Did you watch the Tennis on Saturday (US Open), I’m so impressed by the young ladies competing in the final. They are a breath of fresh air in this love island, self-image obsessed, cosmetically enhanced world we live in today!
The world witnessed two teenagers dedicated to being the best athletes and competitors that they can be. For me they are the very embodiment of health, vitality, fitness and natural beauty with not a scrap of make up. They are smart, confident (without arrogance) and eloquent too, with respect for the game, the support teams and fellow competitors. I really hope that these girls inspire our youngsters – indeed us all to be the best they/we can be.
I loved seeing the ‘old guard’ at the finals, the women who broke down barriers and raised the bar back in their day! Actually, for many, it’s still their day, just on a different stage. It was very touching to see Billy Jean King hand over the cup to Emma Radunacu, see Virginia Wade, our last female tennis star of the world stage cheering Emma on and mentoring behind the scenes, and to hear Martina Navratilova shares her pearls of wisdom and well informed opinion.
Each of the women mentioned continue to lead inspirational lives filled with purpose. Billy Jean King in particular is a tireless equalities campaigner. Whilst Navratilova is a brilliant pundit, public speaker, mentor, campaigner and still incredibly fit, and vital at 64.
Why do I mention these older ladies too, well simply because as we go through life and add miles on the clock we can sometimes feel that we have less to offer or feel out of date, less attractive, invisible etc. rather than being jam-packed with knowledge, experience, skills and determination.
We can all be the best we can be at any age and deserve to take good care of ourselves, be respected and loved by others and ourselves and continue to reach for our potential.
The mid life/third age woman is often still working and can have responsible professional roles, sometimes whilst caring for older children, or grandchildren and maybe elderly parents. These are the women on whom families and businesses depend! These women ‘Run the World’ according to Beyonce!
Professor Sarah Gilbert, aged 59 and Dr Catherine Green aged 46 are the two women who created the Oxford vaccine – these women are helping to save the world.
I hear women and and men of all ages pull out the ‘age’ card – you know ‘too young’, ‘too old’ but seemingly never the right age? There are others cards in that wallet of excuses too such as ‘it’s alright for them, they have time, money, education, or the ‘if only’ card and there are more.
We are always the right age, gender, weight, height etc. to take better care of ourselves, get enough sleep, water, good food, exercise, laughter, etc. and reach for our potential.
I’m inspired by these young athletes, the Paralympians, the 9/11 survivors, those who flee dangerous countries and situations to start from scratch and so on!
Often it’s all about mind set, I frequently hear clients who have achieved their goals tell me the key was to “get their head right” which in turn creates ongoing behaviour changes and continued success.
“If we think we can then we can, if we think we can’t then we can’t, either we way we are probably right”
Amongst our DYBO community we have many dynamic men and women who are continuing to achieve their dreams in education, sport, fitness, professions, business, finance, lifestyle and so on and that’s fantastic!
I’m also aware that for some people big goals are overwhelming and seemingly unattainable -imagine being told by a Doctor that you need to lose multiple stones before surgery or IVF treatment, or as a Synchro swimmer you have to be able to get in to the splits within weeks in order to get in to the squad, or you have been told to upgrade computer skills, qualifications, learn new packages etc , in order to be able to get a job after years away from the workforce or to get that much wanted promotion. Members of our DYBO community have been in those situations, stepped up and achieved their goals.
Some people would have not tried, they would have given up, opened their wallet of excuses and justified their failure, But these DYBO people, just like you and I, achieved their goals and that’s inspiring.
When you really want something, you can imagine yourself doing what it takes to achieve it, imagine yourself actually living in the way you will have to as you work towards and eventually achieve and maintain your target. ‘Future pacing’ and trying that lifestyle on for size is incredibly empowering, try it!
I’m here to help you whatever your fitness, health, professional or personal goals are!
I would love to hear your success stories, please share!
If you want to hear some of mine I will share too.
Classes at All Hallows
To my great relief and joy our first week back this Autumn term was a great success with face to face and Zoom working well simultaneously.
Please remember to book and pay in advance, I’m maintaining our Covid safety system to keep us all feeling safe and comfortable so class numbers are limited at this time, full details further down the page
I’ve decided to sell off some of the small equipment I have as I can’t loan it out at present and if things return to normal I will invest in some more. I’m selling chi balls priced at £6 a (£13-15 new), Dynabands at £3 ( £6-£7 new) loops £2 ( £5 new). Let me know if you would like me to reserve for you.
BOOK NOW, it’s nearly IndepenDance Day
It’s going to be epic I can’t wait to welcome you all to enjoy an afternoon of Dance with the wonderful Jo Ali and myself, the day is as follows…
Street Dance – Jo
Diva Style – Helen
Lyrical – Jo
Release, Relax and Restore – Helen
Spaces are filling quickly and I would love to have my DYBO divas be there with us, so please do book a.s.a.p. to guarantee your place!
