2020 In Review: Inside And Out
Fit My Day “film studio”. 2. Backyard-at-home training. 3. Juno, one of many dogs who joined in the online fun. 4. Shay ready for her online class. 5. Back together, socially distant. 6. Not sure the kids got the social distancing memo? 7. Rockin’ our groovy COVID-safe gloves. 8. Thankful for our end of year celebrations.
Well, that was a lot! I’m not sure where to begin but let’s look back over 2020 and see if we can work out what just happened…..
In early March 2020 my daughter started bringing home school books, as her teachers were saying it was possible the school was going to close. I tend to be a glass half full person, and laughed it off as an overreaction: schools in Sydney don’t shut down! Hmmm seems I was a little wrong and, as we now know, that was just the beginning. It has certainly been the strangest year of our lives and it didn’t begin well.
January: Bushfires tore through areas of Victoria and NSW.
February: Widespread flooding in the Sydney basin and the central west to the north of NSW.
March 1: Australia records its first death from the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout March, things began to snowball as strict restrictions were put in place, schools were shut, boarders were closed and toilet paper sold out. The once unknown term “to Zoom” began to creep into every conversation, with most of these conversations being held via Zoom. By March 23, Sydney was in lockdown.
April: Global coronavirus cases surpassed one million.
FIT MY DAY
As COVID cases began to increase and closures were imminent, I quickly realised we needed to work out a way to move our training sessions online. Over the course of a weekend, I cleaned out the junk room and wine cellar, replacing the wine bottles with medballs. I established our private Facebook Members group and on 24 March, with the computer balancing precariously on a cake tin balancing on a stool, our first class went live with my eloquent utterance “Hi, I think we’re live?”.
Over the next 8 weeks we ended up having so much fun “hanging out” together online with our regular members as well as some far away friends from Brisbane, Montreal, New York, and San Fransisco. In what was a really difficult time for so many, we had some really funny, uplifting moments that helped us stay connected and certainly kept me sane!
In the early days before upgrading our wifi, connection could be a little dodgy and I would find myself holding the computer running around the house looking for a stronger signal while yelling at you all to “keep going with your push ups”. Or the time when the sound went wrong and the entire class sounded like a rap song stuck on a beat. Or the time when the camera lens was on a setting that had me looking incredibly long and skinny (sadly I haven’t been able to recreate that one?). We were very creative in utilising household items for equipment including broom sticks, heavy books and the infamous chicken stock incident (long story that one). The chatter on the comment stream was always very amusing with admissions of watching the class in your pyjamas (as opposed to participating), lots of laughter…. sorry encouragement re: Aaron and his curtsey taps, and countless grumpy red faces popping up anytime I suggested we do a few more burpees. It was so special to see whole families joining in the classes including husbands, wives, kids and dogs. It was 8 weeks we will not easily forget.
I was very thankful for the fact that I was able to continue face to face 1:1 training outside and kept some small group PT sessions running via Zoom so was able to see some of my dear clients every week.
Thankfully, infection rates in NSW were well managed, restrictions in Sydney began to ease and on the 18 May we were allowed back outside in groups of 10. This was a period of continual low-level stress as we were running multiple classes a day making sure we didn’t go over the 10 person limit. I want to thank you all for being so flexible during this time. Anytime classes filled up you all happily moved to the later times or shifted your day. You made this difficult transition so much easier. On 11 June, numbers increased to 20 and as of this month the number limits are lifted. We still need to wear gloves when sharing equipment, and avoid activities that require close contact such as boxing, however overall training sessions are almost back to normal for which I am incredibly thankful. We also have a fantastic new resource with more than 60 online classes allowing our members to keep training during the holiday break (hint, hint).
What I learnt this year
Although I don’t want to downplay what an incredibly tough year this has been for so many people, there are positive experiences from this time that we can be encouraged by:
We are strong and resilient, particularly our children. So many of our little ones are finishing this year happy, healthy and stronger than ever.
Community is more important than we could have ever imagined.
Australia is a really wonderful place to live.
Staying fit and strong is both essential and possible in any situation - even when locked up in your own home.
Our Fit My Day members are, quite simply, wonderful.
By Angie Black
ANGIE BLACK
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