On Trend: Fitness for Ankylosing Spondylitis

For many of us, our home has also become an office, a classroom, and a gym. While you may have to make an effort to step away from work to exercise, it’s more convenient than ever to fit in a workout before or after work, in between Zoom meetings, or even during your lunch break.

In fact, a survey conducted by ClassPass found that lunchtime workouts have seen a 67 percent rise in popularity. For the first time ever, noon is the most popular time to take a fitness class. This may be due in part to no longer having to worry about driving to the gym, working out, showering, and making it back to the office before the hour is over.

This lower-body workout from Wells is one you can easily do on your lunch break — or whenever you have 15 to 20 minutes to spare. The focus is on building strength in your glutes, quads, and hamstrings to help improve stability in your legs and hips, which can help you move easier and take strain off your spine if you have ankylosing spondylitis. Even better? All the moves are low impact — no jumping involved! “Low-impact workouts are great for anyone with ankylosing spondylitis, as they do not put added stress or pressure on the back or spine,” says Wells.

Grab a mat and a bottle of water and get started!

Strength training is always a popular workout option. According to the ClassPass survey, strength workouts are the online classes most likely to be replayed. Strength and resistance exercises can help build muscle and take pressure off stiff, achy joints, which is especially important for people who have ankylosing spondylitis. And strength exercises that focus on your core — your abdominal and back muscles — can help support your spine and ease back pain, according to the Spondylitis Association of America.

If you’re working out at home, you may not have access to all the strength-training equipment you would if you were at the gym. The good news is, you don’t need it. You can build strength using just your body weight. In fact, according to the ACSM, bodyweight training is one of the top fitness trends for 2021, because it’s an inexpensive and functional way to exercise effectively.

This full-body workout from Wells engages your major muscle groups to help keep your body in a strong and stable posture — no equipment required. But if you do want to kick things up a notch, just take a look around. “There are many items you can use at home to help you with your workout,” says Senicola. To add resistance to this routine, “You can use a bag of rice, a can, or even a laundry pod container,” she says. “Just make sure it’s nothing made of glass.”

Yoga is a millennia-old practice that started becoming mainstream in the United States in the 1930s. But now it’s more popular than ever — so much so that ClassPass named yoga the top online workout of the past year.

Yoga requires minimal space and equipment, making it an ideal home workout. Another reason yoga may be taking off is an increased interest in the mind-body connection. People are turning to exercises that incorporate mindfulness as a way to manage stress and maintain a positive mindset.

“We all feel stressed sometimes,” says Bonanno. “Movement that helps us focus on our mind and body connection, such as yoga, is a great way to help boost your mood and relieve stress.”

Yoga also provides a number of physical benefits. It’s especially good for people with ankylosing spondylitis because it can help improve flexibility, increase range of motion, and stabilize your core to support your spine. In this workout, Bonanno demonstrates yoga poses that help open your shoulders and hips, areas that can get particularly tight in people with ankylosing spondylitis. So put on some soothing music, set your intention, and focus on your breathing as you move through this yoga flow.