Editor’s note: What activities and practices have gotten us through the pandemic? What have we learned about ourselves during this dismal time? Baltimore Watchdog reporters wrote personal essays and interviewed people on this topic. Here’s what they found.
By Cyan Thomas
Sean Barclay gets energized by socializing, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made that difficult for him. He can’t go out and party like he used to, so he found the next best thing to energize him: weightlifting.
Barclay, who goes by his middle name Nicolai, is a Moldovan-American political science major at Towson University. Pre-pandemic, he was not very gym inclined.
“I don’t really know why I wasn’t that interested in the gym at that point,” Barclay said. “I guess I just felt like there’d always be that time where I would really start grinding, but that wasn’t the time.”
He had various reasons for skipping the exercise. He had homework, or he felt tired or he chose a social event over the gym.
Then COVID-19 struck. Barclay went back to his home state of New York but moved to Connecticut shortly thereafter.
“In March, I was thinking the pandemic wasn’t going to be a long-term thing,” Barclay said. “I was fully expecting to be back at Towson with my friends come August.”
But May came around, and the virus showed no signs of slowing down. At that point, Barclay’s mood began to take a turn for the worst because of the isolation.
“I did a lot of sleeping in those early months because my body was shutting down,” Barclay said. “It’s been hard on me, and I got really depressed. It made me tired and lazy. There were several days in a row where I stopped eating and never even got out of bed.”
Then, he got motivated. Now was the time to start grinding, he told himself. Barclay started paying visits to his local Planet Fitness, seeking an opportunity to be more productive during an unproductive time.
At first, his inexperience threatened to derail his workout sessions. He went straight to 200-pound deadlifts, which turned out to be a big mistake.
“I almost killed myself,” Barclay said. “You know when you watch weightlifters on TV and they squat down, but they can’t get back up and they look like they’re about to have a stroke? That was me.”
His initial inability to lift heavy weights failed to stop him, but his mental fortitude was tested.
“In the beginning I was only going when I felt like it because sometimes it was still very hard for me to get out of bed,” Barclay said. “I had to get my mind right. There were times where I’d just sit in the locker room, staring off because I was spaced out.”
Then, as the months progressed and the virus spread, Barclay’s motivation skyrocketed – but not for the reason you may think.
“Around August, I started kicking it up a notch and going every day,” Barclay said. “The gym was my only escape. I felt trapped in my house and I wasn’t getting better, so I needed to fix it.”
Pre-pandemic, Barclay was not too concerned about his diet. Though he did often buy jugs of protein powder, he ate almost anything. His diet was drastically different by August.
He completely avoids candy and tries to cut out sugar as much as possible. Additionally, he follows a protein-heavy, low-calorie diet based in chicken and fish, which is a diet plan frequented by bodybuilders.
Thanks to his diet and routine, his body is beginning to change – and so is his mood.
“I’ve gained like 40 pounds,” Barclay said. “All muscle. I’m proud. I’m happy about it.”
Right now, Barclay’s workout routine focuses on bulking up with lifting and strength training. Soon, he wants to shift to weight loss to cut fat and achieve more defined muscles.
The pandemic steered Barclay to the gym. He’s in fantastic shape, but he has been left wondering if his gains were worth his losses.
“I’m going hard, but it really sucks,” Barclay said. “I miss my friends, I miss college, I miss the life. I’m in better shape than I ever was before, but I feel like I’ve lost a lot to get here.”
By Robert Sobus
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a mental and physical toll on everyone. Many of us stayed at home trying to find things to do during lockdowns. While others binged on Netflix, played video games and watched movies, Christopher Cobb put in time at his local gym.
A 2020 Towson University graduate, Cobb clearly recalls a lecture his health professor gave him on the way most children develop physically.
“I’ll never forget a professor telling us that boys and girls have a 90 percent chance of looking like their dad and mom, respectively, if they don’t take care of themselves,” Cobb said. “I immediately pictured my dad and thought, ‘I really can’t look like that when I am older.’”
Cobb’s father is overweight, and he did not want to end up the same.
