Yahoo Sports Stuck at home due to coronavirus, Penn State coach James Franklin stole dumbbells from his gym
Penn State coach James Franklin is cooped up at home with his family amid the COVID-19 pandemic, just like millions of other Americans.
And as he, like the rest of us, quickly discovered, working out while stuck at home can be quite the challenge — especially with someone dominating his condo complex’s community gym.
While Franklin could share the gym with others, he’s choosing not to.
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Not only is he a bit of a germaphobe, but his youngest daughter has sickle cell anemia, something that significantly increases her risk of catching the coronavirus.
So after days of frustration not being able to work out, Franklin took matters into his own hands.
“We won’t go in the weight room with other people in there,” Franklin said Wednesday, via the York Daily Record. “And so I took the 25-pound [dumbbells] and brought them up to our condo because I couldn’t get in there. A guy was dominating the weightroom.”
While the move solved Franklin’s problem, it didn’t sit well with the gym’s frequent visitor.
“He left a nasty note in there,” Franklin said, via the York Daily Record. “He said, ‘Whoever stole the 25-pound weights, could you bring them back?’ So then I wrote a little note that said, ‘Well, could you stop dominating the weightroom for three hours a day?’ ”
Home backpack workouts
When he’s not exercising at his condo, or stealing workout equipment, Franklin has been working with his staff to ensure that every Penn State player is both safe and in a good situation during the coronavirus pandemic — which has canceled spring football workouts and forced all university classes to go online.
Franklin, who is going into his seventh year at Penn State while boasting an impressive 56-23 record with the Nittany Lions, has also sent them at-home workout ideas. They’re even suggesting bodyweight workouts where players wear backpacks carrying anything they can find to increase resistance, per the report.
Though it’s at the back of nearly everyone’s minds, there is still a college football season to prepare for. And Franklin wants to be ready
“We’re still competing with all the other top programs in the country, and the best programs and the best individuals are going to handle this adversity the best,” Franklin said, via the York Daily Record. “And I would like to try to even flip it in some ways and say, if it’s handled the right way, we have an opportunity to learn from this, to grow from this.”
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