The Recreation Department at the University of Physical Education (UPE) does it best to accommodate to the everchanging epidemiological situation and it suggests that despite the new circumstances, we should not neglect daily exercise.
The department lead by Dr. Gyöngyvér Lacza has several plans in case the situation gets worse. The pandemic has also changed the department’s life, however, the colleagues working there managed to accommodate themselves to the new circumstances.
“Although our camps and optional trekking tours are still running, we have made some modifications regarding their location and structure. If possible, participants do not spend the nights at the camps and we prefer tours that start in the morning and finish in the evening. We also stopped organising social events which require people being close to each other. Although this year we are also going to organise camps that require participants sleeping in tents or at tourist homes, students will sleep in separate rooms or in their own tents. We will also seek the possibility to hold lectures outdoors, and if the weather is bad, we hold them in the great hall inside the university building making sure students wear facemasks”, said Dr. Gyöngyvér Lacza.
Regarding the practice of education, teachers at the department try to spend as much time as possible outdoors with the students regardless of the pandemic. Certain subjects such as ‘Fitness trends’ and ‘Body shaping’ are organised at street workout facilities rather than in the gym. Unfortunately, the sport events where students have their internship organised have been cancelled, and the ones that are still held typically do not allow visitors. These are the main issues that need to be dealt with currently. One solution to the problem is that students attend only outdoor events, and they do their field practice through training videos that were made for the target group by the students themselves.
It is also essential to know how much and what type of exercise we should do during the pandemic. People have different strategies, but most of them continue their daily practice.
“The most important thing is that we should resume our daily exercise so we can improve our stamina. We should avoid using the elevator and climb the steps instead, we should get off the bus one or two stops earlier and walk. We also should not use public transportation if possible and we should choose walking, biking or roller skating. Those who strive for more and do sports on regular basis should prefer exercising outdoors, which is safer. Many people prefer doing sports at home during the second wave of the pandemic because of precautions. There is nothing wrong with it, however, they should consider and prefer credibility when downloading videos from the Internet”, warned Dr. Gyöngyvér Lacza.
The expert also mentioned that less is know about Hungarian people’s sporting habits during the pandemic and how it has been affected. To provide valid answers, research is required.
“There are many exiting topics to be discovered regarding this question. One of them is which target groups have benefited and which have not from home-working regarding leisure time activities. Another exiting question is whether people can keep up the positive changes they have made. We can see that those who had to stay home with their children while working from home and looking after their elderly parents had to face the biggest challenge” summarised the possible research questions Dr. Gyöngyvér Lacza.
She also mentioned that the department has submitted a research proposal applying for funds in order to be able to draw a picture of how regular exercisers’ life has been affected by the pandemic.
