Well here we are. Didn’t things change quickly? This is an embarrassing confession, but I was completely behind the ball on this. A few weeks ago I was having Sunday lunch with my mate Dan. As he drenched his hands with sanitiser he asked if I thought we’d shut the gym down. It seemed ridiculous to me. I found the whole situation laughable and I brushed it off with a joke. 

I think a lot of people were like me then. The pub was busy and people were laughing and carrying on as normal. This virus was an abstract thing; a spectre, sad but very much somewhere else, someone else’s problem. But no longer. We’ve woken up in a sci-fi novel. The whole fabric of reality, the way we work and socialise and live our lives has changed. And we don’t know how long it will last. If it’s a couple of weeks, who cares? But in all likelihood this is going to last longer than that. We’re going to need to adapt.

It didn’t really hit me until about two weeks after that day in the pub. And when it hit me it really hit me. Scrolling twitter and reading every apocalyptic article and terrifying tweet became a compulsion. I was worried and anxious and felt quite hopeless against this unstoppable global event. 

It’s hard to think of a more vulnerable industry than the gym business. We all knew that sooner or later we were going to look like the bad guys for even trying to persevere. And what then? I was bumbling along delivering training sessions, waking up every day in the hope that we weren’t in lockdown yet, knowing full well I was on borrowed time.

But you can’t sustain that level of anxiety. Eventually your brain just says “nope, I’m done feeling like this now.” And you start to adapt. And you start to come up with solutions. Because after all that’s what we do at Evolve. We help people get to where they want to be. We help them overcome obstacles and adversity. We provide empathy and accountability and a roadmap to success. 

And now more than ever people need that. Everybody is crying out for some good news.

So… Here’s Some Good News

Your commute is gone. You’ve been gifted anywhere between one and two hours a day. If I told you I was going to inject an extra hour into your day that’s just for you, and you can do whatever you want with it, just for you, wouldn’t you be at least a little excited? You’d start to think of the possibilities. 

Take the time to imagine it. This is always the fun part of consulting with a new client. We talk about what they’re going to do over the next twelve weeks. The four weekly gym sessions, the cardio at home, the food, the mindset changes. I get them to picture where the’ll be at that end of the process. What they’ll look and feel like. It’s intoxicating. 

We’re all in that position now. We all have an opportunity to take stock of where we are and where we want to be when this thing is over. We are in control of our time in a way we’ve never been before. We can use that time to mope around and watch Netflix or we can do something positive with it. (One tweet I saw pointed out that Shakespeare wrote King Lear while he was quarantined during the plague. So no pressure.)

My point is this: You can come out of this thing better. It’s not going to be easy. It will require planning and dedication, but so does any task worth doing. If you have a relatively secure job you can do from home, you are in an incredibly lucky position and should be truly grateful. Because you’re going to be okay. 

So take the moment, feel grateful.

Now, what are you going to do?

We can still get you in the best shape of your life. We can still assess you. We can guide you and motivate you. We can coach you on nutrition and develop a training program based on the equipment you have available. We can provide accountability with daily checkins.

As inconvenient as this all is, at least its happened at a point where technology can let us train you easily via your phone or laptop. We’ve been doing it this week already and clients have responded extremely well to shorter, more frequent training sessions. Clients who once trained in person twice a week are doing four thirty minute sessions a week via FaceTime. We also have a vast library of videos on all aspects of training, nutrition and mindset. 

In the weeks to come we will all benefit from structuring our days properly. You’ll want to be as fit and healthy as possible and you’ll need to do something for your mental health. We can help you with all of that. 

In dark times we can still find things to be grateful for. If you’re healthy and can work from home, you’re in an incredibly lucky position. 

And just think of the party when this all blows over.

words by Zack Cahill 

For more information on our online coaching program get in touch today 

info@evolvefitness.co.uk