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 Mariama Fofana
Only two weeks into quarantine, and I was in dire need of social interaction. I am an extreme extrovert and usually thrive off of energy from being around other people. I knew I needed to find a hobby quickly. Like most people I was frantically searching the internet for “things to do in quarantine.” I tried several different activities, including baking, learning to play the guitar and binge-watching Netflix. But nothing ever stuck.
Here I was alone in my apartment. My roommate moved back home, and I didn’t want to put my high-risk family members in danger, so I stayed alone. This was strange for me because there was never really a time in my life when I have been by myself. Then my job as a coach at Rebounders Gymnastics in Timonium, Maryland, ended. At that point I had no idea what to do with myself.
One day my co-worker, EC, who is a yoga instructor, sent me a video of a beginner at-home yoga routine she created herself. I followed along with her step by step and found it difficult to keep up as some of the poses were uncomfortable. My legs kept stumbling and I couldn’t find my center of balance. The routine required holding positions that challenged muscles in my legs and arms that haven’t been used since being in quarantine. I thought it would be a breeze because I am naturally flexible from doing gymnastics and cheerleading most of my life, but that day I found out it takes more than flexibility to do yoga.
I decided to continue doing yoga to redeem myself and prove that I could do it. I went to Walmart and bought a yoga mat the very next day. I began slowly by doing yoga for 10 to 15 minutes following along to YouTube videos either right when I woke up or before I went to bed. This helped me get energized for the start of my day and would relax me before bed. I would go on YouTube and look for videos with all types of people doing yoga. I didn’t want to stick with just one instructor to ensure I found the one I am most comfortable with. By doing that I was able to learn different techniques from multiple sources. Some of my favorites are the extended triangle pose, downward facing dog, headstand and corpse pose.
Consistently doing yoga had me using and stretching out muscles that have not been used in a long time. Once I realized I liked doing yoga mainly at night, I began to notice the effects yoga had on me when I would quickly fall asleep after a routine. It is usually very hard for me to go to sleep because of my ADHD. My brain is always active, which makes it difficult to turn it off and relax. When I do yoga, I am able to focus on my body and movement, which has given me a better sense of awareness.
Yoga has helped me become physically stronger by using my own body weight as resistance and mentally stronger as I am able to better control and focus my own thoughts. Making yoga a part of my daily routine is a way I am able to distract myself for a moment with all of the uncertainty in the world at this time.
Two weeks into making yoga a part of my nightly routine, I became more comfortable and created an environment that brought me peace. I began by lighting candles and incense all around my room, turning the lights off and placing my yoga mat in front of my body mirror so I could see my movements. I streamed YouTube on my TV. This specific video started out with breathing exercises before jumping into the routine. It was explained the purpose of that was to control your breathing while holding positions. I understood the importance because I noticed that as I would do a pose, I would be focused on the movement itself that I forget to breathe. I inhaled through my nose and exhaled slowly out of my mouth for one complete minute. When the routine began, and we entered out first pose, I watched myself to fix my body alignment making sure I am doing it correctly. Looking at my reflection as I do yoga allowed me to view my body in different angles which forced me to appreciate my body type. Most times I do not like looking at myself in the mirror because I am my harshest judge. Practicing yoga this way gave me more self-confidence.
During quarantine, it was difficult for me to not be anxious, anticipating the worst from the pandemic. Yoga became my outlet. Not only has it helped me with self-confidence, it has helped me be comfortable with being by myself. I now enjoy my own company and feel less like I have to be out in a social setting to have a good time.
By Devon Douglas
With gyms closed across the country, at-home exercising became an alternative activity for many people. Towson University student Sophia Lopez is one of them.
“The past year has been difficult for everyone,” Lopez said. “We all need to find something to distract us from all the stress and anxiety. For me it’s exercising. I think everyone should workout, especially now because it helps you feel productive and forget about everything. I want people to feel normal again and working out could help with that.”
One month into the pandemic, Lopez took an interest in exercising. She had been working full time. But Chick-Fil-A reduced her shifts to twice a week, and she didn’t have much else to do besides schoolwork. So she decided to “glow up” by watching and following exercise tutorials.
With little knowledge of exercising, Lopez searched for hip and ab tutorials on YouTube and came across two channels dedicated to fitness, “Chloe Ting” and “CelaMarr.” She liked the instructors’ passion and their encouraging attitudes. Lopez, who has seasonal affective disorder, turned into an avid supporter of CelaMarr when she learned that she has the same diagnosis.
“Her videos are important to me because I gain strength from them,” Lopez said. “I paid attention to how she’s dealing with the pandemic while having the same disorder as me. She doesn’t let the disorder slow her down and she preaches about using the pandemic to better yourself. I took that as motivation.”
