Deanna Harder, a CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) certified personal trainer in Edmonton poses for a picture at Custom Fit Training in Edmonton on March 18, 2020. Derek Van Diest / Postmedia

It is being called the Quarantine 15 in social media circles: the weight some are expecting to gain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With gyms and leisure centres throughout Edmonton closed, there is concern self-isolation will be detrimental to an active lifestyle.

According to some fitness experts, however, that doesnt have to be the case, with numerous types of home workouts available.

I want to let everybody know that your body isnt made or broken in a few weeks or a few months, said Deanna Harder, a CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) certified personal trainer in the city. So just like building muscle takes years and years and years, atrophy in muscle is going to take a little bit of time. Its not going to happen overnight.

You can maintain your body fitness by body-weight exercise or light dumbbell work and just by keeping your stress low and managing your nutrition. You dont need to be going hard every day. I like to tell people, youre not going to make or break your body in a few weeks of not hitting the gym hard. In fact, your body may welcome the change of pace and the change of stimulus. Your gains are not going to be lost in a couple of weeks of staying home.

Harder understands these are stressful times for everyone with the uncertainty ahead due to the world-wide pandemic. Physical activity helps alleviate stress at the best of times and when it is taken away in the form of facility closures, it may only add to anxiety.

The thing is, the first couple days, you might want to eat a little bit of extra chocolate and sugar because youre stressed out and because its like a snow day, Harder said. You can treat it as a little bit of a holiday, a little bit of a staycation, but then weve got to get some structure in our day, like having a healthy breakfast and getting into a regular routine; your showering routine, put on your makeup, put on your clothes, make yourself feel better, your self-esteem will really appreciate that.

And then add in a structured workout starting as soon as you feel good again. There might be a few days where, like my myself, Ive stocked up on a few bottles of wine and some dark chocolate because I also know that comfort is something we all need right now and this isnt going to last forever. If we cant be out in the in the world working on our fitness at a big global gym, why not take this time to focus on nutrition and focus on eating healthier.

Jeff Woods, owner of Custom Fit Training in Edmonton poses for a photo on March 18, 2020. Derek Van Diest / Postmedia

A key issue with self-isolation at home is the access to food at all times. Maintaining a healthy diet is key to fighting off the Quarantine 15. It is fine to stock up on chips and frozen pizza, but as is the case under regular circumstances, moderation is important when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Whether youre exercising or not, if youre being rational about your intake of calories, youre not going to put on copious amounts of weight, said Jeff Woods, owner of Custom Fit Training. Obviously, we still want people to exercise and you can do that going outside not being in highly populated situations. Be one with nature; that still works.

You can do bodyweight training programs, you can look at virtual options, go online, theres a million options on YouTube. I hate to sort of pass the buck, and as a professional trainer we can certainly pass on good information to people online as well, but there are some really incredible home programs that you can you can pick up the internet, and itll work just fine.

Custom Fit is a small gym catering to clients interested in one-one-one personal training. They, too, will be hit hard financially as the province attempts to get through the outbreak by practicing social distancing.

If there are any positives to be taken out of self-isolation, it may be an opportunity to change a fitness routine. Gains are often difficult to make if a routine becomes too repetitive.

Elite-level athletes work on what we call a periodization model, Woods said. Theyll work for a period of time like a six-week training block and then theyll take structured time off. They might take a week off, so that they give their body a chance to recover and actually adapt to the exercise stress, so that they get stronger.

If you keep on working out all the time and there is no structured recovery time or rest period, you can actually go the other way. If you overtrain, you can actually impede or inhibit your immune systems function. You need to exercise but in times like this, too, you want to do it in a balanced manner, because over-exercising or overtraining can have a negative effect on immunity.

No one is certain how long the self-isolation period will last, but the goal for most is to come out of it in similar condition as they went into it.

People shouldnt worry so much about body change right now, Id worry about more about maintaining your body, just maintain where youre at, Harder said. Dont worry about cutting or gaining at this point because why add extra stress to yourself? Just moderation of all foods, try to focus on maintaining your fitness and your body weight and not worry so much about losing or gaining, just living in maintenance for a minute.

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COVID-19: Fitness experts offer advice for fighting off the Quarantine 15 - The Sudbury Star