Feel Inspired By These Awesome Lockdown Fitness Challenges
If we pretended to climb Ben Nevis in our back garden before lockdown, people might have thought you'd gone a little loopy.
Times have changed though and people are now doing some crazy quarantine fitness challenges. Things otherwise never seen or done — and we can take a lot of inspiration from them. Now is the perfect time to tick some life goals off the bucket list.
Some people are achieving their feats of fitness for charity, some because they’re ambitious and bored. If you have the same ambition and boredom, why not try them yourself?
Climbing Everest on the stairs
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ZHIFtDGse/
People are kitting up — goggles, pick-axe, and three layers of thermal underwear — to climb Everest…
On their stairs.
Trail runner Rory Southworth led a virtual expedition with 30 other people who posted hilarious update videos on their progress.
They walked 5,364 metres up their stairs over 5 days and finished on April 3rd.
Before forming the group, Southworth had started this craze on his own. He climbed the height of Ben Nevis using his garden stairs and filmed the whole thing. It took 800 times going up and down.
Not many people can say they climbed Everest, so how about staying in and leading an expedition yourself?
24 hours of indoor cycling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTzN-jT1WoQ
This quarantine challenge is hilarious.
After completing a 24 hour cycle last year, Hank from the Global Cycle Network decided to do it again but this time: inside.
Using the Swift cycling app, he rode inside his house on a static bike and watched a virtual version of himself cycle on the TV. People also joined him on the way, cycling with him and showing support.
Fuelled by pizza, energy drinks, and sweets, he did it, riding over 784km during the 24-hour in-app ride. He also said he found it more difficult than the outdoor challenge.
Hank also apparently felt a little bit sore afterwards — who’d have thought?
Marathon on the Balcony
https://www.instagram.com/p/B92NmdWo-7p/
Elisha Nochomovitz ran a full marathon on his 7-meter long balcony last month.
“The order was to stay at home, which is what I did,” he said.
He ran 42.2km on his balcony, back and forth along 7 meters.
He completed it in 6 hours 48 minutes. That time gives him a speed of 6.20km/hr at a pace of 9.4 minutes per km. For comparison, the average marathon time for someone in the UK is 4:37:091, so Elisha was slower, but the balcony edges must have slowed him down. Turning so much was probably a pain.
So if you’ve got a 7-meter long balcony and 6:48 to spare, give it a try. Congratulate him on instagram and try to beat his speed.
Captain Tom Moore's 100 Laps
https://twitter.com/captaintommoore/status/1250866513919311878
100 laps before turning 100 years: Captain Moore, Veteran, walked around his back garden 100 times at 99. He raised more than £30 million for the NHS, showing the kindness of the people and impact that one man’s actions can have. He's inspired us all to be the best we can be and remember the importance of doing things for others.
Hopefully we can walk half as far at his age!
Koala challenge
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_PtjMQjl40/
The Koala challenge is maybe the craziest (but most fun) quarantine fitness challenge going. You find a friend, jump on their back, and climb around your partner like a small fluffy marsupial.
The general route is over your partner’s shoulders and under their legs to finish on the other side.
Watch our girl Georgia give the koala challenge a try — she does it injury-free and without falling pretty well.
If you want to do this at home, you have to be ready. The koala needs to hold tight and the tree needs to stand strong.
Give it a go though, film it, and share the bloopers too!
Take home message
Self-isolation might be driving us mad if we’re resorting to this. It’s loads of fun, though, to see all these crazy quarantine fitness challenges completed. Also extremely inspirational: whether it’s things that are benefiting people, or people achieving things they never otherwise would have.
The best thing about it though — you can do these yourself. You don’t need to sign up to do a marathon or go to Nepal to climb Everest anymore. That's gotta be a bonus right?
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Evangeline has taken part in competitive sports since a young age. As a qualified RYA Dinghy Instructor, she understands the importance of proper nutrition for fuelling extreme and endurance sports, especially due to her experience in Team GBR Squads and captaining and coaching her University first team.
In her spare time, Evangeline loves running – especially marathons. On the weekends, you’ll find her taking on water sports or hiking up a hill. Her favourite evenings are spent taking on a HIIT session or squats in the gym before digging into some spicy food and a ton of vegetables – yum!
Find out more about Evie's experience here.
