Instagram is my best friend for fitness during lockdown

My beloved Virgin Active has glue-gunned their doors shut.  That means choking on chlorine is out of the question.  No sticky sweat tumbling down my nose after a steam room stint.  No awkward smiles as I plunge into the foamy waters of the jacuzzi.  Most importantly, I cannot ponder, and then immediately discard, the idea of a high-intensity spin class.  The outrage is real!

While lockdown has caused my temple to take up an out of office automatic reply, the need for movement and that endorphin-spike is still active.  Therefore, the time for trying something brand-new in the snug comfort of my own home has never been more appealing. 

Over the last couple weeks, I have tried my hand at a portion of new, fun and bloody burning exercises.  Almost all (bar one) are conducted via Instagram Live and IGTV, meaning all can get involved!  These include:  barre, HITT, yoga and a little thing called BLOKparty. 

Below, I have listed the IG accounts, and some of the trainers I have been loving during lockdown for activating movement and bringing the power.

Psychle

I am now a convert to the holy church of Psychle London barre.  Whether it is controlled abs and arms; high-intensity cardio barre or a full shaking body burn – I just cannot get enough of it. 

The Psychle Head of Barre, Maria Eleftheriou, seriously brings the heat with her classes.  I am even bouncing off the walls in her in her 7:45 romps!

If you are not quite as obsessed with barre as I have become in the last few weeks, Psychle offer some other golden nuggets.  Meditation; power yoga; full-body HITT workouts and more.  If you are looking for your first venture into virtual classes, look no further than Psychle.  I am thinking of changing my postcode just so I can physically attend classes once isolation has ceased. 

BLOK

Dynamic and varied; BLOK is sophisticated and cool.  I am obsessed, and so you shall be soon.   Currently, their workout schedule compromises of one of their London-based head trainers holding a single class virtually everyday. 

I have loved every workout so far with BLOK. including, BLOKbarre with Ellya Sam (who runs her own classes over on her personal account), Vinyasa Yoga with Hannah Almond and BLOKparty with Jahmarl Crick.  The latter particularly is *the* most fun I have had moving and grooving my body in forever.  BLOK’s signature dance fitness class had me strutting around my kitchen to Ariana Grande and jiggling to Kelly Roland while giggling and working up a serious sweat.

All of BLOK’s IG workouts are powered by Beats by Dre.  Tag your post workout selfie with BLOK and Beats by Dre to be in for a chance to win big prizes.  Workouts are available to rewatch for 24 hours after broadcast. 

Hotpodyoga

Namaste; shante you stay; get me some noodles for spicy katsu ramen, if you may.   While I am yet to believe I can confidently put ‘yogi’ on my CV, regular HotPodYoga classes are making that impossibility a little more achievable.

The idea is in the name, Hotpodyoga is typically conducted in scorchingly hot rooms where their mantra is sweat baby, sweat!  Unless you crank the heating up or wear three jumpers during your homeschooling however, the ‘hot pod’ part of the class is lost.  The core yoga itself however still allows you to reap the benefits. 

Hotpodyoga operates simply.  Download their app, choose a venue (I am logged into the Hackney London site, as they seem to have the most classes), book on a free or donation basis, and then participate live via Zoom.  They post their daily schedule and reminders via IG Story – so you can get your Yoga fix at any time of the day.