Are you going crazy yet? Things are surreal with our leaders giving silly medical advice, perpetuating gender stereotypes and people shouting at our frontliners who are just trying to do their jobs as well. #StaySane people.
No doubt, things are surreal. Ministers telling us drinking 'warm water' can keep the virus at bay (it seems that he has since all but disappeared from the public eye, or is it just me not seeing him anymore?) and just yesterday we have our own ministry of women, family and community development perpetuating sexist stereotypes (and pulling poor old Doraemon into the mix).
I think reports of people losing their shit and shouting at the frontliners is a clear indication that things could get a whole lot worse. To me, this is a natural evolution from the Penangite cardiologist who was arguing for his right to go to the park and exercise during the early days of the MCO in my previous post.
For those of us fortunate enough to be able to work comfortably from home, spare a thought for those who are struggling to make ends meet, who will no doubt suffer even more in the months to come, even if the MCO is lifted on April 14th! In this regard, I try my best to share the positive stuff that's going on as well.
In times like this, if you are starting to feel helpless and despondent about the world. Pay attention to that. Do not ignore it. My close friends know I like to say, "Do what you can, when you can, if you can." Which basically means, if you can help yourself, then you will be able to help others too.
Exercise : Focusing on reps of 100, 200, 300, 400...
Something that has been keeping me sane, aside from being able to focus on work, is exercising. If you feel like you don't know what you're doing and now that you can't go to the gym or hire a personal trainer to help you - don't fret.
Remember the movie 300? I read that these guys would be working out everyday on location before, during and after a shoot day for the entire production period. They shot for about 60 days.
I also followed 'Spartacus' the series, in which most of the gladiator cast also followed strict workout regimes.
Which would mean, for roughly 5 to 6 days a week, over a period of 2 to 3 months. These guys would be doing at least 300 reps of intense exercise made up of all types of regimes : bodyweight, strength and resistance training etc. All this, on top of the physically gruelling 6 to 8 (maybe even 12) hour daily shooting for the series itself.
How can us regular folk do it?
Now try and break that down to something more reasonable to us regular folk. I challenged myself to workout at least 2 to 3 times a week. In the early days, circa 2008, I try to make sure I do at least 100 reps of relatively easy exercises. That progressed to 200 and 300 reps very quickly. Then I learnt to do more physically challenging exercises and mixed things up. To be honest, that's all I have been doing over the years. I believe everyone can do this.
If you are not trying to develop a physique and look of the actors who get paid to look the way that they do. And all you want is to be physically fit and healthy, even more important these days with the unseen enemy of the #Covid19 virus. Then really, this is all you need to do. And oh, be reasonable with your general diet too!
Here are some videos of routines that I've personally done that you can try and follow.
Around 300 reps - Bodyweight Only - Beginner
300 reps at home with an injured leg (I'm sure anyone can do this!)
If you want something slightly more challenging, here's something I've done recently with bodyweight and dumbbells, at home -
You can check out a whole other playlist of videos I've made myself at this link. Or check out these other channels I like to follow : Redefining Strength, Jeff Nippard's Technique Tuesday (more weights related stuff) and Michael Vasquez (quite challenging stuff but I like his routines).
Finally, #StayHome #StaySane, don't spread #FakeNews (subscribe to social media feeds from trusted sources : I've found Malaysiakini and Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia's Telegram to be quite reliable.