By Oscar Smith

Due to the prevalence of COVID-19, many people have been quarantining since March. It has been a huge adjustment to make and having to socially distance and remain somewhat isolated is still a hard situation we are facing. One thing people have been doing to cope with being stuck inside is snacking. Snacking in-between meals, snacking while going into the kitchen for an entirely different reason, and snacking just to feel like they’re doing something. This has resulted in the quarantine weight gain. About 80 percent of those who have gained weight during this time have gained it from, you guessed it, excessive snacking. How to lose quarantine weight:

Since social distancing is still very much in play, it’s important to act now to start losing the extra weight now. You need to get active, be mobile, and focus on cardio, cardio, and some more cardio. Here are some workouts you can do while social distancing at a park, at a beach, or at your home that will get your heart rate up to about 180 beats-per-minute. All the below workouts below can be done by yourself while adhering to social distancing protocols. These workouts are meant to be done three to five times per week, and you will lose that extra weight in less than a month, if you keep at it with a well-balanced diet—which means NO SNACKING. 

A couple of things to note: 

• Remember to stretch both before and after. This goes especially for running and cycling. Make sure to stretch the lower body, lower back, hamstrings, and your Achilles muscles.
• Diet is still important. Just because you work out, doesn’t mean you should continue snacking or binge-eating. Watch the frequency, amount, and types of food you eat. It’s essential to lose quarantine weight.
• Drink lots of water! This goes especially because it’s summertime, but you always need to keep yourself hydrated while exercising. In addition, staying hydrated is the key to weight loss. Bring at least one water bottle, and drink it before, and after, working out.
• If you have to wear a mask—just know that wearing a mask while exercising is always going to be tough, as it makes it more difficult to breathe. You can consider wearing a wet one—a mask soaked with water—to help you keep cool, but that’ll take away most of its ability to filter out the bad microbes. 

The best exercise: run, sprint, run—then, repeat.

• Stretch first. Run a mile to warm up. Then, do 20, 100-yard sprints. Next, run a mile again. After this, do 10, 100-yard sprints, followed by running half-a-mile and sprinting the last 100 yards. Lastly, stretch and hydrate.
• If you do these three to four times a week and focus on diet, you’ll start to lose quarantine weight in about two weeks. 
• If you don’t like to sprint, you can just run. But, there’s a catch—you must run five miles in under 50 minutes, making your pace a little under 10 minutes-per-mile.

Not a fan of running? Try biking. 

• Remember to stretch your calves, lower back, and hamstrings before and after the exercise, and make sure to bring water.
• Bike for 10 miles, which should take about an hour. Do not stop and take no breaks— unless it’s to go to the bathroom or hydrate. The next time you’re out on the bike, go for 15 miles. Then, 20 miles. Keep going up by five-mile increments each time you bike. 

For inside or outside exercises: jump rope. 

• Warning: you’ll get hot, and your legs will get tired. This will be full, three-minute rounds of jumping using both feet and no skipping. Use a timer on your phone or buy one. You’ll do 15 rounds of your three-minutes rounds. In between rounds, do one minute of rest with squats.
• If you feel tired or messed up while jumping, just drop the rope and pick it back up when you feel ready again. This should be about a 45 to 50-minute workout.

Combo exercises.

• Think of this as a tiny triathlon, but be mindful and realistic about your swimming ability:
• Run one mile. Then, bike five miles. Lastly, swim half-a-mile. If you choose to swim in the ocean, swim parallel to the shore. 

About Oscar Smith

Oscar Smith has a lifelong dedication to fitness as a lifestyle. Oscar has personally mastered multiple disciplines to develop a specialized training system for total body transformation. His fitness services are offered at his chic Tribeca personal training gym, O-D Studio.  His level of experience and expertise has made him one of the most sought-out trainers in NYC, and his clients have included: Katharine McPhee, Tom Brady, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, and many others.  Smith is the author of the book Natural Strength, which focuses on how readers can overcome their weight loss plateaus, and also encourages readers to reconnect with their inner child and try different things to have fun working out again.