Since just before Christmas we have been in a tier 5 lockdown and this is unlikely to change for the next few weeks. Therefore, all classes and PT sessions are currently being run over Zoom. I have merged the Bootcamp and beginners session into one Saturday morning group which works surprisingly well. There are always ways to make exercises easier and harder and the joy of Zoom is that if you want to take a slightly longer rest, most people wouldn’t even know!

I am able to take on new personal training clients but the initial client consultation and subsequent PT sessions would all need to take place over Zoom until the rules are relaxed a little. It’s not how I would like to do personal training sessions but it does work.

Classes are mainly bodyweight exercises with just a chair or low table to hand to help with a couple of additional exercises. More recently we have been using some dumbbells or resistance bands which people have at home (often dusted off from the back of a cupboard/garage). This means we can do some different exercises and different styled workouts. A lot of people have bands but not entirely sure how to use them in their workouts so this has proved popular. I always like to have a focus on core work, especially at the moment with people sitting for longer periods at home, often less exercise. The core muscles quickly get lazy which can lead to lower back/glute/or leg pain, so we work the whole core for all ability levels.

Sessions also include a good warm up and cool down often incorporating some yoga based stretches which is a physically and mentally beneficial way to finish. If you fancy giving a session a try (first class is free) then get in touch. It’s a great way to start the weekend and boost your mood!

Hooray! I am now back to running face to face classes and Personal Training sessions which is brilliant and this will be continually monitored as the situation changes.

The Saturday 9am Zoom class is now a face to face class at 8.30am but I have kept the 10am beginner Zoom class running whilst there is still demand, so there are places available on this session.

Face to face classes maintain the 2m distance and clients are encouraged to bring their own mats if they have one. Equipment is currently limited in classes and and what is used is cleaned in between each session.

Personal Training has less restrictions and run pretty much as normal with equipment being cleaned before and after use.

So whatever your current fitness requirements (lockdown has effected everyone differently) if you fancy getting outside and blowing away the cobwebs, get in touch!

For the last two weeks, my existing clients have been working out with me on a Saturday morning in either a beginner session or main HiiT session.

I now feel happy to open these up to anyone new wanting to get involved and start working out with us. The classes will still be kept fairly small so that I can interact with people on the session. You can join in wherever in the country you are but people local to Woking would be able to continue working out in an outdoor group setting, once the lockdown and restrictions have ended. (I have people travelling from New Haw and Addlestone but it has always been my intention to keep things local to keep down mileage)

Currently these sessions are free of charge but this will be likely to change as we continue in lockdown where a small fee will be charged. But the trial session will always be free.

HiiT/Interval session – Saturday at 9am
Beginner session – Saturday at 10am

The benefit of doing a live interactive session is that you can get feedback on how you are doing. Lets be honest, there are a ton of brilliant workouts online and so many fitness experts to follow but what I offer are small, friendly groups, where posture can be corrected, encouragement offered if you are struggling with motivation or energy and if a certain exercise is painful due to an injury or just too challenging then a modified/alternative exercise can be offered. And if you have a certain piece of exercise equipment at home, I will try to incorporate it into the session so that you can use it. With the best will in the world, Joe Wicks can not individually help 800k+ participants.

If you would like to trial a session, then please get in touch either via the ‘contact me’ tab or jo@inclusive fitness.co.uk. It will be great to ‘virtually’ see you soon x

Following Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday 23 March, I will no longer be able to run group classes or Personal Training sessions. This is because we have all been told to stay at home and avoid any non essential activities outside of the house.

However, I am going to attempt for the first time to run some online sessions. I am currently in the process of setting up the Zoom app to run the sessions and writing some predominantly bodyweight exercises with variations for beginners to more confidant exercisers.

I hope to trial this at the beginning on next week and run my first public session on Sat 4 April time tbc but most likely 9am or 9.30am.

You will be able to sign up to these sessions whether you already attend a session with me or not. If you have not worked out with me before, then you are more than welcome to join us and try a session out. Joe Wicks had over 800,00k on Monday but said that he originally started with 25 so lets see how I get on!

Due to the anticipated high comedy factor of me actually doing this, plus the situation we are currently all in, I will not be charging for these sessions. You can all be my guinea pigs but try be gentle with me. I would not normally choose to be in front of the camera but needs must and it will be good to be able to continue to offer some online sessions once things return to ‘normal’.

So check back here or on my Facebook page for updates and hopefully the Zoom invite will be available in the next few days.

In the meantime, stay at home (unless you’re a key worker obviously) and remember that you are allowed out for a walk, run or cycle once a day to help you get your exercise to boost both your physical and mental wellbeing and thankfully is is lovely outside at the moment. Keep a 2 metre distance from any one who is not a member of your household. Fingers crossed that you can stay well.

It is hard to not notice the feeling of impending doom when you read and watch all the news regarding Corona Virus. However, I feel that we need to demonstrate a certain level of calm and remain living our lives as best we can until advised otherwise. With that in mind, I will keep running classes and Personal Training Sessions until I feel that it is no longer advisable to do so, based of Government information.

The benefit I have is that I run small, outdoor classes and Corona Virus does not survive well outside, so gyms will have to fight a losing battle of trying to constantly sanitise equipment. So below are my guidelines for continuing to run classes.

1. All group sessions will now be run entirely outdoors (I have done small sessions indoor when it has been very wet)
2. Equipment will be sanitised before each session.
3. If you have your own workout mat that you are happy to use, then please bring this with you. Otherwise I will give each person their own mat to use for that session.
4. Please wash your hands or use a alcohol based hand gel before and after each session.
5. I will not do any close partner exercises during this period. Clients need to be at ‘least’ 1 metre a part throughout the session.
6. More bodyweight only sessions will be included, especially as the virus progresses.
7. If you feel unwell, particularly with a cough and/or temperature, please do not come to the class. And this will apply to myself as well and I will advise accordingly should I need to cancel.

