Wealden Times | WT223 | Sept & Oct 2020 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Techno-fit
Sarah Maxwell explains how lockdown
has forced a fitness revolution
Prior to lockdown, just thinking
about exercise brought many
out into a cold sweat! Staying
fit and healthy meant you went
along to the gym, worked through
a stack of celebrity fitness dvds or
fitted a Pilates or Zumba class into
your already packed out schedule.
Between free online fitness sessions
on social media, to attending your
favourite instructor’s online Zoom
workouts (which we loved, after the
initial stresses of learning how to
use Zoom!), regular walks, cycling
and running started being a normal
part of many people’s daily lives.
It certainly made a huge
difference to overall health and
wellbeing for those who viewed it
as an essential part of their day.
One of my clients was training, as
we went into lockdown, for a 70 mile
running event which was to take place
over 24 hours in June. Like everything
else it was cancelled and as she was
using it as the basis to raise money
for four charities to celebrate her 60th
birthday she decided to take the event
virtual by running the distance locally,
so we took her training online early on.
Normally preparing for such an
event would involve a lot of running
in addition to the training I provided,
but this would have been difficult
with the various rules about exercise
outside of the home put in place by
the Government. We therefore had
to adapt the one-to-one training to
take this into account. She did already
have some exercise equipment at home
and bought a few weights, so it was
fairly easy to train her as if she was
in my studio. Having said that, it’s
easy to adapt what you already have
and before the arrival of the weights
tins and wine bottles were used!
In the end she completed the
virtual event successfully and, as she
said, “Online training can actually
be more intense and even more
effective as it really concentrates the
mind. It is still fun and we still had
a laugh as we would have done in
the studio but it is testament to that
training that I went into the virtual
event fit, strong and ready and I
completed it without a problem!”
This approach, of course, isn’t
for everyone – many people prefer
in-person training. Going forward,
as gyms and studios reopen, I
think there will be a real mix and
combination of in-person and online
training. Online has opened up a
whole new world of possibilities and
I, for one, am embracing it fully.
Sarah’s Lockdown Saviours
In my quest to explore the range of
online opportunities and branch out
of my comfort zone this is what I did
during lockdown to keep my spirits up.
Online experience 1
An online beginner’s flamenco class
in Seville with one of Spain’s top
instructors. I am only grateful that
this wasn’t videoed and hasn’t been
made public!
Online experience 2
A group taco making experience in
Mexico with my family and many
other families around the word. This
was hilarious because we failed to get
the correct ingredients and had to keep
muting ourselves as we shouted at each
other for not being organised.
Online experience 3
I decided that I needed to cheer my
daughter up, so booked us into a
Booty Shake class in Chile. I was
the oldest by about 30 years and
by far the most uncoordinated!
Lockdown pushed me way out of
my comfort zone and I needed it.
I now know that at the tip of my
fingers I can access opportunities
to train with whoever I like and try
so many things that I didn’t have
the opportunity to do before.
This is a whole new world for
us all. (You are so lucky that this is
print, not video because, I sing it
on video regularly – so badly!)
Online/offline and everything
in between, is something to
embrace and carry forward to
ensure a better and healthier future
for us and our loved ones.
Sarah Maxwell is a multiple awardwinning
Fitness and Lifestyle coach
and mum of two who juggles a lot
of balls. Find out more about Sarah
and her work at sarahmaxwell.com
Sarah shares her Fitness and Lifestyle tips
on Instagram @sarahmaxwelllifestyle
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