We hope you're all keeping well! If you saw our YAY! (YANA and YOU!) campaign a few weeks ago, you'll have met Elly, a qualified Personal Trainer, nutrition coach and CrossFit L1 Trainer from Newcastle. Elly normally works from Reebok Crossfit Tyneside but is currently working online during the lockdown period. We caught up with Elly to ask her what her top tips were for staying on track with your fitness goals, without the gym. 

Most of our exercise schedules have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. Gyms, pools, studios and stadiums are closed. For now we can't meet up with our personal trainers, our social circles and those things that may be keeping us on track up until now.

Social distancing is likely to be prevalent for a while, and with no sign of the gyms reopening we must to find other ways of keeping fit and staying motivated to do so. In fact, now could be the perfect time to get started...

Here are 3 tips if you don't want to 'let yourself go' between now and when you can return to your favourite gym or fitness classes.

If your reasons for training have been competition, team sport or maybe to impress the cute girl/guy in your gym (I hope not) you might be struggling to pick up your trainers and carry on. Now is the perfect time to realign your goals, as you have the opportunity to work on something different for a while. As most of us are allowed to walk, run or cycle outdoors, now is a great time to work on cardio fitness and mobility for example.

Keeping active has many benefits including two very important ones for this time:

1- it boosts immunity to combat viruses and illness, provided we don't overdo it;

2- it improves our energy levels, mental health and mood.

Set some specific goals for the lockdown period such as improving your 5k run time, completing 200 miles cycling per month or going for a 30 minute walk per day. Break these down into daily tasks to tick off and you'll stay fit and motivated to continue.

With many gyms and studios moving their classes online, never before have we had access to so much. We can now take a yoga class run by a studio in another country, we can attend live meditations within the comfort of our homes, or HIIT classes run by our gyms so we still get to socialise in our community. On the plus side we have zero commute time to your working from home desk or sofa afterwards.

If you are in a financial position to do so, hiring a coach can be life changing. With all personal trainers and nutrition coaches now working online, you have their full attention. Get bespoke programming for your lifestyle, equipment and needs, as well as accountability - there's nothing more motivating than someone expecting something from you! If one-to-one isn't an option then many coaches are offering standalone programmes,  and fitness apps such as Fitbit and Strava are running community challenges too. Alternatively come up with your own with your gym pals to keep each other going!

Don't give up. Think of fitness like a thermometer dial: sometimes it will be a 10/10 and other times we might need to scale it back to a 2-3/10. Try not to turn it off completely, but even if you do it can always be turned back on.

We hope you enjoyed reading and can take away some useful tips from Elly! If you'd like to read more of our blog posts, visit the Community banner.

Stay safe and take care,

Love, YANA x 

Written by Elly Cowley