Boulder shoulders and workouts with wood
By Isaac Escovedo, Associate Editor

All this time alone has seen most of us burning through every show on Netflix and leaving a permanent divot in our couches. But while we’ve been binging, Anders Blomgren has been busy getting absolutely shredded. Blomgren has spent the past several weeks trying to get his “Workouts With Wood” challenge trending online, however, he only has four people participating so far.

“I figure that once my videos go viral, there will be one million and four participants,” Blomgren said. “All joking aside, I hope there are more than four, but I don’t know. Many people have said they love the creativity and the ‘natural flava’ of the workouts, but I don’t have ‘data’ on the number who have tried. Maybe I’ll dig deeper (with a wood shovel) to find more info on numbers.”

Blomgren exercises daily, and has been posting some of his workouts on Youtube, where his videos garner a couple hundred views.
He’s not the only one who has taken advantage of lockdown to get some exercise in. Alex Gateman has built a gym out of massive logs he calls his ‘Timber Gym’.

Despite a few minor splinters and heavier lifts when it rains, Gateman says his timber gym has performed admirably.

“It’s great! The use of tree rounds and hardware store materials brings about its own set of challenges, though,” Gateman said. “Not having a scale, I have no idea how much weight we’re moving and there was some trial and error to get somewhat matching weights from the rounds. Even then, the center of balance is definitely not the center of the bar.”

Gateman isn’t yet finished building his homemade gym. He and his friend are planning a pulley system to allow bigger weights in the near future.
The situation we’re in is strange and unique, but it hasn’t stopped people from staying in shape, even when they have to get creative. Despite all of the anxiety surrounding us, Blomgren has managed to stay positive.

“I’m bummed to not have interactions with my students and wrestlers and coaches. … I feel terrible for the individuals, families, and the areas especially affected by the virus. But personally, I’m feeling okay,” Blomgren said. “There is no blanket generalization to how we are all doing and what we’re doing. But here’s what I do know: we will all get better with more Working Out With Wood, during and after the quarantine! I can’t wait to get out there this afternoon for my wood workout.”