Cobb starts his day before the sun makes its appearance. It’s 5 a.m. The house is silent while his mom is still in bed. He walks to the kitchen. He cracks an egg onto a slotted spoon over a bowl. While the egg white splashes into the bowl, he discards the yolks into the trash. The egg whites provide protein that will help support muscle growth. He repeats this process two more times. He then microwaves the egg whites for 60 seconds before eating. The egg whites are the only thing he will eat until after his workout.
After breakfast, Cobb gets in his 2017 black Dodge Charger and makes the drive to Onelife Fitness in Frederick, Maryland. The 15-minute drive is not too long of a trip to stop him from focusing on his physical health.
Before Cobb makes his entry into Onelife Fitness he puts on his black Under Armour face mask. In the gym he is greeted by staff and members who like himself have their nose and mouth covered with a face mask. The mask can be uncomfortable, but it’s a proven way to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in such an enclosed space.
“There were times I had a hard time breathing through one and had to take a break from exercising,” Cobb said. “I was not going to let a face mask stop me from exercising.”
The gym has many guidelines in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The gym can become crowded at times so in between each piece of equipment is an empty space to ensure social distancing is being followed. Cobb makes sure to wipe down each piece of gym equipment before use. Disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the gym.
Before starting his workout, Cobb turns on Apple Music from his iPhone 11. He likes having music on a random shuffle, and he mostly listens to hip hop during his session. He starts his routine focusing on his biceps with barbells. Cobb does preacher curls, hammer curls and concentration curls. He performs three sets of 15 reps.
After Cobb is done using the free weights, he shifts his attention to the stationary machines that help him focus on all the major muscle groups. Using the stationary machines have an added benefit of social distancing since they are spread out. He finds himself more ambitious when it comes to getting on the stationary equipment as the wait can sometimes feel like a lifetime.
“I follow the rules but am not going to wait for someone else to move or else I’d be there all day,” Cobb said. “We are all wearing a mask, so I feel there is nothing to be too concerned about.”
Cobb finishes his routine by getting in some cardio. Every other treadmill and stationary bike are marked “do not use” to allow members of the gym to feel safe while working up a sweat. Cobb wipes off a treadmill before getting in 30 minutes of walking and running. He keeps his attention to the TVs in front of him that often show the news. He sees COVID-19 pandemic updates and wonders if he would be at the gym if the pandemic never occurred. After the run Cobb wipes down the treadmill with a disinfectant wipe, applies on hand sanitizer and makes his way out the gym.
Working out has not only helped Cobb become a more active person, it has also helped him to become more disciplined and puts his mind at ease while the world is facing a pandemic.
“Exercising has made me mentally healthy,” Cobb said. “I work on the things that I can change and accept the things I can’t. The regime puts me at ease. I work in a grocery store so I’m constantly touching after people all day. Being afraid of going to the gym in my opinion is worse than catching COVID.
By Jordan Schwartzberg
I never thought I had time to work out. I was always waking up around 10 a.m. and finishing my work around 6 p.m. It was the routine I had gotten myself into, and going to the gym wasn’t part of it. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, that all changed.
My roommate, Avi Strauss, a 21-year-old Towson University student, knocked on my door on Dec. 1 and told me he was on a mission to get me to start lifting. Since then, I have been lifting every day and haven’t looked back.
One day stands out as my favorite lift. I awoke at 8:30 a.m. to the sound of my alarm, a loud ringing that is twice as annoying as a fire alarm. I went straight to the bathroom, got ready and prepared my fruit-punch flavored pre-workout drink. “Chest and triceps,” I said to myself. “My favorite day of the week!” I grabbed my car keys, hopped in my White Toyota Corolla and headed to my friend Brian Goldschmidt’s place off Burke Avenue.
Once I arrived, I walked over to the kitchen table, sat down and out came Goldschmidt, a junior at Towson University.
“Red,” as his friends call him, due to his ginger-colored hair, was drinking his pre-workout energy drink.
After talking about our lives, homework and school like we always did before our workout, we got up, walked to the right, hustled down the wooded staircase of their three-floor home, hooked a right into the laundry room and there it was: an at-home gym.
It wasn’t much, but it was a free gym to use during COVID-19. A bench press, a Total Gym machine, dumbbells and a pull-up bar. On the walls were your typical college student decorations: a poster of Kate Upton from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, an American flag, a flag reading out “Full Send” and maybe the most motivating poster, a photo of a cheese steak from Sheetz.
