RAISE THE BARRE BY LEARNING BALLET AT HOME
The internet is a great source of fitness inspiration. The following sites will get you moving in no time…
THE website sportengland. org has activity advice and video classes for all age groups (as well as less able people). It includes tips and guidance on how to keep or get active in and around your home, with links to free content, plus a section for older adults.
BARBARA CURRIE, 77, has been teaching yoga for decades. Visit barbaracurrieyoga. com or find Barbara Currie Yoga on YouTube and click on the red ‘subscribe’ button to get access to short yoga sequences suitable for all levels and ages.
GREEN GODDESS, Diana Moran, 80, is running through simple exercise sequences you can join from home on BBC Breakfast at 6.55am and 8.55am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The videos are also posted on her Twitter feed @GreenGoddessTV.
TRY simple ballet exercise classes aimed at the over-50s at balletbasedmovement.com with ballet trainer, Susan Jacobson. She demonstrates simple moves with her mother, Elizabeth, who is in her mid-70s.
AT nhs.uk you’ll find lots of different exercise videos by putting ‘fitness studio’ into the search box and clicking search. You’ll find beginners’ aerobics, belly dancing, a ‘Wake Up Workout’ and the now famous ‘Couch To 5k’ running plan, which breaks down the slow build of stamina and endurance which helps a complete beginner run 5,000 metres.
There are strength and resistance classes (no equipment required), Pilates and yoga videos (with specific classes for those with back pain, knee problems, arthritis and osteoporosis, as well as a seated yoga workout). There’s a sofa workout, which urges you to turn your couch into a workbench for a 30-minute, full-body, muscle-strengthening series, plus a stairs workout you can do with the bottom few steps of your stairs.
FIND the Move It Or Lose It page on YouTube and click the subscribe button to gain access to free videos such as ‘Improve your balance in five minutes’ with fitness trainer Julie Robinson. Or if you leave your name and email address at moveitorloseit.co.uk, you’ll be sent a link to a free ‘Covid-19 support pack’ with instructions for joining a private Facebook group (which shares free routines).
FOR peak inspiration find @trainwithjoan on Instagram. This 73-year-old grandmother from Ontario, Canada, lost four and a half stone over the past three years through weightlifting with her daughter, who is a personal trainer.
Her transformation is jawdropping and she includes lots of videos on her page (though she’s worked herself up to some very advanced moves).
IF YOU fancy a more bespoke service, there are plenty of companies offering paid-for online courses that connect you to a personal trainer. Home Health Fitness has launched a series of live sessions for those wanting one-to-one personal training or individual yoga and Pilates classes.
Anyone signing up is given a medical screening and technical help to set up their devices, followed by a trial pay-as-yougo first session.
Classes can then be booked in five-hour bundles to be used at a time of your choice, with the same instructor each time. Sessions start from £40 an hour. For more information go to homehealthfitness.com.