[Physical Fuel] Coronavirus Whipped Me Into Shape With Micro Workouts

When Coronavirus hit, I was already stressing about knee and hip arthritis, but ditching the gym taught me how to get an even better workout at home. If you just want the step-by-step guide, skip down to the Process section. (:
— Andrew, F the Lines

Summer 2010—My brother was staring at me like there was a tyrannosaurus rex sitting at the dinner table and no one else had noticed. “So, ah…have you been working out or something?”

It was a fair question because, in my first year of college, I had transformed from a wispy 145-lb distance runner into a 170-lb sirloin steak. More specifically, I had discovered the campus gym.

My first workout, I bounced from station to station like Jordan Peele soaking in the “splendors” of a continental breakfast. Ahhh…the mighty bench press! And now the lat pulldown machine. Dipping bars? Don’t mind if I do!

It was all new and exciting, but the real magic happened when I sat down to do some leg presses. Weirdly, I couldn’t seem to max myself out. Week after week, I pressed 180, then 360, then 450, and finally 500 pounds.

I felt like Superman, except…I wasn’t.