It's important for our mental health and fitness that we stay active. That's easy said when your normal routine of attending school, a club or social group has suddenly stopped. You have been asked to stay indoors, self-isolate or practice social distancing.
This is affecting all age groups. My 71-year-old mother can't attend her regular twice-weekly physio groups as they have been cancelled until June and her church has asked for them all to pray in their homes. My 86-year-old father in law is finding it hard to stay at home, he going stir crazy as his daily routine has disappeared. His weekend dancing social meetups, cancelled! All of my 20-year-old son's lacrosse training and games have been cancelled. His season of playing in Canada is on hold until further notice and we are still waiting on information about all the other tournaments which were planned for this year. My daughter's new job is on hold, the start date is now 'unsure'. Her make-up client base has drastically depleted. Her gym has closed, so she isn't getting out, mixing with others. My 9-year-old is less active at the moment as there is no school, no clubs to attend, no swimming baths to go to and his friends are either self-isolating or keeping a social distance, but hey, they are still available to chat online while gaming (eye roll there).
As for me, it doesn't feel right. I'm not running around after them all, organising things for them, providing lifts, huffing and puffing at there not being enough hours in the day to fit all the other things I class as normal everyday activities. (There still aren't enough hours in the day.)
Everyone will be experiencing a change in their daily activities. For some people, it will be stressful and will affect their mental health. Keeping active and keeping connected will help to relieve stress.
How can we keep everyone active?
There are so many different things being posted on different social media sites and web pages. For some people that can be stressful sieving through them all. Where do you start?
I've have checked some of them out and placed them on here. Take a look, you might like one them and it may help to keep the boredom away for a while.
PE WITH JOE
Joe is good for all ages. He would like to be the nations PE teacher.
Five minutes a day at set time is really good for your mindset as well as your physical fitness.
PE WITH JOE starts on Monday morning at 9 am on his YOUTUBE channel: The Body Coach TV. He will be there every day Monday to Friday at 9 am. Check out his 5 Minute Move Kids workout and set your alarm on daily repeat for 9 am or maybe 8.55 am so you are ready to get active.
GoNoodle
A great fun website with lots of free videos that encourage being active, set to music with actons. No signup or login needed, just browse through the videos and play the ones you want.
There are also some really good creative activity videos. Take a look, I am sure you will enjoy the site.
I really liked this one, it made me giggle.
BBC Super Movers
(5.52 minutes - the start of the exercises)
Super Movers Day celebrates active schools and empowers pupils to take the lead to get their peers moving.
Today, Thursday, 19 March they will be showcasing some of their bespoke resources in an exciting new 20-minute active learning program designed to be used at school or at home.
Presented by Ben Shires and featuring special guests including Jess Fay, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC's sport scientist, Wolves players Jackson Smith and Pascal Estrada and six Super Movers Champions, the program looks at how physical activity positively impacts learning, improves concentration, motivation and mood.
The Super Movers Champions will be showing you how you could move throughout the day and share some tips on how your school can incorporate more activity into everyday life.
Get involved with Super Movers Day using this teacher guidance sheet, or their guide to joining in at home.
You can also use the new resources on their Super Movers Champions collection to prepare for action.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Yoga, mindfulness and relaxation designed especially for kids aged 3+, used in schools and homes all over the world.
There are tons of videos to choose from set to stories; using words, situations, and playfulness.
You can access their videos via their website or YouTube channel or their APP.
They have created a safer, commercial-free space: Cosmic Kids App. This has all of their videos streaming as often as you like (without any commercials) and costs $65/£50 per year or $10/£7 a month.
At the moment they are offering a FREE 14-day trial of their app.
Change 4 Life
Change4Life and Disney have teamed up again to bring you new Shake Up games inspired by Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2, and Disney's The Lion King and Frozen. These 10-minute bursts of fun will really get kids moving and count towards the 60 active minutes they need every day!
The activities are simple and easy to follow with the step by step pictures that accompany them. A lot of them you will already know and probably already do, but these have been linked with Disney characters to make them more interesting for children to be active with.
I liked Jack-Jack's Super Shapes, we set the activity to a count down. Counting down from four, on 1, the leader fixes a shape pose, the rest copy. We created some pretty funny shapes poses.
Senior Fitness - Exercise for the Over 60's
I came across these videos by chance. I think this woman is fantastic!
Ignore the title, we can all do these activities and the great thing is, we can do them in the comfort of our own home.
There are loads of websites with activity videos out there. You only need one. Find one you like and add it to your daily routine.
Let me know if you find any others that you would like me to share.
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