As someone who’s consistently worked out and gone to yoga classes, when my gym and yoga studio closed in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, I felt like I was at a loss.
While I traditionally gravitated towards running, I started strength training on my own after working with a personal trainer. I didn’t particularly enjoy lifting weights and doing high-intensity workouts, but I felt obligated to try training and would make myself complete my new workout regimen at least twice a week.
When the pandemic hit, I had no access to my usual weightlifting equipment.
I didn’t want to lose the muscle tone that I gained during the COVID-19 pendemic. So I started rolling out my yoga mat and doing exercises like push-ups, ab exercises, triceps dips, step-up/step-downs, and squats. Without other people around me, though, these types of workouts felt less appealing. I also tried to do yoga by myself, but it wasn’t the same without a teacher.
However, through my daily quarantine podcast walks, I discovered the Melissa Wood Health method.
The MWH method is all about low-impact movement that results in long, lean lines throughout your body. Melissa Wood-Tepperburg, the founder of this method, is certified in yoga and pilates and creates flows that mix the two exercise types. She offers a free 7-day trial, so I decided to test it out.
After my first MWH exercise video, Melissa hooked me.
Although the low-intensity movements challenged me, they felt so much more natural than the high-intensity ones that I previously forced myself to do. I also loved that her workouts incorporated yoga poses since I miss my yoga studio workouts because of the pandemic.
Melissa Wood’s method doesn’t require any equipment. In fact, all you need to participate is a mat and your own body weight. The flows are super easy to fit into your day – they range from as brief as eight minutes to as long as 54 minutes. My personal favorites are the 20-30 minute workouts.
Beyond working out, though, Melissa’s goal is to help you build a strong relationship with your body and mind. Therefore, she incorporates meditation and mindfulness in addition to the movement. She has guided meditations in her video library (to all the people who say that they don’t have time to meditate, I raise you a shelter-in-place situation) as well as plant-based recipes and lifestyle tips on her website.
I haven’t done a pushup or a squat jump ever since I discovered these workouts during COVID-19.
Yet somehow I’m still building muscle in a way that feels more natural, enjoyable, and feminine. Gyms are finally reopening, but even though you might find me on the elliptical, you won’t see me by the dumbbells anymore.
Featured Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash.
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