MONTREAL -- The joke online is: people are either going to be 50lb heavier or 50lb lighter after being in self-isolation to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
For anyone looking to stay fit while confined indoors, Montreal trainer Jason Altidor has come up with a unique workout using, well, toilet paper.
“Got toilet paper? I know you do. Stuck at home? I know you are. No workout to do? I got you,” he wrote on Instagram.
Altidor tells CTV News he came up with the idea for the video because, though he has a lot of workout equipment in his home, he understands that not everyone has access to a personal gym.
“I feel with everything happening around right now, we have to keep positive,” he said. “You can always find something good out of something bad and the fact that you're not allowed to go outside to train, at least you have things around the house -- even as silly as toilet paper.”
He notes the feedback from his short video has been overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of people thanking him for putting a smile on their faces during these tough times.
“Yesterday, [during an Instagram Live workout] I told people, ‘use weights, if not, we’re using toilet paper.’ I saw lots of people using toilet paper,” Altidor laughed. “As silly as it is, it's more using it as a prop, but the fact that it's there and it adds an extra challenge makes it fun for people.”
He admits with gyms closed, things have gotten tough financially, but his main focus right now is simply staying positive.
“Mentally, it’s pretty tough because I usually see more than 100 people a week, so the fact that I don't have that face-to-face interaction, it makes me think, ‘wow, that's tough,” he noted. “I think the most important thing is communication. If you have any type of communication with someone, if you at least speak to somebody, that's more than enough to keep the social aspect of life.”
Altidor joked he definitely plans to film more home workout videos -- maybe using canned food, paper towels, or whatever else people might be hoarding.
“I feel like this is a blessing because we always say we don't have time, but it's a matter of making time," he said. "It becomes a chain reaction, where we just do more, more and more and we just want to share the stuff that we’ve done.”
The cheeky post has garnered over 3,000 views and more than 100 comments.
ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE
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