Are you tired of seeing the same familiar faces or do you find your routine slip-sliding? Would you enjoy a spurt of new energy and somebody else to look after the kids’ boundless energy for a while?
At 9am every weekday, online fitness trainer Joe Wicks, The Body Coach, invites parents and children to join his morning half-hour physical education classes on YouTube. With kids out of school, for those who are living inside an apartment or have limited garden space, these online child-oriented fitness videos are the perfect way to put structure into your child’s day and burn off excess energy.
With the UK National Curriculum advising two-hours of compulsory physical activity per week, these daily sessions supplement a hole in their schedule. They also offer vital time for play, exercise and family time. Establishing a routine for children creates a sense of security, which is especially important when there’s an unprecedented level of anxiety and stress in the world at large.
The classes are free, full of energy and progress across the weeks so that the exercises last longer as the rest between exercises decreases. In only its first week, the series attracted 22 million views.
What’s more, with YouTube’s payment systems, the series had generated over 100,000 US dollars with all profits being donated to the NHS for as long as the videos are available online.
To create a family culture of exercise and play, remember to check-in for your half-hour 9am workout every weekday. Since it takes 21 days to instil a new habit, this might be one of those times you look back upon as the time when everyone became healthier, happier, stronger, and fitter together.
Joe Wicks is not the only personal fitness trainer to make their free fitness classes available online, yet he is one who can afford not to be running his classes for a while – unlike your local instructor. If you regularly attend classes but can’t, think about your instructor. Many are freelance workers whose income depends upon delivering regular instruction. Reach out to those instructors through their business page to see if they’ve made the move online. They may not even charge full rates.
Some are asking for a donation based upon what you can afford. In this time when community-mindedness is vital, and because health leads to happiness, why not contact your instructors to ask if they’re delivering online classes? The chances are they’ll appreciate hearing from you. And if you’re still not sure where to start, Lagos-based Inlight Yoga, amongst others, has put its schedule for yoga and guided meditation sessions on its Facebook page.
As easy as it is to transform into a couch potato, resist at all odds; instead, log-on and create a culture of family fitness together.
By Anna Loewy
