ON THE FITNESS TRENDS THAT FLOORED US
Dedicated gymjunkies have known for years what the rest of the country has come to realise over the last few months: that finding time to train is more about mental health than shedding pounds or adding them to the bar. In lockdown, that’s become even more important – for thousands of people, carving out even 20 minutes a day to have a brisk run, a leisurely stroll or a few horrible rounds of burpees, has become a way to set everything else aside and focus on your own well-being, and I hope that’s a trend that will continue as commutes creep back and hangovers kick in.
Leading the charge for feelgood fitness, of course, was Joe Wicks, a man so enthusiastic about the benefits of exercise that he somehow made doing lunges in a Scooby-Doo suit – at
9am every day, for months – look a bit like fun. Wicks, and the rest of YouTube’s most personable trainers, are likely to be some of the biggest beneficiaries of lockdown – they’ve seen their followings grow, and some people are unlikely to go back to the gym for months, if at all. Bespoke options are becoming more globalised, as Zoom yoga classes allow anyone to jump in and gyms live-stream classes for anyone who wants them.
Impersonal offline trainers – the ones who don’t do much more than repcount and cheerlead – are likely to suffer, as their clients realise they can find cheaper, more cheerful alternatives online. Proper personal trainers, who provide the sort of feedback on form and targeted training that you can’t get from generic plans, will, hopefully, thrive.
What will the other long-lasting effects be? With luck, some of the people who bought up the entire European stock of kettlebells and pull-up bars will actually use them. Moving outdoors, the reputation of joggers might never recover: they’ve often been stereotyped as pavement-hogs, and the way most of them ignored social distancing, panting and droplet-spraying their way past slower park users, hasn’t helped. Top tip, runners: you can run sideways a bit without ruining your gait or your gains. It might even help your ankle stability! If Couch to 5K has helped you rediscover the joy of bounding around the park, great. Just spare a thought for the pensioners and pram-pushers who do not care about your PB.
Still on selfishness, what remains to be seen is how gyms are going to fare in a post-lockdown world: it’s likely only places in touch with their clientele will survive. Pre-Covid, a solid 20 per cent of gymgoers wouldn’t even deign to put their dumbbells back, so expecting them to wipe down treadmills, benches and bars, unsupervised, seems like a forlorn hope.
Boutique gyms may do better: many already have protocols for cleaning kit between classes, and as hygiene remains top-ofmind that’ll be key. Whether group fitness classes will resurge is tricky to predict – there’s something about competing in a group that’s tough to match at home, but since it’s currently impossible to watch people shake hands in a period drama without a twinge of horror, holding someone’s legs while they do crunches feels a long way off.
Still, if there’s one positive fitness effect, let it be an end to the creeping ubiquity of post-class high-fives, chest-bumps and bro-hugs, in favour of the fist-bump, bow, or Vulcan salute.