Despite having to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, pro athletes have found ways to keep in shape. For example: Dutch elite swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Sharon van Rouwendaal has resorted to swimming in a kiddie pool while tied to a tree so she can stay in one place.
One of the issues that these athletes deal with is maintaining their motivation. The reason it is so hard to maintain their motivation is because they cannot go to the gym to train. Because these athletes are professionals, they have to have a strict training regiment that helps them break records, win gold medals or both. Some of the training the athletes have to do cannot always be done at home. However, they find ways around that. More often than not, when they find a way around having limited opportunity to go to the gym, the motivation to keep training is there.
Another issue that pro athletes have to deal with is equipment. Sometimes, athletes do not have all the necessary equipment to help them train. So, they use homemade products. For example: what keeps Alexandra Recchia’s motivation up is training with a training “partner,”, which is really just a lamp with pads stuck on it. That is how she not only keeps her motivation to keep up training, but it also helps her stay in shape.
It is generally understood that people should always social distance, but there are things you can do at home if you are an athlete and want to remain in peak condition. The first thing you can do is to find a family member with which to train. If you can do that, great! You now have a training partner. The second thing you can do is, depending on the sport, make your own equipment and put it to use. If you put your own equipment to use, it will help minimize the amount of time you need to go to the gym and risk catching a case of COVID-19. The third and final thing that you can do to keep yourself in shape and keep yourself motivated if you are an athlete is to get a game of some sort going with a family member or friend. This way, you are not only training, but also competing.
