Your Very Own CrossFit LifeTree Satellite Location

“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.” Winston Churchill spoke these words.

Perhaps while he contemplated building his own home gym during the Blitz? Probably not, but I like the quote just the same. We must be “shaping our dwellings”. 

Just as we make space in our schedules to go to the gym, now we must make physical space in our homes also. If you don’t have a garage space or covered area in the backyard, your living room may end up looking like ours, with everything pushed aside or moved out to make room for fitness. (We won’t be hosting any parties for a while, so no big deal.) Creating our own CrossFit LifeTree satellites may be challenging, but it is do-able! 

 Then, there is the fun part, equipment. When you need something, but don’t have it, you have to get creative and adapt. Two movie scenes come to mind. Both feature Tom Hanks depicting surviving in isolation. In “Castaway”, our hero is stranded alone on a desert island. He has to adapt to his surroundings and utilize the few resources at hand. He uses an ice skate for dentistry, befriends a volleyball,  and eventually uses a broken porta-potty as a sail for his raft. Nicely done! In “Apollo 13”, Tom and the boys at NASA have to figure out how to make a CO2 filter out of what the astronauts have on hand, 384,000 km from Home Depot. (Spoiler alert; Tom makes it home in both films, just in time to land his plane in the Hudson River.)

 So now it’s your turn. Go find your run route. If you can’t get out, decide how many times you can go  up and down the stairs in 2 minutes as a 400 meter run substitute. Look around, find the objects you can use as substitutes for dumb bells and kettle bells. Find a suitable chair or steamer trunk to do step-ups and box jumps. Find that old tire tube your grandpa filled with sand for winter traction in his pick up truck. If you have toddlers, they make excellent med-balls. (I’m thinking med-ball squats, not wall balls!)

Let’s share with one another. Tell us how you have “reshaped your dwelling”?  What have you adapted for use as fitness equipment? Tell us about your run route. Post pictures and make it fun! 

We are settling in for the long haul and look forward to the time when we, like Tom, can leave the island. 

 Let me close with one more from uncle Winston;

“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.”  Winston was nobody’s fool. You are your greatest asset.

Stay healthy.

Coach Mark