As the staying at home continues I have embraced the home workout. Originally doubtful about how they would replicate the gym, its now become the norm over the last few months. At a time of year when the gyms would normally be busy with people, I’ve found there are a few plus points to being able to work out without leaving your house, from not having to travel, to time and money saved.
Here is what I’ve been doing to keep me inspired.
I need to face facts that I’m no good working out by myself. Lacking in both knowledge and ideas for the exercises, a good knowledgeable PT is what I need. I met Tashi ages ago at an event in London and we became friends. She has a host of classes to join in with, ranging from weighted to body weight classes. They are a friendly 30 minutes to an hour long. Tashi keeps the fine balance between fun and challenging, she makes me laugh. The minutes fly by, and I can honestly say with her shout-outs to me it feels like I am really part of the class. She uses Instagram live so you can join in live or catch up later. I focus on Abs and Lower Body to supplement the running. It’s a bargain £20 a month for unlimited classes. There are a few large companies out there providing home workouts, its also good to support individual PT’s in what must be challenging times.
Yoga
Having dabbled with Yoga off and on over the years. I have found that the quality of the yoga depends entirely on the expertise of the instructor. It requires clear instruction and a calm environment. After an invite to a class by my friend, in November I did my first yoga class in well over 16 months. It was a real shocker to discover how inflexible I had become. Enter Atilia Haron. The soothing and talented Atilia is a megastar in her home country of Malaysia, she also happens to be an excellent yoga instructor. Instantly likable, within 5 sessions she had me achieving something that’s never ever happened in 7 years of yoga practice; a headstand. A yoga class is a great way to start my day. I can honestly say when I am consistent with yoga, the running injuries stay away. Atilia can be found here, alternatively there are lots of yoga classes out there have a look on YouTube.
Other at home workouts I do need equipment. These are Echelon & Zwift, which I have written about previously. Both of these are a pay-to subscribe membership but I find them incredibly motivating – Zwift for treadmill running and Turbo training.. taking you to virtual world where you can meet up with real life people to train. And echelon for instructor lead classes on a rowing machine or static bike. They all go on Strava if you are into capturing data like me.
There are so many free workouts out there on social media too. To get exercise inspiration check out PT and all round good egg @zannavandijk She has has loads of free workouts for every part of your body ranging from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. Stretches, running warm ups, its all there. Clear instructions and she does it with you so you so its easy to follow along. Check out her Instagram TV page.
Santa bought me a Les Mills set which I’m excited about starting to use that.. although with this months heavy miles planned I think I’ll ease myself into that one. My upper body strength is so poor, I suspect I’ll be aching for day when that starts.
