High school athletes finding time to safely get workout fix, some sense of normalcy
Jack Reynolds has been doing his best to pass the time while being off of school because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The A.C. Flora High baseball player has doing his school work, watching TV and also working out. On Tuesday, Reynolds got in a workout at Athletes Arena in Columbia.
Reynolds was joined by Flora teammate Phillips Daniels, Flora basketball player and USC basketball signee Patrick Iriel and former Keenan standout Dillon Jones, who finished his senior season at Sunrise Christian in Kansas. Cardinal Newman basketball player Joshua Beadle came in later after the others were gone.
“I have been working out and in my free time I come here when it is open,” said Reynolds, a Gamecock baseball commit. “We are doing little things. After everything we touch we are wiping it down. But we are still getting our work done, which is good.”
Athletes Arena owner Jason Brunson has been making sure no more than four athletes are in the building at one time and doing his best to make sure everyone is working out safely.
There are boxes of black medical gloves in the workout area, which athletes change two or three times during their workout. The athletes also spray down any mats, bands or balls they use during their time. Disinfectant wipes are available as well.
“Jason is adamant for us to clean everything. Usually a workout here takes an hour now it takes an extra half hour. This virus is nothing to play with,” Jones said.
“It is a serious issue and we have set the parameters,” Brunson said. “Cleanliness is our number one thing. We are washing hands constantly. Biggest thing is, we haven’t had to coach that. It’s the product of the kid we have here and product of their high school coaches. We have plenty of space for each person. Everyone uses their own barbells and weights. We aren’t sharing weights and bands. We are doing everything we can to give us some kind of normalcy in their life.”
With fewer athletes being allowed in at one time, Brunson extended his hours to accommodate those who want to work out.
But places like Athletes Arena might not be an outlet for area athletes to train, at least in the short term. On Thursday, the Columbia City Council approved a shelter-in-place ordinance that requires city residents to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
The ordinance goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. It requires residents to stay at home and avoid public streets, sidewalks and other public places, as well as businesses, unless they are conducting an “essential service.”
Gyms weren’t on the list of exempt businesses, so Athlete’s Arena will be closed for the time being. Brunson plans to put up virtual workouts that his clients can do while at home.
High school strength and conditioning coaches from around the Midlands are offering guidance from afar to make sure their athletes can get workouts in during the quarantine.
Blythewood High School strength and conditioning coach Michael Aimone posted a four-week quarantine workout for Bengal athletes to follow while they won’t have access to the gym.
“The workouts don’t take a super long time and they’ll leave you feeling great. Kids with weight room access have had something a little different based on their resources, but it is all modified seeing as we can’t be in there coaching you up while you do it,” Aimone said. “Another factor is, you have to make something that is going to be fun for them to do. If you send out a five-page death workout, no one will do it.
“Micah Kurtz (former AC Flora coach) is a bit of a mentor of mine and he was amazing at making the workouts fun, so a lot of the stuff in there is similar to what Coach Kurtz is doing.”
Any type of workout during the time away from school will help once things go back to normal and they start training again for their sport.
Aimone also tells the athletes to guard against picking up bad habits during this team such as staying up late and then sitting around all day after their school work is done.
“A little break here and there can be one of the most beneficial things for the body. However, if these kids go from high-intensity training to nothing for, let’s say two months, if they dive straight back into it they will hurt themselves because they will lose a lot of the progress they have made,” Aimone said. “You’ll never lose all your strength overnight, but the more consistent you are the easier it is to pick back up.
“Is it ideal that they can’t lift heavy and work out as a team? No, but at the very least you can be physically active for 30 minutes to an hour a day and you will be fine.”
