SHAS­TRI BOODAN

The de­ci­sion to ban out­door ex­er­cise dur­ing the cur­rent State of Emer­gency came as a sur­prise to many peo­ple who ex­er­cise for health rea­sons, when Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um on Mon­day May 17th.

The road­way be­tween the sta­di­um and the Na­tion­al Crick­et Cen­tre is pop­u­lar and at­tracts hun­dreds of per­sons dai­ly, with the ma­jor­i­ty com­ing out in the evening.

On Mon­day morn­ing, a hand­ful of per­sons were seen ex­er­cis­ing out­side the venue. Many said they were un­aware of the reg­u­la­tions—that out­door sport­ing ac­tiv­i­ty and ex­er­cise were banned—and de­cid­ed to leave im­me­di­ate­ly since the area has a reg­u­lar po­lice pa­trol.

One woman said she heard that there were re­stric­tions dur­ing the SOE but was not sure that walk­ing was pro­hib­it­ed. She said walk­ing and oth­er forms of ex­er­cise are need­ed to keep in shape to fight off in­fec­tions.

Dex­ter Den­nis, 54, said he was will­ing to abide by the law and ad­vised oth­ers not to take any chances and go out­side.

“I am a mid­dle-aged per­son. I, like many oth­ers in my age group, suf­fer from var­i­ous ail­ments that range from di­a­betes to heart dis­ease, and ex­er­cise is how we keep fit,” Den­nis told Guardian Me­dia.

“Some peo­ple can­not af­ford ex­er­cise equip­ment at their home and some are con­strained by space, so we go out­doors,” he ex­plained.  

He added: “A lot of chil­dren are at home too, and they like all nor­mal hu­man be­ings would end up sit­ting in front the tele­vi­sion and eat­ing and putting on weight, which is un­healthy. So, we all must find some ways to ex­er­cise at home, both the el­der­ly and the young.”