall into a sedentary lifestyle when you’re stuck inside so it’s important to do something everyday that gets your body moving,” said SUNY Brockport Kinesiology and Physical Education Major Gordy Macdonald.

Fortunately for those who don’t want to go outside and run for our cardio, there are plenty of other ways to get the blood pumping inside.

“Body exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, squats and abs are good for maintaining strength. A lot of those exercises don’t require gym equipment,” said Macdonald.

Indoor workouts aren’t just limited to strength exercises.

“Stretching of any kind is good for keeping the body healthy. Especially if you’ve been sitting for a long time,” said Macdonald. “Or even just taking 10 minutes out of your day to walk up and down the stairs will get your heart rate up.”

Henson shared an unconventional way that she’s been staying active inside, “I’ve been doing home improvement projects and it’s surprisingly a really good workout. Painting my walls and moving things around was a good way to get myself moving.”

If your home doesn’t need any improvements or you don’t know where to start with your in-home workouts, there are plenty of resources to help you get active inside.

“There’s an app called ‘Home Workout’. It gives you a lot of exercises that you don’t need any equipment for. It’s designed for people at home with limited resources, said Macdonald.”

There are many more apps you can download that are similar to “Home Workout” and will give you an in detail list of ways to workout in your home. Many of these apps also offer nutritional advice and plans to keep you on track with your daily workouts.

For people who enjoy fitness classes and group exercise, YouTube has a variety of videos that resemble group exercise classes.

“I do workouts on YouTube, like HIIT. It’s a high intensity interval workout, I know a lot of students are doing them because they cant go to workout classes anymore,” said Henson.

And for anyone that is social media savvy, Instagram has a range of professional physical trainers that post daily at home workout routines that are easy to follow along to.

Though we are all stuck inside our homes, there are still ways to be active. So if you’re feeling motivated use this extra free time to get up, get moving, and try something new to stay active.