Creativity in Motion

Facing the new reality of working from home created by COVID-19, Simone Morin found inspiration in her pantry.

It was a can of chicken noodle soup sent by her mother in a care package from Connecticut, to be exact.

On Monday morning, that lunch-time staple became part of a workout led by Morin and broadcast to dozens of GW student-athletes, coaches, staff and supporters via @ColonialStrong on Instagram Live. The assistant strength and conditioning coach directed viewers at home to use their soup to add a bit of weight to a set of exercises meant to stretch out the back muscles.

"You just have to get creative," Morin said. "Everyone's stuck in this situation where they can't do the normal workouts that they're used to and need some sort of adjustment."

The GW strength and conditioning staff has mobilized quickly to help fill the void. Each weekday at 9 a.m., a member of the six-person squad is leading a roughly 45-minute workout that can be followed from the comforts of home.

Even though all games, practices and team activities are canceled right now, there's plenty of work to be done for the strength and conditioning staff. The coaches are designing optional workouts for each team daily and posting them through the TeamBuildr app for the student-athletes to complete on their own time.

The IG Live workouts are meant to provide another option for the Colonials as they adjust to an unprecedented situation while also sharing a piece of the college athletics experience that's often behind the scenes with a wider audience.

Without the usual weight-room equipment around, they've focused on body-weight exercises and found ways to improvise by adding backpacks filled with books, towels and rolls of toilet paper to the workouts.

"The major thing for us is to keep people moving," said Brendan O'Leary, an associate strength and conditioning coach who primarily works with men's basketball. "A lot of people are going to have a lot of time on their hands. We really want to keep people active."

Plus, it's much more fun than inputting a list of exercises into an app.

"For us as a strength staff, our biggest thing is we like to coach," O'Leary added. "You can only write so many programs sitting at home. We want to coach and be involved."

That's meant inviting the Buff and Blue community into their homes and adapting to new challenges along the way.

Kicking off the initiative, one of Morin's first concerns was finding space away from her two camera-loving cats.

She greeted participants with an enthusiastic "Happy Monday!" and kept up the energy throughout her workout, which utilized squats wearing a full backpack in addition to the can-of-soup stretching.

When it was over, a wave of text messages and videos from Colonials near and far told her it was a success, but she also walked away with a couple lessons that should prove helpful for her next session coming Tuesday.

"I ended up sweating a lot more than I expected," Morin said. "I'm used to running around the weight room, but I'm not physically doing the exact same workout as the team. Talking through the entire time of the sets, reps and other cues while doing it was definitely a little bit of a gut check."

John Grundy made sure to clean up his basement living room before hitting record on Tuesday's session. With two small children at home, it's hard to keep away the clutter for long.

Early into his high-tempo session that featured a towel and two third-grade math books, Grundy's two-year-old daughter Aubrey interrupted to ask for her pacifier and blankie before heading upstairs to watch cartoons with her 6-year-old sister Isabelle.

His wife Casey is serving as his videographer, as well, so he's sure there will be more cameos as the weeks move forward.

"Of course, you want it to look professional, but it should also be realistic," said Grundy, a graduate assistant who works with baseball, gymnastics and cross country/track. "I've got two kids running around, so there's a chance they pop in and we're going to go with the flow to keep things rolling."

O'Leary ran into technical difficulties on day three when his cell phone wouldn't record audio. His session was slower-paced focusing on flexibility and mobility, so he typed out some instructions in the comments and made the best of it in his living room.

O'Leary said it was his first time leading a class like that since teaching step aerobics in college about a decade ago, but he was eager to give it a shot with the chance to help people in mind.

"With all the weight rooms and all the gyms shut down across the country, this is the best we have," O'Leary said. "Really for us, we just have to look at it and take it on as a new task and an exciting challenge. Each day, it's about, 'Hey, what can we do? How can we get our student-athletes better?'"

Volleyball head coach Sarah Bernson is grateful for their efforts. She's carved out a spot in her living room – the coffee table has to move a little bit to provide enough room – to follow along.

Bernson's go-to workout is yoga, so some of these exercises are taking her outside of her comfort zone a bit. Yet she's trying to make it part of her regular routine, knowing the exercise, and just as important, the interaction, are vital during this period.

"When I'm on there, I see different names from across the department, and it's like 'Oh hey, they're on here, too,'" Bernson said. "It helps me feel connected to the greater part of GW Athletics, just seeing the names and knowing we're all doing this together."

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