For those used to accessing fitness facilities and personal trainers as part of their fitness routines, adapting those routines while being stuck at home can be a challenge.

According to David Tudor, a personal trainer with DAT Fitness in Great Bend, there are a lot more ways than people may realize to workout at home. 

First, he suggested, a lot of common items many people already have around their home are good for weight workouts. Bulk condiment bottles, gallon water and milk jugs, paint cans and more can operate as weights if you do not have any at home. People can even strap full backpacks and book bags to their backs on walks or runs or fill a bucket with rocks to add an extra weight component, as well.

Tudor also suggested body weight exercises such as pushups, squats, wall sits, jumping jacks, mountain climbers and burpees.

And most of those things, he said, do not take much space and are easily done at home.

“(All you need is) a ten by ten room or (you can) just put the TV on,” he said. “If you have an area rug or something, you can do a full body workout.”

On nice days, front and back yards can also function as good workout spaces.

One key, he said, is making sure you add variety to your workouts. Tudor usually recommends to the clients he works with to work focus on different muscle groups on different days. 

Finding the equipment and the space to do the workouts is only one part of the challenge of maintaining a fitness routine at home, though. Staying motivated can be a challenge, as well.

Carla Jecha, a personal trainer who normally operates Inspire Fitness in Great Bend, said maintaining accountability is a large part of that equation, one that can be more difficult when having to remain at home.

“Some people have to have someone else to be accountable to, and without the accountability, it’s hard for a lot of us,” she said.

One good way to maintain accountability, Jecha said, is to find a friend who shares the same fitness goals and find common activities that you can do together virtually. She said social media can be a good resource in this regard, especially for individuals who struggle with self-motivation when it comes to their fitness routines. Though she is not currently providing training services virtually, Jecha said staying connected virtually with her normal clients has helped keep both herself and her clients motivated.

Something else Jecha recommends for maintaining motivation to exercise is keeping your fitness schedule as consistent as possible with what you were doing before. Whenever possible, maintain whatever times you had previously blocked out for your fitness routine, adapting it to what you are able to do at home.

For example she said, “if you were going to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m., stay on that routine.”

Even if you have the time and the equipment set aside, though, staying on track with your personal fitness goals can still be tough when someone is used to the guided routines available at fitness facilities and with personal trainers.

Both Jecha and Tudor advised there are a wealth of workout routines and resources online, but even that is changing, Tudor said.

Many personal trainers who are used to working with their clients face-to-face to create personalized workout routines are having to adapt and find new ways to serve their clients.

One way many trainers, including Tudor, are doing that is to provide workout routines online as a means to connect with their normal clientele.

Locally, several trainers including Tudor have created or utilized online platforms such as the Facebook group GB Fit, through which local trainers are providing different live-streamed guided workout routines for a fee. It is something he encourages as a means of supporting local businesses who are otherwise unable to interact with their clientele at this time. He said they are also working on ways to eventually provide one-on-one personal training sessions through different online platforms.

However you do it, though, both Jecha and Tudor advised it is crucial to maintain positive exercise and lifestyle habits during this time as a means of maintaining good physical, mental, and emotional health.

“Physical activity helps reduce stress and build endorphins. It helps with depression when we’re confined,” he said. 

Being at home can also be an opportunity to create more positive eating habits, since dining out is less accessible and more people are cooking at home more by necessity.

Jecha said even though staying healthy may feel more difficult, ultimately it’s up to you to make positive choices.

“It’s been a difficult time for everyone,” she said, but you need to, “just get out there and do it.”