Keeping fit and healthy, both physically and mentally, has never been more of a paramount concern than as the Coronavirus pandemic rages on.
In spring 2020, the majority of us were relegated to our homes to work (and play) after the government enforced its first set of lockdown restrictions. The guidelines stated that people should stay at home where possible and only leave for activities such as shop for basic necessities, going to work if you can’t do so from home, meeting a support or childcare bubble and exercise once a day as gyms and leisure centres closed their doors.
As result, we took to transforming our living rooms and bedrooms into our very own at-home gyms, complete with skipping ropes, yoga matts and dumbbells. Last year, the E-commerce Times reported that sales of dumbbells during the 2020 lockdown period increased by 1,980 per cent compared to March and April in 2019 on eBay, respectively.
As the months of lockdown restrictions have continued, people have used virtual workouts, courtesy of fitness companies such as Barry’s Bootcamp, Psycle, FRAME and Kobox, to fill their spare time and find a new work/life balance. Pret trips for afternoon coffees and post-office runs have been replaced with HIIT sessions, pilates and meditation apps. Research from Mintel states that 80 per cent of all online adults took some sort of exercise during the Covid-19 restrictions of the spring and summer, with 74 per cent of those aged 16-24 exercising at home.
Others dusted off their bikes and dug out their running trainers to head outside for fresh air. During 2020, Strava’s community grew by about two million new athletes each month, with more than 1.1 billion activities being uploaded to the platform in the last 12 months. Amid the chaos of the health crisis, the love of fitness and wellbeing prevailed.
With national Tier 5 restrictions now in place for the beginning of 2021, we’ve rounded up the workouts and fitness trends you can look forward to sweating, and smiling, your way through to ensure your mind and body are in top condition.
Here are the biggest fitness trends for 2021:
Walk the walk
While at-home workouts might have seen a growth in popularity, so has walking and hiking in the great outdoors.
For many of us, weekends without social plans resulted in daily (if not twice daily) walks around our local areas, whether it involved a socially distanced catch-up with a friend in the park or a lengthier, backpack-accessorised ramble through the countryside.
According to Mintel’s research, nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of 16-24s are now ramblers, rising from 16 per cent in 2018. And Strava notes that walking became a top new activity for cyclists on the platform between April and June last year, resulting in uploads of outdoor walks increasing by a third overall in 2020.
It’s unsurprising seeing as walking outside is one of the best ways to enjoy low-impact fitness in nature and escape the mundane 9-5 home office, while also giving your mental health a boost.
‘As well as people just realising that walking is a healthy and fun activity which lets them see much more of an area, including its history – there’s a sense of wanting adventure,’ a spokesperson from the Long Distance Walkers Association (LWDA) tells ELLE UK. ‘We’ve noticed more people thinking about challenges such as walking routes such as the Pennine Way and camping along the way, which offers an exciting burst of adventure and freedom.’
With outdoor exercise still permitted under Tier 5 rules, expect to see more photos on social media of friends donning their winter thermals and heading out for brisk walks in 2021.
Here is the National Trust’s list of the best 100 walks to do in Britain and the LDWA’s annual 100-mile event information.
Eye Yoga
While technology has largely been our friend in lockdown (hello, Netflix and Zoom!) it’s also resulted in many of us spending far too much time stuck in front of screens, both large and small.
A recent survey by the College of Optometrists found that one in five adults believe their eyesight has deteriorated during lockdown, with one in three blaming spending too much time in front of screens. Meanwhile, Central Vision Opticians notes that symptoms of eyestrain, headaches, loss of focus, dry irritated eyes and neck and shoulder pain are all symptoms that have seemingly increased since the start of Covid-19 and lockdown.
While there’s no evidence to suggest increased screen time damages vision in the long-term, some people might find it tiring to stare at a monitor for hours on end every day. ‘We know more people are working from home at the moment, and this might have an impact on your vision too. Make sure you take regular breaks from your computer screen and that you have good lighting or sit near a window for natural light, all of these things will make a big difference to your eye health,’ advises Daniel Hardiman-McCartney FCOptom, Clinical Adviser for The College of Optometrists.
So, after months of working at home, expect to see more people taking care of their eyesight by taking part in eye yoga – gentle movements to move and gently massage the eyes and surrounding areas.
FaceGym offers one-to-one online workouts that not only help to sculpt, lift and tone the face but also tackle facial tension in the jaw, neck, head and eyes. The company also offers a pre-work face workout at 8am every day to help prepare you for working from home.
‘Eye Yoga sounds crazy but it’s as obvious as FaceGym – your eyes, like your face and your body have muscles and muscles no matter where in your body do need to be exercised. Although Eye Yoga has been around for some time, it’s really being talked about as we head into 2021,’ says Inge Theron, founder of FaceGym.
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To reduce muscle tension around the eyes, Theron sugests: ‘The simplest technique is to look up, look sideways left and right and downwards and repeat each exercise 10 times. Once you master that squint and release is great too for working the orbicularis!’
Above all, Tanya Goodin, Founder of digital wellbeing movement Time To Log Off and author of Off warns that we should all take care of our health – be it the mind and body – as we navigate another tech-filled year in the pandemic.
‘2021 will be the year of digital wellbeing because we’re all completely Zoomed-out from so much screen-time last year,’ she says adding. ‘This year, we have to figure out how to continue to use screens for connection and work, but also how to cut down on the time-wasting doomscrolling, which dominated so much of 2020.’
hallenges in five months to win the chance to head to the Nike World Headquarters. Sweat is encouraging its fans to take part in a six-week challenge (January 11 to February 22) with the option of trying out different training styles (HIIT, powerbuilding, circuit training etc).
Fiit is currently hosting live challenges such as Winter Burn challenge (90 classes in 90 days) and Four X Four (four classes a week for four weeks). Meanwhile, Strava has launched its run challenges for users hoping to job anything from a 5km to a 300km in 31 days.
‘From the very beginnings of Fiit we have tried to gamify the experience, creating a more engaging experience. Most importantly our data offers regular satisfaction and celebrations by informing members when they have hit PBs and milestones,’ notes Shellard.
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