Lopez was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, also known as seasonal depression or SAD, when she was 17 years old. Because of it she experiences depression and social withdraw during the winter and fall months. She’s often not motivated to leave her room during these seasons.
“I usually sulk in my room or dorm during the fall and winter months but this year because of the pandemic I wanted to change that,” Lopez said. “I thought positively about the pandemic and saw it as an opportunity to improve myself.”
After watching dozens of workout tutorials on YouTube, Lopez came up with the perfect routine. Her routine involves using a FILA resistance band to do three sets of 10 reps for leg lifts, squats and fire hydrants, which looks like a dog peeing. All of this takes about an hour.
“I use my bed to balance my legs when I do some of my hip exercises and I slowly squat down on my desk chair to correct my form,” Lopez said. “The early morning sun resting on my white bedroom walls and the silence in the room calms me down. I enjoy exercising alone because it gives me a chance to breathe and take in everything.”
Lopez chose to follow CelaMarr’s and Chloe Ting’s hip and ab exercise tutorials four times a week after she gained weight from eating a lot of food last winter and fall.
“Exercising my abs sheds the fat off my stomach and my back, and the hip exercises tone my lower body,” she said. “Exercising is self-care, and that’s the best treatment to help with my disorder.”
While exercising, she usually wears black Nike leggings and a sports bra from either Pink or Nike. Some days it’s extremely difficult for her to stay motivated when her disorder randomly kicks into high gear. When this happens, she wants to stay in bed. To stay motivated, Lopez listens to Spotify’s “Hi -Hop Workout Playlist” because her favorite song “Dior” by Pop Smoke is in it.
“During a workout I’m usually thinking about how much I want to quit but then I think about CelaMarr’s ability to push through her workouts while having SAD and during the pandemic,” Lopez said. “That’s when I’ll suck it up and finish my workout.”
Following the YouTube tutorials has given Lopez encouragement, something to work towards and shown her that she can work through anything that life throws at her whether it’s a pandemic or a disorder.
“After working out I feel like I feel like I’m going to pass out and I get cramps everywhere,” Lopez said. “However, I also feel like a weight has been lifted off me. Working out has given me the goal of becoming healthy and treating my disorder while in the pandemic. I’ve lost over 15 pounds and now I don’t feel as guilty when I eat unhealthy foods.”
Throughout the pandemic, Lopez has learned she is stronger than she thought. Her constant battle with SAD has slowly declined because CelaMarr and Chloe Ting’s motivational videos. They taught her to not let anything slow her down.
“Normalcy is hard to experience right now,” Lopez said. “Everyone’s going through similar situations right now and feeling the same emotions. I exercise because it is one of the few normal things left and has gotten me through these tough times and my SAD. It’s hard to feel accomplished when you’re just staying in the house all day. I feel productive and like I accomplished something. I urge others to stay productive and find something that makes them happy. That’s when they’ll realize they’re stronger than they think.”
By Shelby Stack
Sami Chenoweth, a fifth-year women’s lacrosse player at Towson University, is among the best defenders in the nation. She was looking forward to finishing her senior year strong until COVID-19 cut the season short on March 12 after just six games. After agreeing to take a fifth year, Chenoweth felt like it was time to make a serious change. She felt like she was not physically where she wanted to be, and that was holding her back.
“When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw,” Chenoweth said.
Fast forward to almost a year later, and Chenoweth is down 30 pounds from her weight in March 2020. She’s in the best shape of her life.
“If you would have told me before the pandemic I would be where I am I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said.
Toward the end of March 2020, Chenoweth decided she was going to focus on working out to put her in the best position to return for her fifth year of eligibility, and finish what she set out to do four years earlier: win a conference championship and repeat as an All-American for the third year in a row. High-intensity interval training became something she really enjoyed — it helped get her through a tough year.
“I just fell in love with pushing my body to the limits in a variety of exercises and with nutrition, and it became a part of my lifestyle,” she said.
Chenoweth started with focusing on body weight high intensity interval training. Think mountain climbers, burpees, high knees, squats, squat jumps, jumping rope, etc. Her routine involves watching YouTube videos from fitness accounts until she eventually felt confident enough to start developing her own workouts. She used a light blue workout set from Gym Shark, her Asics black sneakers, her wireless beats and some EDM to pump her up for a good work out.
Right now her favorite song is “5 More Hours” by Deorro and Chris Brown. Every morning is the same routine. Wake up, fuel with raspberries and an English muffin with cream cheese and spinach, shake up her pre-workout supplement and get at least a hour-long or high calorie workout in. This has been the same routine she has been able to make huge strides with for 11 months now.
This didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t come easy.
“I followed all these people on Instagram, and it looked so easy, and I want a flat stomach and to be in shape,” Chenoweth said.
