In theory, gyms along with other businesses should be reopening in England on the 12th of April, in Scotland on the 26th and in Wales around the same time. Norn Irn is still deciding. We like to take our time in Norn Irn.
Personally I’m not counting on any of that definitely happening. After the last year, who knows? At least the vaccine programme is progressing rapidly (I’m getting my first jab on Saturday), so maybe…
When the gyms do reopen, it won’t be business as usual. You’ll only be able to exercise alone or with another member of your household. There won’t be any group classes for the forseeable future. Outdoor sports such as tennis, golf and organised team sports will be allowed from the 29th of March, so if you want to exercise with friends from outside your home, well, I guess you’d better form a football team.
Stay strong and carry on
Until the gyms reopen we’re left with whatever we can muster to keep ourselves active. I’ve found motivation really hard recently. The billionth walk around the local park is about as appealing as mouldy jam. This last bit of lockdown feels like the last bit of pregnancy, in that it seems to go so much slower than all the time before.
But I haven’t stopped entirely. I’ve been doing some weights workouts with dumbbells, aided by Caroline Girvan’s excellent YouTube workouts.
In January I did Yoga With Adriene’s 30 Day Yoga Journey, and surprisingly this is a habit that has stuck. I had absolutely no interest in yoga before, but it turns out that deep breathing and sticking your bum in the air can actually be quite fun.
The other new thing I’ve started doing is the Zombies, Run! app/game. This is similar to Couch to 5K, except you’re listening to a story about zombies, and when you run, it’s to avoid being captured. I’ve actually had this app on my phone since 2015, when I did two of the runs and then gave up. Somehow it works much better in 2021. I think you can see why from the trailer.