The Weird and the Wonderful

This afternoon, I delivered my final fitness class of the term. FitActive’s Fit in 45 classes are held every Monday afternoon in a Village Hall in the small Cotswold Village of Churchill. So called, they run for 45 minutes and are intended to deliver fitness benefit to all the major muscle groups plus the heart and lungs.

In February 2020, stories in the press about a viral infection raging in China were worrying but far removed from a small Village Hall in Churchill, Oxfordshire.

By the end of term, things were very different. Schools closed, workers home-based, families living in lock-down. The working world became all about an app called Zoom. Meetings, fitness classes and personal training sessions routinely being delivered remotely via a video link.

My first Live had a reach of over 880. With my average weekly page reach clocking up around 70 to 80 engagements – if I was lucky – I was amazed at the sudden leap to 1,400 in a single week.

In common with many other fitness instructors, for the foreseeable future, Zoom is set to become the way forward for my classes and clients. Today’s Fit in 45 class was to test the technology for the Zoom class experience.

Having resolved a few teething troubles with access to the meeting, there we all were. From my point of view, my laptop screen displayed a tile-effect of exercisers in colourful tops and leggings, in kitchens, sitting rooms and back gardens.

It was awesome because the technology worked. It was awesome to see all the exercises happening out there in unison. It was awesome that everyone had taken the time to put on their gym kit, deal with the tech and themselves come to terms with this new normal.

At the start of the third week of lock-down, it’s all still quite weird but in the middle of all that, this afternoon’s session was a little bit wonderful.