Having to stay home except for necessary trips to buy groceries, medications and doctors’ visits is putting great emotional and physical strain on all of us. All of my clients have voiced various negative states of mind and painful emotions: boredom, fear, helplessness, anger, hopelessness, even despair and shame. The inability to get regular physical activity, because of the closing of parks, gyms, tennis courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, etc., has increased the sense of malaise. I myself previously had a routine of working out at a gym two or three times a week and playing table tennis three times a week. These activities helped me stay fit and relatively sickness-free. And I always felt physically and psychologically invigorated after every one of these activities. I also think they helped keep me cognitively sharp.

Not being able to do these activities had resulted in my feeling a bit logy, with decreased energy, difficulty sleeping and, because I was trying to soothe myself with food, some unwanted weight game. So I decided to attempt to reproduce my full body workshop I had developed at my gym by buying some supplies at a sporting goods store. This store does not allow one to enter it but to order items online and to pick them up at the curb or have them delivered. I had them delivered.

Since I started doing a workout every other day, my general mood and sense of well-being has improved immensely In addition to using the equipment I bought for weight training, which in additon to aerobic exercise, is essential, I also have an old stationary bicycle and a rowing machine I use for aerobic exercise for my heart and lungs. I also make use of a city park nearby that I walk in whenever the weather is nice. One activity I neglected to mention when I first posted this is the importance of stretching after doing the aerobic and strength work. I suggest consulting the internet for stretching programs.

I have written in previous blogs about the virtues of regular exercise. I encourage all the readers of this bog posting to create their own exercise routine if they haven’t developed one in the past in a gym or from a DVD program. This is even more important now to maintain both physical, cognitive and emotional health. I don’t have any scientific evidence to support this but, if any readers of this are unfortunate to get the virus, I would think the chance for survival would be increased with regular physical exercise.

I searched the internet for exercise programs for those readers who have not previously developed their own. I found this one that is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CE4ijWlQ18. Note that this regimen is suitable to non-seniors. The company, HasFit, also has numerous exercise apps that one can obtain for their use on their Phones or Android phones.