After stretching with arm circles, pulling my elbow over my head and getting my wrists loose, I approached the bench.
I started at 100 pounds this day — most other days it was 75. The pre-workout must have had me antsy. I cleared the weight like it was nothing. Next, 115 eight times, which was just as easy.
I looked at Red and told him what was about to happen. I was about to attempt to hit my target goal of one plate on each side (135 pounds total). I headed to the bench and cracked my neck to loosen up.
My fingers latched onto the bar and I arched my back with my heels firmly on the floor. I looked at Red and asked if he was ready to spot. He said yes. I took the bar off the rack, brought it down to my chest and slowly pushed up. I breathed and breathed as much as I could and my arms locked. The bar went over my chest and back on the rack. I had hit 135. I was able to hit my target goal and shouted “Hell yes!” as Brian cheered me on.
I continue to lift to this day and now have a new goal of being able to hit 185 by summer.
Working out not only has allowed me to get rid of all of my stress, but it also provides an escape from reality. No matter what activity I end up doing, when my fingers wrap around the bars I forget about the world outside. The only thing that matters is that next set. Working out contributes to the big theme that many of us need to keep telling ourselves. Keep looking forward.
By Jade Fadrowski
Working out was never on the top of my priority list. I felt oddly uncomfortable running in front of people, and I didn’t want to get sweaty. Throughout school I used to dread P.E. I was the girl picking grass and dandelions when I should have been participating.
I would go as far as to pretend to be sick to get out of running the mile (sad, I know).
I’ve worked at the YMCA in Stay & Play for two years watching people’s kids while they workout. Before the pandemic, I worked out here and there. I usually just did it solely to socialize. I would go on the treadmill for 30 minutes to an hour and call it a day. Now I work out almost every day, and if I don’t I notice a complete difference in my mood. If someone before the pandemic told me I would love to work out I would have rolled my eyes.
Almost every day I wake up around 6 a.m. — sometimes ready to take on the day and other times wanting nothing more than to stay under the covers. I eventually get up and go through the motions. I get dressed, throw my hair in a high ponytail or bun that slightly resembles Alfalfa and search around the house for socks because somehow they always disappear. I have a caffeine-free pre-workout drink. I really should say chug because it’s chalky and disgusting. It’s supposed to taste like mangos… believe me it doesn’t. I think I would have to be sent to the hospital if I took one with caffeine considering my eyes twitch after one cup of coffee.
I meet my friend Brittany at the YMCA’s fitness center around 7:45 a.m. and we workout for about an hour and a half. She’s been working out for years so sometimes I feel like she’s my personal trainer. We do 10-20 minutes of cardio. I usually go on the treadmill while she goes on the Stairmaster. I set the incline to 15 with a speed of 3.0. I assume most people listen to music while they workout but I’m the weirdo who watches Oprah and Dr. Phil clips on YouTube. Depending on what exercises we’re doing that day we will lay out her emerald green colored yoga mat in the back corner of the gym and grab weights or just workout using the machines. We alternate between upper body and legs.
Brittany and I work out but we’re also having in-depth conversations about our families and guys we like. We joke that it’s our morning therapy sessions. It can be hard to hear each other through our masks so we have to constantly ask each other to speak up.
The gym allows me to put my gift of gab to good use and gives me a rush of endorphins. During this time, I’ve been stuck in the house like everyone else. I’m not going out or meeting new people. Interacting with classmates is not the same via Zoom as it is in person. I’ve always been an anxious person and this pandemic has only amplified my anxiety. But after I work out I always feel much better mentally. I walk away feeling less consumed by my thoughts and in a better mood. Whenever I find a new exercise online that I want to show Brittany I feel abnormally excited as if it were Christmas morning.
This pandemic has been mentally and emotionally taxing but exercising releases a lot of my stress. I think mentally I would be worse off if I wasn’t active during this time where everything is unknown. When COVID-19 began, I had all of this free time and had the mindset of it’s now or never. There were no more excuses. I needed a mental escape and exercising does that for me. If I didn’t have the YMCA to workout at I could just workout at home and that would be fine, but I would miss the social aspect. Being around others even if it’s six feet apart with masks on makes me feel less alone and makes me appreciate human interaction so much more.