Entries by Patrick McHugh

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 7

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As the saying goes on social media – NEVER MISS A LEG DAY! That always gives me a chuckle. Yesterday someone shared with me a “LEG” workout from one of our most elite universities, and I thought to myself: someone gets paid to share nonsense like this. According to this workout, a leg day had a lot of words like Bulgarian and Romanian and it was super complicated with lots of set and rep variations . . . definitely exhausting and unclear what the purpose was except to make someone pretty tired.

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 6

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Today’s post again is a workout that athletes can do indoors or outdoors and solo or with a partner with proper social distancing. It’s an awesome field circuit workout that I call the Oregon Circuit. Although the name is representative of the University of Oregon’s track and field tradition, its roots are with Brazilian soccer players. So it’s a multi-sport workout that is flexible to the person and the facility that you have available.

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 4

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There is probably no one who has had a bigger impact on me as a coach than Vern Gambetta. In 1999 North Shore Country Day had a Master in Residence Program and then Head of School Julie Hall said I could pick the Master in Residence for PE and Athletics. On a recommendation from another coaching friend, I picked Vern Gambetta.

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 3

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As it is Sunday, I will take a break from posting workout information. Don’t worry; more to come tomorrow! Instead today, I would like to share some inspiration from the great coach Al Carius that I think is applicable to our current plight. He has been men’s Cross Country and Track and Field Coach at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois for 52 years and has an incredible record of success.

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 2

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As I wrote yesterday, I do not want anyone to feel that I am trivializing the plight we are currently in. With athletic events cancelled around the world, sports is way down the list of daily priorities. But outside of personal sanitation habits, I think we should be encouraging the routines of health and well being and that for many is some consistency of training. So before I get into today’s topic, I thought I would share a story that has some parallels to what we are currently experiencing.

Staying fit in a pandemic: Vol. 1

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I am hoping to share a daily post on stuff anyone can do anywhere while the pandemic changes our daily life. Before I get into Post #1, let me emphasize that in no way am I trying to trivialize what is happening to any of us. Clearly, athletics should take a back seat to this historic and tragic world health event. That being said, maybe these posts will be a little way to make life better for someone out there who can stay fit.