Her worst moment happened in the middle of a workout. She was ready to give up because she felt like there was no progress being made after looking in the mirror. This mirror is in a makeshift home gym, made from what was available. This home gym triples as a home gym, drum room and storage space. There is a blue carpet so a mat is needed, a rack made out of wood and any weight you could imagine from barbells to dumb bells to plates. Standing there in front of the mirror, she had to remind herself why she was doing it and what it takes. From then on, she decided that to visualize her progress she would take a picture of herself every time she lost a pound until she hit her target weight. For her this was the turning point, and using this practice and remembering her motivation for doing it made her successful.
“Find your motivation, whatever that may be, and use that to push you to meet your goals, whatever they may be,” Chenoweth said.
She has become more motivated over the course of the pandemic. On the couch at her off-campus home, her roommates always made fun of her because there was a permanent indent and crumbs in the couch cushion she sat on. Working out gave her a sense of purpose and something to look forward to. She was able to be creative and learn more about creating workouts for herself without a gym or anyone else pushing her but herself.
“It gave me something to focus on in such difficult times, especially when there is nothing else is in our control in the world right now,” she said. “I focused on the things I can control through working out.”
By Mikiya Ellis-Glunt
For the past four years, through rain, snow and sweltering heat, I have consistently gone to Burdick Hall, the gym on Towson University’s campus. Back in 2017, I made a commitment to myself that I wanted to lose at least 40 pounds through a consistent diet as well as exercise.
The gym was all I knew. It was my constant. When events occurred in my life that I had no control over, the one thing I did have control over was my fitness journey. I became acclimated to all the squat racks, kettle bells, the functional fitness zone where you could do anything from TRX-banded exercises to medicine ball slams and the lively environment that came with being surrounded by fellow fitness enthusiasts. After three years of hard work, I shed approximately 39 lbs and I had never felt so accomplished.
That all changed when I suddenly got uprooted from my routine and had to come back home to Prince George’s County in Maryland due to COVID-19 cases being on the rise.
Gyms closed all over the state, and there was nothing I could do because all the equipment I was used to, I did not have in my home.
I feared I would lose all the progress I had made over these past couple of years. I had no control over what was happening. I despised home workouts. One of the many reasons I loved going to the gym was because I felt inspired constantly to be better when I saw other individuals lifting heavy weights and pushing themselves to new heights. I did not feel as though I was pushing myself enough because working out in a room where my bed is also located made me think of how I’d rather relax instead.
Home workout equipment — from dumbbells to resistance bands to even jump ropes — sold out quickly at the start of the pandemic. I did not know what to do without the adequate equipment in my house.
As the months went by, I quickly realized that there would be no return to “normal” anytime soon and I knew I didn’t want all the hard work and dedication I had put into my fitness journey to go down the drain.
I desperately needed a routine.
I went on Amazon, ordered some of the very few resistance bands that were in stock and began my search for some guidance on social media. One morning in June, one of my best friends, Jocelyn, was also getting back into being active as well and knew I was struggling to grasp the concept of working out in a small space. She sent me one of the YouTube channels she had discovered, Heather Robertson, a fitness trainer based in Canada. At first glance I loved that she had a variety of workouts that required little to no equipment and the quality of her videos was impeccable.
Heather’s filming room was clean and had crisp white and cool tones for her background with not an overwhelming amount of equipment. Heather stuck out to me because she always made sure to include a warmup as well as cool down post-workout which reminded me of what I used to do myself at the gym. Due to it being one of the hottest summer’s I’ve experienced, I told myself that from that point forward every morning Monday through Friday while it was still a little cool outside, I would wake up at least by 8 a.m. to complete my work out for the day to provide me with some structure again.
The first session I completed with Heather was a high-intensity interval training or HIIT workout that was 39 minutes long. HIIT workouts often consist of short moments of intense exercise followed by low intensity recovery stints. At the gym, I used to always do interval training on the treadmill which I loved because the workouts are shorter but you’re still receiving maximum benefit because you’re pushing yourself harder. I thought to myself, “OK, I’m used to workouts like this, this should be easy.” I quickly realized 10 minutes in that this workout would be no walk in the park. By the end of the workout transitioning into the cool down, my Nike Pros were drenched in sweat and my Apple Watch said I burned 400 calories in just 39 minutes. To say I was impressed by the push I was provided would be an understatement.
One week turned into two weeks, then a month. I noticed my endurance levels were starting to rise again and I was being pushed in new ways I never knew existed. In the beginning, I would usually be gassed halfway through the video’s because one thing about Heather, her rest times were not long because she wanted to keep your heart rate up. I knew my endurance reached a new level when I made it through a nearly 50-minute video without needing to pause the video and I kept up with Heather.
