Growing up I was always participating in some kind of sport; swimming, gymnastics even golf, so being active has always been part of my life, sadly however injury has made it harder as time goes by. Even so, I know I have to push myself through and aim ahead. For me sometimes gyms can feel daunting but also a waste of my hard earned money because as soon as I feel like things are going well something seems to happen and I’m back to square one. And do not even get me started on the fact that for some reason it’s always impossible to find a single matching dumbbell pair. Never fails! So I actually cancelled my membership and started to build a mini home fitness area at home. I have my beautiful punching bag, once a boxer always a boxer, two sets of dumbbells depending on what exercise I’m doing and a few resistance bands. That’s more than one needs to be able to workout at home. Even with all of these fabulous tools I still find myself lacking inspiration at times but also someone to push me and tell me “ you can do it 30 more seconds!”. So with that in mind I took some time in Lockdown Mark II to try out some home fitness tech and accessories.
I was alerted to FitFor, an online platform for fitness and wellbeing that offered free classes during Lockdown 2.0. They offer so many different levels and classes, you will definitely find something you love. And they even have injury care for people like myself that has an injury and have to be just a bit more mindful when it comes to sport or potentially just want guidance. You have a choice of live classes which will make you push yourself to the max, but if it’s hard to manage to hit the schedule there are also videos to play on demand, plus if needed they even have nutrition and food planning.
The class that seemed to call my name each day was the 30 minute Box HIIT, and because I have a punching bag I thought, why not punch that. So I did my sets with the help of my bag but this is originally a no equipment workout, and one that you can do in your living room or studio. The Box HIIT is a scrumptious mix of cardio and strength, star jumps and punches, could it be any better? Full on but achievable by any fitness level.
Some days I might not feel like I need the intensity of fitness class like HIIT, maybe something more calm, mindful, something for both body and soul. This is the day where I logged on to The Yoga Class by Laura Dodd.
On this platform you can find yoga for all levels and all intentions. Whether you want to learn the basics and perfect your movements or if you want to work on your core for instance, it is all here. I chose the core strength workout and I tell you, it might look easy but it is not. To hold the poses and engage your core is much harder than one might think. After my core strength I always like to end with meditation, just to ground myself and find peace of mind. I chose the Gratitude meditation but you have sessions that help with sleep or even help spleen and stomach meridian lines.
The videos are easy to follow and they just brought me serenity when I needed it the most. Laura Dodd is an international model turned yogi, she focuses on teaching with grace and passion and I can really tell by the setup of the platform, I really enjoyed the content.
For the times when I brave the big outdoors and head off to the park for a workout, I’ll need something to carry all my gear in, gloves, wraps and water bottle of course. This is when I use my perfectly compact but super roomy black barrel JimBag. JimBag aims to deliver functional and fashionable fitness accessories taking you straight from work to workout. Also once the world opens up for travel once again, I definitely can see myself using my duffel as carry on, I mean why not. When packing I also now have a matching washbag, big enough to fit all my bits and bobs but still compact enough to fit into my carry on amongst the rest of my items. Both bags are made of Canvas making them super lightweight and the wash-bag has a waterproof inner lining, we don’t want shampoo all over our clothes now do we?
I always try to get my 10,000 steps in, not every day, but as often as I can. When power walking I don’t really want to have a bag on me as it sometimes alters my posture and my back hurts; I’m no spring chicken, I have come to except this.
So in order to carry my phone and debit card and let’s not forget the keys, I have been using the Nolii armband. Nolii offers very exciting items that all work together. It’s like a system, I have a couple case that clicks together with the armband, so no more bulky pockets or rubber screens making it near impossible to skip a song while walking. On top of the armband I also received a couple wallet, a super lightweight cardholder that holds two cards safe, perfectly fitting into my clutch bag the next time I venture out to a venue dressed to the nines. Nolii offers so many sleek and super functional items for your phone, no more cables in a knot and bulky chargers.
Nowadays when I’m out walking I am trying to be mindful of keeping social distance from others but sometimes this can be quite a challenge so I end up wearing a mask more often than not. I have tried many different styles, fabrics and I’m always open and looking for that perfect match. I have recently been trialling the AirPop Pocket Mask, it’s a very lightweight and super breathable mask that safely filters up to 99.3% of particles and droplets. It has a comfortable foam nose bridge and a 3D design making it that much easier to breath through. I walked for an hour and a half all the way from West Kensington to Covent Garden and back and I can safely say that I almost forgot I was wearing my AirPop pocket mask, that’s how comfortable it is! When I’m not wearing my mask I know how important it is to store it right so that it doesn’t get contaminated. AirPop also offers a little case to safely store your mask in, tiny enough to fit any bag or pocket. If you look at the pocket mask you can see it has small ridges which are indications of where to fold it and in turn fit it into the case without damaging the shape and integrity of the mask. AirPop is the world’s first “air wearables” company, and they didn’t just start with this pandemic they have been around since 2015 working hard on creating ultra high performance products. The masks has a two way filtration not only focusing on the breath in but also making sure the outward breath filters just the same. Safety first.
My fitness routine whether it’s classes, gear or safety is now all sorted, no more excuses, let’s do this!
