Lisa Bosworth has been a member at Macclesfield Leisure Centre for around six years, after joining as a way of dealing with a cancer diagnosis within her family.
When Lisa first heard about going into lockdown and the gyms having to close, back in March 2020, she was really worried about how it was going to affect her as she found exercise essential to her mental health.
However, for nearly 12 months Lisa has been taking part in the online health and fitness classes that local health and wellbeing charity Everybody Sport and Recreation has been offering. She says: “I cannot praise the [Everybody] team enough, they have quite literally saved my sanity.”
Since last March, Lisa has never missed a ‘Legs, Bums and Tums’ online class with Victoria, one of the Master Fitness Leads at Everybody. Even when the centres were able to reopen over the summer months, she managed a mixture of online and in-studio classes in Macclesfield.
Lisa takes part in a variety of classes on the Everybody @ Home website, with her favourites being ‘Legs, Bums and Tums’, ‘Plates and Weights’, ‘Kettlebells’ and the occasional HIIT class.
Lisa says: “The classes are essential for my mental health – it’s too easy not to have a routine in lockdown. Even though I am working full-time at home, and have done throughout all the lockdowns, exercise is my time – no work, no children, just me. The fact I can do the classes in my own time (usually working when they are live) means I can fit in a class most days.”
Everybody @ Home is delivered by an expert team of health and fitness instructors who are qualified in a range of disciplines including Les Mills workouts, yoga, Pilates, dance fit and more. Access to the website is currently free of charge while Everybody Sport and Recreation Leisure facilities are closed, to keep people active from home.
Lisa feels the online workouts have been essential to getting her through the lockdown periods. “The instructors are just amazing,” she says. “They got me through the last two lockdowns and they’re getting me through this one too. I cannot thank them all enough. It’s so cheesy but the workouts give me purpose to my days.”
Lisa is fortunate to be able to work out at home. However, many people cannot engage in group workouts from home for a variety reasons and need their local fitness facility to reopen, as well as their favourite exercise classes.
The UK’s gyms, pools and leisure centres are under severe financial pressure, and thousands face a battle to survive unless they receive greater financial support from the Government. To support your local facility, please contact your local MP to share your concerns. Find your MP here.
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