Hey everyone, welcome to the third edition of Segovia Outdoors! Because most of us are in quarantine and a story about a trail wouldn’t be too helpful, I’m opting to change it up a bit. So, welcome to the first edition of Segovia Indoors!
If your experience has been anything like mine, you’re probably searching for some activity in between your walks to the fridge to cure your boredom hunger. I’ve gathered a couple things I’ve done to help me pass the first couple of days in quarantine.
— Exercise
One of the worst parts of quarantine is the lack of physical activity. Generally, I exercise often, but only because most of the activities I love are outdoors and involve that kind of movement; I don’t ever go “work out” just to work out. But yesterday, in the midst of my absolute boredom, I decided, “why not?” and did a simple bodyweight routine on my apartment’s balcony.
Unsurprisingly, this small 30 minute routine lifted my spirits greatly. I no longer constantly worry about losing my climbing and biking abilities, which makes me much more content with this quarantine. And, because I love you guys, I’ll share my routine below!
Warm-up – 1 rep
Jumping jacks: 50 reps
Bodyweight squats: 40 reps
Lunges: 10 each leg
Hip extensions: 20 each leg
Leg swings: 10 each leg
Push-ups: 20 reps
Spiderman steps: 10 each leg
Workout – 3 reps
1 legged squats: 10 each leg (these are hard to do so you can replace them with regular squats)
Bodyweight squats: 20 reps
Lunges: 10 each leg
Step-ups: 10 each leg
Dips: 10 reps
Push-ups: 10 reps
Plank: 1st round 30s, 2nd 45s, 3rd 1min
This took me about 30 minutes in total and gave me the energy and motivation to get through the second full day of quarantine, so I hope it can do the same for you!
— Walk to the store
This second activity exploits a little loophole in the quarantine measures in Spain and Italy. Technically, you can only leave for necessary activities (ie. grocery shopping, walking a pet, etc). They don’t say how many times you can go to the grocery store, so if you happen to forget to get something at Dia and go once a day, you’re completely in the green. You also don’t have to take the direct path, so if you stop by the aqueduct and maybe take the scenic route there and back, you’re still in the green. This helps me feel a little freedom, and after spending 24/7 with my flatmates, I definitely appreciate getting some alone time.
— Cook
Quarantine presents a great time to learn a new skill. And if that new skill can produce great food, then it’s certainly something worth trying during these two weeks. Lucky for you, we have a whole newsletter dedicated to cooking – Thyme Flies. We’ve got a couple recipes you can follow, from Southeastern US comfort food to North African stews. You can check out these recipes, or just try to brainstorm something with what you have. The website https://www.supercook.com/#/recipes allows you to search for recipes with what you have in your cupboard, so if you’re reluctant to go to the supermarket to pick up groceries, you can still find something!
— Attitude
Honestly, the best thing any of us can do in quarantine is keep busy and have a good attitude. We can think of this quarantine as two weeks trapped in an apartment with nothing to do but staring at your computer screen, or we can think of it as two weeks to start a new book or show, learn a new skill, get ahead of our studies, and destress before new assignments begin to roll in. If you ever begin to stress out, I would try some simple meditation. You can find guides on the internet, but the app Insight Timer has tutorials for beginner meditation and options for custom times, background music, and more! It’s definitely worth checking out.
I hope this shorter, special version of Segovia Outdoors can help you through the next couple of weeks! Fingers crossed that next edition, we’ll again be able to take advantage of the outdoors Segovia has to offer.
