For once Halloween falls on a half term week and a weekend so the kids can enjoy pumpkin picking, carving, apple bobbing, dressing up and playing scary games all week. Halloween is a bigger affair than when I was a child and I have grown to love it. Even more than previous years I want to boost everyone’s mood and help you all forget about the virus just for a while, so I have a planned a week of spooky classes. Now I’m not in to devil worship or the occult, I believe in love and light, so this is all about fun, imagination and laughter! Your kids are welcome to join in so why not get a little dressed up (you know, cats ears, a tail, even an old sheet with holes in it and cone as a ghost), carve a pumpkin and get in the mood!
A wonderful celebration and special opportunity exclusively for our DYBO family…
Free Weekend Fitness and Dance Event
FitCamps World Event On-line
November 6th-8th
Please join me in my Sunday morning (8th November at 11am) session via Zoom (Room 1)
I would love your support as I’m a bit nervous ‘cos its been a long while since I presented at a Fit Camps event (distance and timing meant that I couldn’t fit it in to my schedule but that’s not problem with that these days as I can stream live from my studio !!!)
Details and how to register are here!
DYBO Live & Online – This week’s Classes are as follows:
Monday
6.30pm Boogie Fit (Beginners/Returners)
7.15pm The Middle Bit – Complimentary when attending BF or CD or £3.50
7.45pm Cardio Dance (Intermediate)
Tuesday
6.30pm HIIT (Simple & effective fitness training)
7.15pm Core Power – Complimentary when attending HIIT or DF or £3.50
7.45pm Dance Fit (Intermediate)
Wednesday
6.30pm Old Skool Step (All levels)
7.15pm Barre Fit (All levels)
Thursday
6.15pm Contemporary Stretch (All levels)
7.30pm Dance & Perspiration (Fitness with a Dance focus, more experienced)
Friday
6.30pm Freestyle Fitness Yoga (Relax, Restore and Reboot)
****** All the above classes change and vary weekly! *****
How to prepare your environment
- You need space to move 2 side steps, 4 walks forward, 4 backward. Move trip hazards and furniture as much as you can (get help, be careful!) to give you maximum space for upper and lower body movement. Roll up rugs or secure them so they don’t slip or cause you to trip.
- Plugging your device in to your TV with an HDMI cable is brilliant as it gives you a good picture of you (like a mirror) and me – as well as boosting the sound if you go through the TV/Hi-Fi sound system. If you can place your device under the TV, then even better.
- I know some of you are using your phones – try to plug in to a speaker system (even those little speakers we have when we go on holiday would help) so that you can hear better as you move back from the phone. Angie has tried Bluetooth earphones and it worked well.
- Ensure you have maximum access to your Wi-Fi in the house and as close to the router as is feasible. Take phones off the Wi-Fi system and pop them on to your 4/5G network or place on airplane mode, unless that’s what you are using to join us, obviously. Ask family to do the same for the duration of your class – keep them off the internet whilst you need the bandwidth. The more bandwidth you have, the better the picture and sound and the less likely you are to lose the feed. Your health is a priority at this time and I’m sure they can do something else for that short time!
- Ventilate your exercise space, have plenty of water and towels to hand, keep your exercise equipment close – if you need anything, let me know.
- Wear correct footwear for your activity – putting an old pair of socks over the toes and ball of your trainers will help reduce friction when exercising on carpet (if they are a really old pair, cutting the toes open and then just having them over the ball of the foot is even better). It’s up to you if you want to dance or train in bare feet but be careful if you don’t usually do this as it takes time for the muscles and connective tissue of the feet and rest of the body to adapt to barefoot training.
- Make your own gym equipment. Save laundry liquid or milk bottles – you can fill them with water or wet sand/rice etc. to add weight and make a dumbell/kettlebell. I recommend you make a few in differing weights and you have written on them so you know what they weigh and seal the caps with tape to prevent leakage. Get a heavy duty shopping bag and put weighty items in it, check they can’t fall out and you have a kettlebell alternative. Make your own hurdles, put cushions, pillows, boxes, books on the floor to jump over. Use household items as floor markers for circuit activities. The stairs and outdoor steps are great temporary steps/benches for cardio and upper body work. The garden is a great open space to make an assault course or if you can get a signal, take your class or PT session outside, but do make it safe.
Fees, you have THREE options!
£6.50 per class. Paid in advance please.
10 Class Voucher £55
Membership, unlimited classes, £50 plus a lockdown bonus of free access to all videos of the classes!
(Valid first to last day of calendar month, paid on the first day of the month)
If things get so tight that you can’t afford it then please reach out to me, I want to keep you healthy and happy and help you through this tough time and trust that no-one will take advantage of me.
Bank details are UK Fitness Academy Ltd.
Sort Code 09-01-28, Acc No. 04284324
Please email me when you have made a payment and use your name and what it’s for as a reference.
eg. Jane Smith Class Voucher. As reference, I do have a Paypal account but it costs money to receive and move money.
Pumpkin, Chilli and Coconut Soup
(Vegan)
1 medium pumpkin, or butternut squash
1 large white onion, chopped
2.5cm/1in piece of root ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ Scotch bonnet chilli, seeds removed, chopped
4–5 sprigs thyme
400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the pumpkin in half, then into wedges.
Peel and deseed each wedge and cut the pumpkin flesh into 2.5cm/1in cubes.
Put the pumpkin in a large pan with the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli. Strip the leaves from the thyme and add to the pan.
Pour in about 400ml/14fl oz of water, bring to the boil and cook until the pumpkin has turned to a pulp.
Add the coconut milk and season to taste with salt, then reduce the heat and leave the soup to simmer for another 5–10 minutes.
Have a ‘spooktacular’ week – hope to see you!
Love ya,
Helen xx
