Apartment running: how to keep fit in quarantine

Self-isolation and quarantines due to the coronavirus are forcing people to get creative with their workouts, and many runners are still finding ways to work in their daily miles. If you don’t have a treadmill at home and you don’t want to waste your dish soap, then maybe running around your house or apartment is your best option for a run workout. Several people have posted videos of this online, including Serge Ibaka of the Toronto Raptors, who has been in self-isolation since the NBA season was suspended last week.

Cardio day at home pic.twitter.com/LzSRGBnzwk

— Serge Ibaka (@sergeibaka) March 18, 2020

Ibaka tweeted the above video of himself running laps of his hallway at home. That looks like a pretty big hallway, and he managed to get 10 or 11 strides in each length from end to end. Ibaka’s listed at seven-feet tall on the NBA website, so 10 strides for him is like 15 for an average-sized person.

RELATED: Desperate times: homemade soap treadmills

If you have a hallway that long in your house or apartment, you should definitely go for a run. You could probably get an easy 10K in every day. If you’re not so lucky and your place is a little more compact, don’t worry, people in much smaller apartments than Ibaka’s have been able to work out in theirs, too.

There’s always a way#running pic.twitter.com/vtke0d5EOY

— Alexandros Tanti (@AlexandrosTanti) March 16, 2020

If you’ve got a balcony or backyard, incorporate that into your at-home route, like the runners did in the above tweet. Runners are dedicated people, and when there’s a will, there’s a way. These two runners had the best of both worlds, with indoor and outdoor running conditions.

RELATED: Chinese man runs 50K–in his apartment

If you think this all sounds a little crazy, you might be right. Running in your apartment or house probably wouldn’t be all that fun. You would have to move some of your furniture, you’d be forced to make countless turns and you couldn’t go very fast without slipping or bumping into something. It can be done, though. Back in February, when China was facing quarantines, a man ran 50 kilometres in his apartment.

For now, just head outside and go for a solo run. It’ll be more fun and less dizzying than running in your home. But if you’re eventually forced to stay inside 24/7, just know that running inside is always an option.