This week in Ireland we have seen the reopening of many services and it’s been great to see so many of my favourite local businesses open their doors again.
I can’t wait to return to some form of normality; eat out in my favourite restaurants, see my wider circle of friends and enjoy a break from the 4 walls of my house!
We’ve also seen the reopening of gyms and it’s no secret that I have a serious love of training, in fact, I’ve even written a whole post on why I love it! So I’m delighted that this has been reintroduced.
I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last number of months and one of those things is that I don’t really like working out on my own. This came as a surprise to me, yes I’ve always enjoyed group training sessions but I also love weekend sessions on my own in the gym. But that’s the thing – you’re in the gym and you are around other people!
Having lost the ritual being able to get out of the house and go to the gym I found training alone quite isolating and to be honest demotivating. Which really surprised me – I’ve always felt that training is something you do for you and never really thought about the actual environment playing such a huge role.
2020 has been a whirlwind – lockdown aside, I had fallen out of love with training and wasn’t carving out time for myself, work was as hectic as ever and I’d constantly say to myself – next week will be better, I’ll make time… Then overnight we entered into lockdown.
I decided I wasn’t going to let lockdown get in the way of my intentions and spent a series of weekends building a multi-gym with more screws and washers than I care to recount – I was so excited to have it finished and my little home gym all set up, the first couple of training sessions were great but then I found myself getting a little fed up. I wasn’t enjoying it at all, on reflection I think it was mainly that there was no change of scenery I was just going from one room to another in the house. Rather than force it too much I started going for a few longer walks instead.
After the June Bank Holiday weekend when we had an ease to the restrictions I started doing 1:1 PT boxing sessions with Headon Boxing Academy and even after the first session I felt incredible – it was so good to get out of the house, talk to other people and get my body moving again. Now don’t get me wrong, the sessions were tough and 10+ weeks of inactivity definitely showed but exactly 1 month in today I can feel myself getting back to my normal baseline and it feels amazing 🙂
I’m sleeping better, my mood is so much improved, I’m less stressed and most importantly my love for training is back. I’ve also introduced some strength sessions with Siobhan O’Neill and I’m definitely starting to feel a whole lot stronger again too.
I think the key here is to accept that even if you have been keeping up with your training this whole time (or maybe you haven’t at all, and that’s totally ok!) when you first go back to classes / the gym things are going to be different. You might not be able to lift as heavy, you might end up a beetroot after 5 minutes (yes, I’m talking about myself here!!) go easy on yourself, we’ve all been through a lot these last couple of months and beating yourself up over the little things is not something you want to do.
Ease in at your own pace, if you haven’t been training at all don’t suddenly go from 0-100 overnight, I’ve been slowly increasing my sessions, it’s super important to make sure that you give yourself enough time to recover.
Also, remember, just because places are open doesn’t mean you have to go, if you don’t want to meet up with people, head to restaurants, go back to the gym – or even the office – you don’t have to! Do whatever makes you feel comfortable, it’s ok to say no every now and again!
One thing that I have learned from this whole experience is the power of getting out for a walk to clear the head. So even if you’re not in the mood to workout, a change of scenery and some downtime away from your laptop/phone while getting some steps in is a really good way to relax and unwind.
If you’re looking for some group training I would highly recommend:
Headon Boxing Academy, they do 1:1 too if you’re not keen on small groups right now.
If boxing isn’t your thing check out Crossfit 353 my OG gym home, they opened back up their all-new box by the Gibson yesterday and it looks class!
If you’re looking for a more one on one approach with a focus on strength and overall wellness, Siobhan O’Neill is your woman! She has an all-new training facility coming very soon so definitely one to watch. Her level of knowledge is incredible I’m constantly wowed by her!
If you’re not ready to make the move to a training facility yet and would prefer to workout at home, check out Gaz & Andy who have just launched their new online training platform.
Happy training, whichever route you choose 🙂