I felt so good about myself and I knew that hard work and dedication got me to this point. Lockdown restrictions started to lift, and gyms were starting to reopen in my county. Being that I work in a gym when I’m home, I knew that I would finally be able to go back to my normal routine but for some reason I wanted Heather’s workouts still in my regimen. I thought to myself how nothing is “normal” anymore. New routines can also help to prevent plateauing so I decided that I could alternate between my old gym routine and Heather’s videos on the days I wanted to work out from home or need an extra push.
One night sitting on my back deck in August, while listening to music and drinking a chilled glass of Riesling, I noticed on social media a lot of individuals were dealing with this same recurring feeling of helplessness when it came to their fitness journey. They, too, felt like they weren’t being proactive. I knew what they were going through. The difference was this time around I actually wanted to do these workouts and did not feel pressured to be like anyone else. After all we’re in a pandemic and you should give yourself grace, kindness and being gentle with your physical as well as mental health. I love my body and the way it has taken care of me through one of the hardest time periods to stay healthy. I should never take that for granted.
By Lia Johnson
After failed weight-loss attempts, expired gym memberships and detox teas, I convinced myself that my weight was out of my control and a part of my genetics. My weight always fluctuated from 170 to 180 pounds. It took a pandemic and buying an Apple Watch in July to motivate myself to start working out again.
I had more free time while being at home. I didn’t have to commute to Towson University for school or to Washington, D.C., for my internship anymore. The excuse of not having enough time to work out in my everyday schedule was no longer valid. I decided I would try to stay consistent with creating a new lifestyle. I wanted to drop a few pounds to debut my new body for my birthday in October.
July 6 is the date I set for myself to restart my fitness journey. My mom also agreed that it was time for a household lifestyle change. We both wanted to change our lifestyle by working out and incorporating a no-carb diet into our meals. At least four or five days out of the first week, around 4 p.m., my mom and I would open the YouTube application on our smart TV and follow along with Leslie Sansone, a group fitness instructor who does the “walk a mile in 20 minutes” videos. Videos consisted of upbeat instrumental music, an instructor and fitness class walking in place with lateral movements, raising arms, etc.
After the first week, I realized I couldn’t burn 500 calories in the walk videos, according to my Apple Watch. I needed a workout routine that was a little more fast-paced. I researched high-intensity interval training exercises – exercises that keep your heart rate up. I saw YouTube instructor Chloe Ting’s two-week abs shred challenge. I was intimidated to start this challenge by myself. I moved my workouts outside to the patio deck to enjoy the summer weather. I’d bring my yoga mat, two cold bottles of water and my iPad to follow along with the videos outside. Ting’s fitness program assigned two to four videos ranging from 10 to 15 minutes each day. Her videos consisted of upbeat pop songs, a 30-45 second timer for the exercises and a completion status bar. My workout routine started around 3 p.m. and would end in 45 minutes or so. Exercises like planks, plank jacks, burpees high knees, and mountain climbers left me drenched in sweat.
I repeated Ting’s fitness program for about two months. I bought fitness accessories to maintain my motivation as the weeks went by. Sweat belts. Workout gloves. New watch bands. Workout clothes. Jump ropes. Dumbbells. I aimed to workout at least three to four times a week. I tracked my progress with pictures, videos and circumference measurements of my waist, hips, arms and thighs. After almost every workout, I took a picture or video to show my friends that I was consistent. Every month, I’d create a four-grid layout with my heaviest to lightest pictures from left to right to show my transforming body. My eating habits changed. I started eating market salads from Chick-fil-A about three times a week. I also became a fan of salmon.
I mostly worked out by myself. But my boyfriend, Edwin, joined me to work out on what felt like the hottest day of the summer. It was a Tuesday in August; I went to his house to workout. We set up a chair outside to put my iPad on to follow along with Ting’s day three of the fitness program. Day three consists of four videos that target abs, legs, full body and arms. We rolled our yoga mats out on the hot concrete and started the first video. The sun was beaming directly over us. The direct sun added an extra layer of heat as it was already humid that day. Edwin stopped to take quick breaks during the exercise sets while I continued to finish the sets. We completed two videos outside and were exhausted from the heat. We sat in the shade for five minutes to relax. We decided to go back inside, and I finished the remaining two videos while Edwin played his video game of choice, Call of Duty.
I’m thankful for Ting’s videos. Her motivating words and catchphrase “let’s smash it!” at the beginning of the videos and throughout helped get through the workouts. Ting’s YouTube community’s videos also helped me stay focused. People shared their experiences while doing her challenges and showed their before and after body results. It helped me know I wasn’t alone. Staying determined and consistent with fitness helped me lose 35 pounds during the pandemic. The pandemic gave me more time to focus on my health and to stop making excuses. Fitness helped me with confidence. Fitness helped me drop four inches off my waist. Fitness helped me become stronger both mentally and physically.