40-day quarantine programme

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I had to lock myself down at home for several days from the beginning of March until the beginning of May 2020. While the world outside seemed quite crossed and complained about the strict measures (at least this is the perception I had watching TV and reading hate speech in the internet), I have to admit that I really enjoyed those two months. I kept on working online, I learned some new digital tools and I didn't miss the chance to exercise. For this particular purpose, I designed my own programme, aimed at three tasks:

1) to improve my flexibility (I set the target to touch my toes with my hands, as I was able to do 20 years ago or so);

2) to strengthen the abdominals;

3) to tone up my body, in order to be ready to wear my running shoes again at the end of the lockdown.

I found plenty of tutorials and programmes on YouTube, and those which suited me best were the ones made by "Lumowell", an Italian channel specialised on fitness and healthy lifestyles. I chose the one called "intensive abdominals" (16 minutes) and "total body without weights" (30 minutes, which I later integrated with weights). The first two weeks I met some difficulties, but I was aware that with no pain you get no gain. The Rocky soundtrack helped me overcome the initial obstacles and after 4 weeks I was able to complete the whole tutorials with no breaks. Before beginning the exercises, I started with a short warm up and a 10-minute stretching session, which allowed me to achieve my goal after 1 month: finally I was able to touch my toes on standing position and sitting on the floor! (But I really went through hell). When the quarantine was over, I intended to make up for the lost time and started running again, but alas, I realised that it would have taken time to restore stamina, resistance and strength. Two months inactivity had a stronger impact on my shape than I expected and it took me one and a half month to catch up and reach the standards of January. 

Here below is the 6-week (or 40-day) workout programme I followed during the quarantine:

Day	Body	Abdominals
18 March	Exercises, 18 min
19 March		150 abd, 8 min
20 March	Exercises, 30 min
21 March		150 abd, 8 min
22 March	Exercises, 30 min
23 March		105 abd, 8 min
24 March	Exercises, 30 min
25 March		150 abd, 8 min
26 March	Exercises, 30 min
27 March		150 abd, 8 min
28 March	Exercises, 30 min
29 March		150 abd, 8 min
30 March	Exercises, 30 min
31 March		300 abd, 30 min
1 April	Rest
2 April		300 abd, 30 min
3 April	Exercises with 1 kg weight, 30 min
4 April		300 abd, 30 min
5 April	Exercises with 1 kg weight, 30 min
6 April		300 abd, 30 min
7 April	Exercises with 1 kg weight, 30 min
8 April		300 abd, 30 min
9 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 30 min
10 April		300 abd, 30 min
11 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 40 min
12 April		400 abd, 30 min
13 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
14 April		300 abd, 30 min
15 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
16 April	Rest
17 April		300 abd, 30 min
18 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
19 April		150 abd, 8 min
20 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
21 April		300 abd, 30 min
22 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
23 April		300 abd, 30 min
24 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
25 April		300 abd, 30 min
26 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min
27 April		300 abd, 30 min
28 April	Exercises with 3 kg weight, 50 min