Jacqueline Body Shot

We are in the middle of a global health crisis. It’s a frightening, challenging, and anxious time for all of us. Our day to day lives have been massively impacted whilst we respond and implement the various health directives. We are staying at home, alongside our children, and our elderly or vulnerable relatives are in enforced isolation. Trying to exercise and remain active may seem like an impossible dream at the moment, and yet it has never been more important.

Physical activity helps our bodies stay strong. Every cell in your body requires oxygen and essential nutrients. We can make sure we deliver both of these through regular exercise and eating a healthy nutritious diet. With gyms, swimming pools, and leisure centres closed, and even public parks out of bounds, how can we hope to stay fit and active for the next few weeks stuck inside though?

The government and Public Health England recognise the importance of daily exercise on the nation’s physical health and mental wellbeing. As a result you are allowed to exercise outside once a day. This doesn’t mean you have to take up jogging, if running isn’t your thing. A brisk walk for a mile will take you around twenty minutes or less. This is perfectly adequate in helping support your cardiovascular health during the next few weeks. You’ll also be getting some valuable fresh air and connection with nature, because even if you live in a city you can look up at the sky and not the ceiling whilst you’re outside!

Top tips for making the most of outdoor exercise at the moment are

• Do it EVERY day regardless of what the weather is doing. It’s one of the few acceptable reasons for being outside at the moment, so make the most of it!
  
• Go earlier or later in the day to avoid busier times and to enable you to stick to social distancing measures
  
• Don’t touch anything when you are out, and wash your hands the minute you get home again
  
• Plan a route and stick to it
  
• Don’t drive somewhere to exercise. Instead walk, cycle or run from your home
  
• Log your mileage via a free app such as Map My Walk/Run/Ride and set up a virtual challenge with your friends. See who has covered the greatest mileage at the end of the crisis, and look forward to a celebratory get together with a prize for the winner
  

Exercising outdoors isn’t the only way to maintain your physical fitness and psychological wellbeing though. If you find yourself in isolation when a family member becomes unwell, there are plenty of ways to remain active inside your own home. With the fitness industry joining the rest of the nation on lockdown my professional colleagues, myself included, have switched Personal Training, group classes, and boot camps, to online training options. Fully aware that most people don’t own fitness equipment, such as weights or cardiovascular machines, we are well versed in improving your fitness using nothing more than your body!
You can get lots of this advice for free as well. From celebrity trainers like Joe Wicks and Davina McCall, to your local gym, or group exercise teacher, hundreds of workouts are being shared daily across social media.

Exercising outdoors isn’t the only way to maintain your physical fitness and psychological wellbeing though. If you find yourself in isolation when a family member becomes unwell, there are plenty of ways to remain active inside your own home. With the fitness industry joining the rest of the nation on lockdown my professional colleagues, myself included, have switched Personal Training, group classes, and boot camps, to online training options. Fully aware that most people don’t own fitness equipment, such as weights or cardiovascular machines, we are well versed in improving your fitness using nothing more than your body!
You can get lots of this advice for free as well. From celebrity trainers like Joe Wicks and Davina McCall, to your local gym, or group exercise teacher, hundreds of workouts are being shared daily across social media.

Make the most of training from home

• You have more time, you no longer have the daily commute, use it to get really fit!
  
• Decide on a routine that works from you. For example, if getting up and training first thing in the morning is for you find a trainer or class offering morning sessions online
  
• Now is an excellent time to try out new forms of exercise and something different. From dance classes, to HIIT, bodyweight strength training, or Pilates and Yoga, there’s hundreds of options to choose from
  
• If you have children find something you can do together, like Joe Wicks daily PE lessons!
  
• Get creative and use household objects as weights, towels as yoga mats, running on the spot instead of a treadmill!
  
• If you want something more bespoke to you then consider investing in Online Personal Training. I’m still working with my clients like this, as are other trainers
  

Exercise movement and activity not only support your physical health, but benefit your psychological wellbeing too. Endorphins, known as the feel-good happy hormones, are released when you exercise. These chemical messages create a feeling of positivity, dampen down stress, and help us manage anxiety. Never has this been more important.

You can’t control what’s happening in the world at the moment, you can control how you respond though. As well as taking all the necessary health precautions, you can bring a real focus to supporting your overall wellbeing by remaining physically active.

By the time this crisis is over you could find yourself fitter than you have ever been!

Stay home, stay fit, and stay well.

Jacqueline Hooton

Jacqueline is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Tutor and is the owner of Her Garden Gym, a personal training studio for women. Each weekday morning Jacqueline is sharing wake up and workout training sessions in her Facebook group. You can find the group here facebook.com/groups/HerGardenGymCommunity

More details about Jacqueline’s work can be found on her website