#GymIsEverywhere

On Friday, we headed down to Boxpark Shoreditch to join the Reebok UK team for their uber cool #GymIsEverywhere event. Based on the idea that your gym can be anywhere, the event served to prove that regular household items can deliver a pretty hardcore workout with just a little imagination. This all sounds well and good, but when team WHL turned up in the cold and rain and saw participants madly running around with tyres and sandbags, it’s safe to say we were a little apprehensive!

Decked out in trusty Reebok gear (we particularly enjoyed the CrossFit Compression Tights and the phone-compatible CrossFit Gloves – great for taking a few cheeky selfies mid-workout!), we headed to a nearby railway tunnel to begin our workout. Led by members of Team Reebok UK, Bex Hall, Jordan Wallace and Hilary Riordan delivered a super fun (and super intense!) 20-minute workout that focused primarily around brooms, tyres, sandbags and our own bodyweight. Within minutes we were feeling the burn and no longer even noticed the rain.

So how did we do it? If you’re wondering how these items can be incorporated into a regular workout, here’s what we did. To start, we warmed up (obvs). While this involved regular dynamic stretches, we also used a broom to activate the chest and back muscles which are often neglected. By holding the broom lengthways as far out as we could and then taking it up over our heads and then behind without bending the arms, we were able to really open up these muscles in an easy, effective way.

The main workout itself included jumping in and out of a huge tyre and doing a burpee at either side, doing 100 lunges while holding a sandbag and 100 sandbag cleans (pulling the sandbag up onto your arms and back to the floor, repeat) to name but a few. This was done as part of teams, so while your partner was completing sets, you’d be holding a huge tyre over your head (you didn’t think we’d be resting did you?). The workout really promoted team spirit with constant cheering and encouragement (if only to speed up the amount of time spent holding a tyre over your head!). All in all, it was a fab workout to get the blood pumping on a miserable Friday morning, and yet, it was incredibly simple in the equipment and apparatus we used.

After the workout, there was also the opportunity to take part in a range of challenges from tyre-flipping (how many can you do in 30 seconds?) to timed burpee jumps. We then treated ourselves to a post-workout drink from East London Juice Co where we enjoyed re-energising organic raw juices to fuel us up for the rest of the morning.

The event covered both Friday and Saturday and was open to everyone and anyone, so let us know if you had a chance to pop down and tell us what you thought. But, whether you made it along or not, the message is still the same: break free from your routine this week and see what you can do with just a few household items – you might surprise yourself! Getting fit and enjoying a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean expensive gym memberships and personal trainers – if you want it enough, your #GymIsEverywhere.