Once you have the all-clear to get back to an exercise programme, the advice is straightforward – begin with light work and only raise the intensity when your body is able to cope.
Light intensity means exercise that barely leaves you out of breath, so walking, gardening, yoga or stretching exercises.
Gradually increase the intensity as your fitness levels begin to normalise.
Setting a new fitness target at the start of the year can be a bit daunting. For a start, your goals may change. In the after glow of the New Year’s Eve party, you may think that losing weight and eating healthily are your main goals. By the middle of January, just finding a way to stay motivated to go to the gym in the cold, dark evenings could be the target.
For your own sanity, the best approach is to see the whole festive period as a time to do things differently. You know full well that you are in a good state of health and fitness going into the break. A few days of complete relaxation will not set things back to any significant degree. Your waistband may feel but tighter by 2nd January but that is nothing a few days of more intense exercise and some sensible eating will not cure.
Beth Shriever is Team GB’s BMX star who won a memorable gold medal at the Tokyo 2022 Olympic Games and then, just three weeks later won gold at the World Championships.
This was a young athlete who, until 2019, wasn’t even funded bu UK Sport to be on the British Cycling training programme. For a year, the athlete and her family did fundraising and crowd-funding activities to help get the cycling protégée to Olympic qualification events.
Training for muscle gain
Several things changed for Beth once she was accepted onto the programme. Working with a sports psychologist, she became mentally resilient and learnt to cope with all that life threw at her. She trained with the BMX men’s team to get strong and aggressive in her racing performances; she learnt how to match her nutritional intake with her energy needs. Most importantly, she learnt how to train in the gym so she was – in her words – ‘properly strong and powerful’.
With cinemas, pubs and hairdressers all allowed to resume business on 4 July, those within the health and leisure sector fully expected to follow the same timeline.
Here at Kelsey Kerridge, we have been ready for re-opening for weeks, after following industry and government guidelines to the letter. Our workforce was ready to welcome people back, social distancing restrictions are carefully planned and the entire place is – and will always be – cleaned to the strictest standard of hygiene we can attain.
As a motivational tool, wearable fitness gadgets are a big plus. A user can keep any eye on the amount of steps they have walked, the amount of time they have spent sitting for one period, or the number of calories burnt during the day. It allows the user to take responsibility for their fitness based on a deeper level of self-awareness.
Office workers will often arrive at their desks by 9am in the morning and then sit for three to four hours with little or no walking during that time. Lunchtimes may also include eating at the desk. Then it is back for another long period in a seated position.
The impact of this can be catastrophic on the health of office workers. Carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal injury, repetitive strain, arthritis and bursitis, circulatory problems, neck and back tension, spinal disc degeneration – these are just some of the issues that arise for people who sit for prolonged periods of time.
To celebrate the success of our British Luge team at the Winter Olympics, we have put together a training schedule for potential luge athletes. While having a go, just take a second to imagine what Yarnold, Deas and Parson put their bodies through. All at Kelsey Kerridge offer our huge congratulations to the GB Luge team.
You need to give yourself permission to be physical. Whether that is spontaneously dancing around the kitchen while you are making your evening meal; doing a few squat thrusts and jumping jacks before you go to work in the morning or shoving on a pair of trainers and just running – Forest Gump style – just for the hell of it.
