So we’re open for business again.

WG-Fit and it’s sister, Wild Geese Martial Arts are back open, albeit in a still slightly reduced fashion.

We are a small studio, more of a “club” than a gym. And that has been our strength over this strange period of lockdown. it’s been the bonds between the members, between the members and coaches that have kept the lights on and have allowed us to reopen almost as if nothing ever happened.

It did happen though.

And we must respect that and understand that for the next while, we must ensure all members abide by the strict policies we have put in place by necessity. You will see a new addition to the menu bar that will take you to the Covid-19 policy.

The biggest issue is that we currently cannot take on new members, at least not yet. A huge apology goes out to all who have been in touch asking, but we simply can’t at this time. Rest assured as soon as things change, we will release word.

So what are the options?

Many of our past regulars are continuing to work from home, so are training from home as well. Over the last month we’ve had a strong take up in our online training offers, all of which are of course, from people training at home.

Thankfully, due to the nature of our studio, and the past history of our coaches means that minimalistic training in the home or outdoors is what we do best.

So here’s X tips that will help you get the most from your home training:

1: Schedule

In normal life your day is fairly well laid out for you. You get up at a certain time to do your morning routine before travelling to arrive at work at a certain time, you take lunch at a certain time, knock off at a certain time and are home by a certain time. It’s easy to arrange your training.

To succeed in working and training from home, you must do the same. Instead of your morning commute to work, you can go for a walk or a run, maybe do a morning mobility set. Same for your commute home. And train as close to your regular training time as possible.

What you must not do is let the work day blur into your personal time and let the training time be squeezed out entirely!

2: Move away from the idea that training requires a particular place, or particular kit. Yes, if you compete in liftig sports, then you need specific gear. But if you're a general fitness enthusiast or train for sport, your body is your weapon, everything else is a bonus. A friend of mine, a former military guy, loves to say when delivering is courses, “Arm the Man, don’t man the arms” In other words, you train you, anywhere, anytime with anything. Do not “train kettlebells” or anything else, train you.

3: Be flexible.

Flexible in your thinking, your routine, your body.

Right now, things are unsettled, we may be in the office, we may be at home. The kids might be at school, they might not. There might be a second wave and second lockdown, there might not be. If you are flexible in your routine and your thinking, you can roll with this. If you’re rigid, you will struggle.

4: Breath and cardio

We know worryingly little about this whole Covid-19 virus except that it definitely attacks the respiratory system.

So if ever there was a time to be practicing nasal breathing, Buteyko exercises and monitoring our HRV this is it. HRV is most likely the single best and easiest to measure marker of our overall health than anything else. I’ve written about this before, use the search function to find it. Nasal breathing is a high percentile technique against many respiratory ills, including viruses. So this is a no brainer. “We think” this is largely due to the sinuses producing Nitric Oxide, which is toxic to most viruses. Nitric Oxide also serves to open up the capillaries so as to allow for better blood flow and gas exchange. And finally the key thing with the buteyko method is that it increases your tolerance to CO2. CO2 is the signal for the blood to release its oxygen into the cells. When we mouth breathe, we blow off the CO2 and we don’t allow the Nitric Oxide to build up in the sinuses and do it’s work. What about cardio? Well, who couldn’t benefit from better cardio? No one, that’s who! Build a bigger aerobic base and you will improve everything else across the board.

Again, I’ve written about this in the past, so use the search function for breathing and for cardio / aerobic

5: “It takes as long to do a set of push ups as it does to think about doing a set of push ups” - Ross Enamait Do I really need to add to that?

So for our regular members, welcome back. To everyone else, apply these 5 tips and get in touch about our online training