Some reflections on working out at home

I finally did it. After only two weeks of procrastinating since being locked up at home, and sick to the back teeth of watching my arms deflate while my stomach does the opposite, I managed to pull off some kind of weights workout at home, using our piano stool as a workout bench and an old chunk of iron that I somehow think resembles a dumbbell, and which I have kept in the shed for God knows how many years ‘just in case’.

 

Wearing my best workout outfit (for which read an old t-shirt and shorts), and feeling rather daft, I set up my makeshift ‘gym’ in the lounge, and while the rest of the fam cavorted along to a recording of ‘PE with Joe’ in the other room, I endeavoured to ‘pump some iron’. Oh gosh.

 

Despite only having the one weight, I did somehow manage to pull it off, and two days afterwards had some nicely-aching muscles to show for it, so must have done something right, I guess. I don’t know how well it will make for a long-term solution, but it did, nevertheless, work.

 

And as usual, this prompted me into some further thinking… what comes to mind from such an episode?

 

How adaptive are you really?

 

Firstly, I am ashamed at how long it took me to get down to it. I like to think of myself as a flexible chap who is quick to take on and embrace change, yet still it took me the best part of two weeks to get down to this. Part of it is laziness, sure, and some of it can be attributed to adapting to a new working environment, but the truth is I could (and should) easily have made time to get a workout in much earlier. Funny how long we can take to adapt to new realities, however much we like to think we are ‘good at change’.

Note to self: you are not always as adaptive as you think. It can take you longer to get into a new groove than you realise, so work on picking things up a bit more quickly. 

 

Workplace culture

 

Secondly, in terms of the impetus I needed to ‘get it done’, it was interesting to note the indirect effect of ‘PE with Joe’ going on next door. My wife and children had been doing this each morning, and now were trying to build it into their weekend, albeit not ‘live’ but on demand. Having ignored it each weekday due to work constraints, come the weekend I had nowhere to hide. Interestingly though, I found I didn’t want to hide – them exercising in fact triggered me into getting active. Excellent evidence, if it were needed, of how one person’s activities can impact on another’s.

 

For anyone who has studied workplace culture, this will be familiar. Culture, says Charles Handy, is ‘how we do things around here’, and lo and behold, we have created our home ‘culture’ such that people are getting active, which means so am I. Their modelled behaviour has influenced and directed mine.

Lesson learnt: behaviour can be catching – having one set of people behave a certain way models that behaviour for everyone else around them. If you want to encourage certain behaviours, find ways to model them positively.

 

The power of adaptation and resourcefulness

 

A third thought is around the power of adaptation. On my second workout, this past weekend, I wanted to try and do some squats, and found out my daughter was not far off a decent weight with which to do it, so in the style of Luke Skywalker exercising with Master Yoda on his back, I found myself squatting with her on my shoulders and doing push ups with her sitting on my back. Must have looked ridiculous, but seemed to get the job done, so I am going to try to work up to carrying my son next!

 

I find it interesting how we are able to adapt when needs must. I have never been much of a one for working out at home, it has never really, well, worked out, but sure enough, necessity is the mother of invention, and we can adapt and get the job done. I wouldn’t have imagined myself squatting with a child on my back, but it is amazing what resourcefulness you can find when the need arises.

Note to self: you can be more resourceful than you realise, especially when needs must. Don’t underestimate the solutions you can come up with when you put your mind to it.

 

 

Final thoughts…

 

Any time your situation and associated behaviours change, it is a good opportunity to evaluate whether you want that change to be permanent. I am enjoying working out at home, but come the end of lockdown, I am sure I will go back to the gym, and be all the more pleased for it. For now, however, a bit of motivation from my family and some enforced resourcefulness brought on by the madness of our current situation are ensuring that I am not completely out of shape by the time I do. Must just remember to keep that adaptivity and resourcefulness going though!

 

Thanks for reading.

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