Out and About Spring 2021

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Fitness in Body & Mind during Lockdowns The First Lockdown Like all gyms we received the news of lockdown on 23 March last year with resignation and some disappointment. Obviously reducing the spread of the virus was a responsibility we all shared, but like so many businesses in the leisure and entertainment industries we were confused by the inclusion of gyms into the shutdown list when other, apparently more exposed, environments were allowed to continue trading. But rules are rules and our clients accepted the closure, as did our fantastic trainers Ian and Jerry. Obviously we couldn’t allow ourselves to fall into lockdown - laziness, and as we still owned a gym that was our place of work we could continue to use it — which of course we did! Amazingly the equipment was always free for us to use and perfectly cleaned down! Although we couldn’t offer personal training at our gym, we wanted to give as much support as possible to our clients to help them to stay �it during lockdown; happily with our experience we had a great suggestion. 5BX is a great home workout routine. This exercise plan was put together by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1960s for all their staff, desk to air crew. It had a number of features that recommended itself to us: well documented: you can’t exercise properly if you don’t know what you are meant to do it is whole body and “stretchy” equipment. We added 5BX into our own exercise regime, while keeping up with Abstract Strength training for muscle and bone health, and even posted some videos on our YouTube channel for people who want to see how to do it. We reopened with the rest of the industry on 28th July, by which time we had installed UV - C lamps for sanitization and enhanced all our cleaning regimes. And we were OVERJOYED at the enthusiasm of our clients who were fairly clamouring to return. And then came FRED! In September we welcomed Fred the cat into our home; he was a rescue cat and, at 18 months old, still very kittenish. Within a week of getting him it became very clear who ruled at our house - Fred of course! He is very entertaining and an athletic climber; no high place is too challenging for Fred; one never knows where to look for him next. So glad we took you in big boy. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR OFFERING YOUR SUPPORT! With time on our hands both Pat & I started on the journey to become Non - Healthcare Vaccinators so that we could continue contributing to the health of the local population even if we couldn’t train their muscles. Happily this lockdown was much shorter and once again our clients came �looding back in early December. The Third Lockdown The third lockdown has probably been the most upsetting, but also the most necessary. The Government numbers told a clear story — LOCKDOWN ESSENTIAL — and we fell in line. With our vaccination training taking a lot of time we kept ourselves mentally and physically engaged. We both quali�ied in February and have done some shifts at the Basingstoke Mass Vaccination Centre. We continue to be available as needed, but right now the service is well supported; however NHS - Professionals have told us that this is a long term programme and that we may well be needed again in the coming months. The Whole Journey Lockdown has been dif�icult for us, but not as bad as for some, and we are lucky to have been able to survive as well as we have. This virus isn’t going away, but hopefully lockdowns are, so if we all maintain the basic hygiene routines of washing hands and keeping social distance, even after lockdown is lifted, let’s all hope that we as a country can move back to a more normal life — with no excuses for not regaining strength & �itness! See adver�sement opposite for details of how to book two free personal training sessions. Quote O&AQ22021 incremental: your performance on each of the �ive exercises can improve independently time ef�icient — less than 15 minutes Well documented, whole body, incremental, and quick — similar characteristics to the exercise we provide at Abstract only without The Second Lockdown Unhappily we were returned into lockdown in early November 2020. Once again we were lumped in with regular “big box” gyms, but rules are rules. As before our client base took the news stoically, and some even offered to pre - pay for future training to help us stay a�loat �inancially. Happily we didn’t need to take up these kind offers but

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O&A SPRING 2021