Welcome to the work out from home revolution
PRE-pandemic, you’d only find me sweating and out of breath in my pyjamas in some kind of risqué situation – and even that didn’t happen often.
But since lockdown hit, it’s happening almost every day… when I’m working out in my living room. While I loathe the gym, I’ve been swept up in the home workout revolution, and I now do five sweaty sessions a week in front of Instagram Live.
I find real gyms intimidating, from cliquey women posing in expensive workout gear to communal showers. I last tried a gym in 2012, when a pal asked me to come along to a legs, bums and tums class.
I turned up in an old T-shirt and Primark leggings, hiding at the back of the class. We were the youngest in the room, but after five minutes I realised how unfit I was. Then, suddenly, I felt all of the blood and oxygen leave my body, and smack – I fainted. Not only had I embarrassed myself, but I’d paid a tenner for the privilege. Since then, the most exercise I’d done pre-corona is run for the bus.
At first, lockdown was a free-for-all, and I gorged on wine and KitKats in an attempt to block out the anxiety of the situation. But soon, my size-10 jeans were tight as I crept up to a 12. I was sleeping badly, worrying about the future, and I needed a release. When my friend Grace, 30, a single mum of two, suggested I do Joe Wicks’ daily PE classes, I laughed, telling her the sessions were for kids.
Still, she convinced me, and it didn’t hurt that he was so visually appealing. My first session was hard as I tried weighted squats with tins of beans for the first time, but I pushed through and felt refreshed afterwards.
I’m not alone – Joe’s gained more than 1.2 million new YouTube subscribers since March, and is set to make £10million from lockdown, a large chunk of which he’s donating to the NHS. Likewise, views of videos by Adriene Mishler, YouTube’s biggest yoga guru, have increased 200%. It’s no wonder people enjoy working out from home – you can pause classes, and there’s no fear of ending up in the background of someone’s Stories.
“I used to drag myself to the gym, as I was consumed by guilt if I didn’t go,” says my friend Molly, 23, from Bristol. “I live with a gym-bunny housemate, who started doing home workouts that she would force me to join in with. I enjoyed those as they would only take 30 minutes and I wouldn’t be comparing myself to others. Now I’m doing the Fiit App and Barre Body Online, and I’ve been working harder than if I went to the gym for an hour.”
There’s something to be said for nobody else seeing you when you work out. Sport and exercise psychologist Dr Josephine Perry says: “For some people, gyms can be really scary, so classes streamed into their own space will have been a fantastic experience. There’s also a real comfort for those with health anxiety not to be in an environment where you are sharing equipment and increasing your risk of catching any type of virus.”
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In the past, I’ve looked at Insta fitness bloggers and felt inferior, but with so many workouts on offer, I’ve found myself really enjoying the exercise. I can now hold a plank for a minute – something I’d never have been able to do before. I no longer consider exercise a display of skills I thought were beyond me.
While gyms may open again soon, the thought of people working out in perspex pods feels pretty grim. I predict the WOFH revolution will continue long after lockdown eases for people who aren’t into gym culture – even if it’s just at the weekend.
As for me, I’ll certainly be keeping up the classes – and not just because I’d get laughed out of the gym if I turned up in my fave pyjamas.