Scott Rowbotham

Exercise & Social Distancing

Hi. I am Scott from SR Physio. I find myself in a difficult position at the moment (as do we all) and find that I cant help people in the gym where I work to remain active and after lots of discussions and feedback from clients thought I would try to help motivate, educate and encourage people as best as I can.

This comes after the threat from the government that outside exercise may be banned due to people not following social distancing guidance.

This worries me due to the importance of physical activity and exercise for all of us. Not just for physical health but mental health also.
I dont mind admitting that my first week of isolation was incredibly difficult to acclimatise to. I stopped exercising and felt pretty down.

I realised what I needed to do and started setting my alarm at 5.30 to make sure I got an hours exercise in before the kids woke up and I needed to look after them and keep them entertained. The change was dramatic, felt so much happier in myself and found it much easier to cope with whatever the day brought.

The stats are there for everyone to see. What concerns me is with this enforced isolation we will become less and less active.

If we are inactive for 8 hours in a day (normally seen in office work, lorry drivers etc) then we need to do 1 hour moderate intensity exercise to combat the negative effects on our health from being sedentary.

A previous Sport England report showed that one third of children exercise less than 30 minutes a day…this is terrifying.

We have to be active to remain healthy so do what you can. Research has widely shown that it is very powerful in improving self esteem and efficacy for children and adolescents, useful in managing mental health conditions, reducing stress and maintaining brain function in the elderly.

If you are doing something that will last between 30 and 60 minutes a good guideline is to be able to continue talking through it. Those with unstable medical conditions should exercise comfortable and obviously have discussed with the relevant medical professional prior to commencing new or untested exercise.

Those with a disability I encourage you to check out able2b.co.uk which are doing an amazing job of providing online boxing and circuits class for those with disabilities and long term conditions to access. Jon Thaxton and his daughter Ella are great at motivating and are sure to make you work hard.

Those who would like a more traditional exercise class such as yoga, pilates and exercise with a physio focus, I would wholeheartedly recommend you trying one of Beth Cullen’s many online classes. An amazing physio and very experienced exercise professional.

Those that love Zumba make sure to check out Lucia Alba’s online zumba classes. She is the best zumba instructor in Norwich and they are varied, daily and a lot of fun.

I will provide a link for these three great initiatives below, just make sure you say SR Physio recommended you.

Finally, we are here for you. If there is anything you would like guidance or advice on please comment or contact us. We will do what we can to help you and if the uptake is positive with this it can become a regular thing.

You can find this on youtube, your chosen podcast provider as well as social media like Facebook, twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for reading and see you soon.

Stay active, stay safe and stay healthy.

Links

Podcast – https://anchor.fm/thephysiohub
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/SRPhysicalTherapy/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWTqDYx3Gk2S8Bk1jrGOTVQ?view_as=subscriber
Twitter – @sr_physio
Instagram – @srphysio