The importance of keeping fit while we are home.

Happy FIT online. How friends can help in this journey.

Even fitness has now landed seriously online. As of today, all personal training activities, done online, were seen as activities with severe limitations, nearly part of a niche activity only for the uber-busy that really only wanted their personal training for when they could not be in their own gyms. Now, that we are all in quarantine at home, with the fridge at our full disposal, it has become very important to do physical exercise. The risks associated with isolating and with depression can be helped by doing some exercise, as it helps with increasing adrenaline, and it is good, undoubtedly, for the brain.

We have organized ourselves with our London friend group, the Manolo Group, that aside from only sharing our chat with more or less important news, we invite ourselves over for dinner, we go and get our red wine at Manolo (the name of which the group chat name derives from “The Manolo Group”), since yesterday we also do online fitness class on Google Hangouts with Isabella as our personal trainer. Isabella works in a gym, but as all trainers during these days, she gives classes online for those that love fitness and that do not want to find themselves unprepared and not fit once the quarantine is over. Isabella is amazing, she only motivates us, we are always excellent. Our first-class was an experience, but very positive, we were all connected from our small London houses, all armed with our yoga mats, those in the kitchen, those next to the bed, and those in the middle of their living rooms. Rick and I were central, in the middle of the TV, with Rocky that was jumping over our towels not understanding what was happening. The lesson went well, none of us were extremely well trained, but we are all discretely fit and we all tried to follow along with Isabella. The experiment will be repeated three times a week from next week, and that is how Happy FIT Online will start. Renewing our friendships online and aiming to build incredible six-packs, for when we can go to the beach this summer. I am even hopeful that the group online fitness classes help with mental health as well. I think that not enough consideration has been giving to the impact that the lockdown can have on mental health. It is easy to say stay at home, but what if the environment is not a safe one? What if the space to share is too small? What if you are uncomfortable with the people around you. It is hard to change lifestyle so quickly and I try my best to maintain myself serene with a positive outlook for after the lockdown and hopefully it will not last for too long.