Fitness beats pandemic
Answers
Explanation:
It’s important to distinguish between physical activity and purposeful exercise. Exercise is typically intentional, something we plan to do and have a purpose in doing. It often involves repeating the same exercises while gradually increasing resistance or intensity. Physical activity, on the other hand, is simply anything that requires energy. This can be any moving around we do throughout the day and might include walking, gardening, riding a bicycle, etc.
While it may be difficult to find time during the pandemic for consistent intentional exercise, it is easier to find ways to be physically active. Physical activity alone won’t prepare us entirely for all the demands of the job, but it will hopefully give us the boost in mood Sibold’s research found.
Ways to Keep Active
While the benefits of prioritizing fitness are clear, keeping activity as part of our routine may be more of a challenge. Fitness facilities are currently shut down. Not every fire and EMS station has a full complement of fitness equipment, and some have none. Volunteer responders may not have access to equipment at their homes.
In that context, here are some ways to keep pursuing fitness during the pandemic, even with limited or no equipment.
Work on improving mobility
Many of us in the public safety sector lack mobility. Tightness within muscle groups, decreased joint ranges of motion, and strength imbalances may all lead to alterations in body mechanics that predispose us to injury. The consequences of injury are lost workdays, lost wages, increased strain on coworkers, reduced manpower, and more. The good news is, working on mobility requires no equipment, making this a great addition to any responder’s fitness regimen right now.
Mobility can be improved by simple body weight exercises such as squatting, forward lunges, and going through the motions of job specifics, such as a firefighter moving through a room in a search position (see first image) or an EMS provider simulating lifting mechanics. Tightness of the hip flexors, hamstrings, and heel cord are commonly the culprit of dysfunctional movement patterns, so static stretches of those muscle groups are also a good idea (second image). The key with mobility exercise is to make sure you can perform the necessary motions of the job, or of more advanced exercises, completely and without pain before adding additional resistance or challenge to the activity.
Strength training improvised
Strength training can still be done without free weights and Nautilus machines. Once again, from a functional standpoint, any activity done on the job can also be used for training. In fire and EMS we do a lot of push/pull motions, rotary movements requiring core strength, lifting/carrying from various positions, and, in the fire service especially, chopping movements. Drag some hose line around an obstacle course, pull an old tire with a rope attached, beat that same old tire with your sledgehammer at home repeatedly (image No. 3), perform pushups, walk with a backpack filled with anything to add weight, or do farmer carries with anything heavy to simulate carrying equipment or patients.
Answer:
This pandemic taught us that being fit is greatly important in one's life and hence, we should opt to be the same. Working out for an hour could really be beneficial as the body would stay up to fight any virus endterying our bodies.
Eating healthly is also important, mainly food with vitamin- C is really required so to increase immunity in oneself.
So stay fit, eat healthy and enjoy your life.