Outdoor exercise is great for building immunity and generally feeling well, both physically and mentally, so I do not want to stop running sessions until absolutely necessary. However, everyone will rightly have their own stance of the subject but hopefully some regulars will still want to work out with me and maybe some new exercisers will take this opportunity to get involved too, especially if their own classes have had to temporarily close. Hey, I’m happy to have guests for a few weeks!

Finally, hoping you all stay safe and well and look out for each other x

Sunday 8th March was the Surrey Half Marathon. Had it of been Saturday 7th March I’m not sure that I would have made the start line as my cold broke out and I felt rubbish. But Sunday morning I was surprisingly ok and I gave it my best shot. It was not a personal best time but at 1.44.03 I had to be pleased as due to my cold and late entry, meaning not as much training as I would have liked, that was either my second or third best time for a half marathon.

To keep up the momentum and motivation I need to set myself some new challenges. I have entered the Tough Mudder in May, although I fear that this is likely to be cancelled due to Corona Virus (more on that shortly) and I will enter the Weybridge 10k in the hunt for a pb if that race goes ahead in June. I also have a challenge that I can do at home which I will share at a later date.

So keep setting yourself goals to give you the motivation and purpose to stick with your training. Good luck with which ever goals you choose to go for!

So how is you current motivation for exercise/eating healthily going as we enter into March? I love exercise and looking and feeling well but I still struggle with motivation. There are always so many other things, especially as a mum of young children, to do instead. And if you leave it until the evening you are often far too tired and hey, there is always tomorrow! So here are two things that work for me:

Do something that you really enjoy

If you hate running but are trying to do the couch to 5k program, you have to rely on your own strong internal motivation to keep you going. But if you love swimming, then you are much more likely to to not miss a session, simply because you enjoy it. To you it’s fun! So make sure you include an activity that you really enjoy. For me, it’s indoor rock climbing. It make me feel young and slightly cool if I’m being honest but it is such a great strength and core workout and I am always exhausted afterwards, but I love going so tend to want to do this more than other workouts.

Give yourself a challenge

Giving yourself a specific challenge or goal really focuses your mind on why your exercising in the first place. So that may well be to lose a certain amount of weight or to get into a certain pair of trousers but having a date to work to is quite a strong motivator. So having a wedding, birthday or other event is a good date to work towards.

For me, it is actually entering a running race. I have therefore entered the Surrey Half Marathon and quite a bit later than I probably should have. I wasn’t sure if I was really fit enough following a pre-christmas chest infection so I didn’t enter until the 31 Jan. The race is on 8 March. 5 weeks is not really enough time to train for a half marathon but it really does help to focus the mind. I have done my long runs but not as many short, fast runs as I would have liked but at least I know that I have the stamina back in my legs to get around. I’ve done quite a few half marathons over the years and the challenge is always to go for a personal best time and the last 3 half’s, I have actually done this. And when I start off on Sunday, I will no doubt think that I can do the same again. The truth is I probably can’t this time but the mind if a powerful tool. So the time I will be aiming to beat, or at least get near too is 1.41.46 (I am laughing was I write this as realistically any under 1.50mins would be good considering) After this, I have two more challenges lined up so I can keep up the momentum.

So try finding out what your own exercise motivation is…..

I hope you had a brilliant Christmas and enjoyed all the excesses that often comes with it. But your thoughts are probably already turning to the year ahead. New Years resolutions…..useful to some but not to most. They come with with unrealistic pressures that generally fizzle out far too quickly. Instead, create some stepping stones. Small steps that you can build on rather than a giant promise that generally fades to nothing and can leave feeling like you have failed.

If you are looking at losing weight then what you eat needs to be your first priority. Be honest with yourself. Write a food diary for at least a week and spot the trends that you can work on straight away. If you have a sweet treat daily, cut it down to two or three times a week. Same with wine or beer, reduce your current intake.

Increase your activity level. This can start by introducing a daily walk to your schedule. Go and explore your local area and find the hidden footpaths. Always loved swimming/cycling but not gone for years. Make the decision to fit it in to your week and regain your enjoyment of being active.

And this is where I come in…I enjoy strength training so my classes focus on getting the body stronger which is vital whatever your age. I run a beginners ‘Rebuild’ class and an indoor or outdoor ‘Repair’ class both of which are good starting points. If you are already familiar with many of the bodyweight and weight exercises, then try the Circuits class as this can easily be adapted so that your fitness levels can build without affecting other members of the class. And if you want something a bit more rough and ready and a bit more challenging, then try the boot camp. This can also be adapted to different fitness levels but it is the most intense of the classes that I run. Or if you have specific requirements or really on a mission to reach a target, then Personal Training is a good option.

Not sure about working out outside…. yes it’s quite cold and wet out during the winter months and getting out of bed is the often the hardest part but you honestly can’t underestimate the health benefits that you get from being outdoors and facing the elements. Dress for the weather, layer up, as you will warm up quickly and enjoy then mental boost that follows. It honestly can help to combat anxiety, depression and loneliness more than working out indoors.

These classes are ‘Rustic’. I cannot offer the frills and comfort of a gym but then not everyone wants that. This is a friendly option, especially if you are unconfident in yourself or your own ability where you can work on these areas without judgement.

So lastly have a very Happy New Year and choose a couple of small stepping stones to put into place and then instead of giving up before the end of January you can instead add a couple of more steps to build a healthier lifestyle which you can stick with for the rest of year and beyond.