DYBO Live & Online – This week’s Classes are as follows:
At All Hallows (Book in Advance only):
Monday
6.30-7.15pm: Boogie Fit “Back To School 90’s Disco”
7.30-8.15pm: Total Tone – Top to Toe
Tuesday
6.30-7.15pm: 5 in 1 Fitness
7.30-8.15pm: Dance Fit
Thursday
6.15-7.20pm: Contemporary Stretch
7.30-8.30pm: Dancespiration
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Joining us at All Hallows? – Protocols and information
I’m so happy to be able to run classes again at All Hallows. My primary objective is to ensure that we all have a wonderful time with effective and fun classes that are engaging, relaxed and of course safe.
To ensure that is the case I just want to share with you our class protocols to inform and reassure everyone. Not everyone has been out and about much since last year and some of us are more anxious than others about getting back to ‘normal’ life and activities as restrictions are lifted. Please be patient with each other and me – I have the responsibility of keeping you all happy and safe whilst complying with governing body guidelines and providing the best experience possible.
*Denotes for you to do, the rest is just info
Preparation
1) *Firstly ensure that you have booked by sending us an email info@dybo.co.uk confirming all the classes you wish to attend plus your payment method, be it as a member, using your voucher, or pay as you go.
No on the door bookings or payments can be taken. Bookings are not refundable or transferable. I will keep records of all attending for track and trace.
2) *Preparing your kit bag/box. This depends upon the class you are attending.
Boogie Fit, Dance Fit and Dancespiration crew will only require your indoor trainers/dance shoes to change in to, your hand sanitiser, sweat towel, and drink.
Total Tone and 5 in 1 crew – currently I am not permitted to share equipment in a group exercise setting so you will need your mat, a resistance band and light hand weights/equivalent in addition to your trainers, hand sanitiser, sweat towel and drink.
Contemporary Stretch crew need a mat, band, chi ball and at times 2 x tennis balls and a sock!
On the night
*Please park in the playing courts and maintain social distancing as you walk to the studio.
*Participants are required to arrive, enter and be in their personal exercise space between 5 and 10 mins before the class, please wait outside to be called in so that we are certain the space is ready for you.
*Please change into your clean trainers for indoor activity as you enter, e.g. slip off your outdoor shoes, place in your bag, walk to activity area then put indoor shoes on, the same in reverse to leave. This is to maintain the hygiene and cleanliness of the space and protect the lovely new wood floor.
You will be directed to your exercise space filling the studio from the farthest side first, the class will be cleared in reverse i.e. those nearest the door first.
*The toilets will be open to use but please arrive changed, ready for activity so as to keep use time minimal and avoiding cues outside. 2 people max allowed in at a time.
I will be sticking to class times for sanitising and ventilation purposes. Doors and windows will be open for ventilation, irrespective of the weather, and if it’s warm fans will be used to blow air forwards out of the windows and open door (as per guidelines).
Our exercise space is much larger than the governing body requirements (double in fact) indeed the government have lifted all guidelines, so it will be easy to maintain 2m social distance but please do keep your distance.
I will maintain social distance, however I will have a visor/mask if I have to come close to provide first aid etc.
After an entire teaching career facing my class participants with my back to the mirrors I have made the change (for now) to face the mirrors, this is for my safety in this strange Covid world, but I assure that I will still be able to see everything you get up to and will coach, encourage and nag as effectively as usual!!!
*After a wonderful class and virtual hugs, slip off your indoor trainers and you will leave in order of those nearest the door first then slip in to your outdoor shoes at the threshold.
*Please clear the site a.s.a.p. after class, I know you will want to chat but this directive is part of my compliance and I am responsible for you until you are off site!
*Please tell friends and family about our wonderful classes, I now have to rebuild my group exercise business after 18 months away from face to face teaching.
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Joining us on Zoom? – Links and Information
Monday
6.30pm Boogie Fit
7.30pm Total Tone
Tuesday
6.30pm 5 in 1 Fitness Class
7.30pm Dance Fit
Wednesday
6.30pm Old Skool Step
7.15pm Barre Fit
Thursday
6.15pm Contemporary Stretch
7.30pm Dance & Perspiration
Friday
6.30pm Freestyle Fitness Yoga
****** All the above classes change and vary weekly! *****
How to prepare your Zoom 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 (to be used within 12 weeks of purchase)
Membership, unlimited classes, £50, plus a lockdown bonus of free access to all videos of the classes on our DYBO TV channel ! (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.
Disclaimer
I declare that all of the information I have given (both written and verbal) is accurate and truthful. I know of no reason why I cannot participate fully in any exercise programme and I do not deem it necessary to consult my medical practitioner/GP/specialist. I undertake to inform my instructor should any information change.
I understand that I participate at my own risk and that any information given is not intended to replace or represent medical advice.
Attending any DYBO class will assume agreement with above terms and disclaimer.
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I saw a great tip for helping with sleep!
Banana Peel Tea helps sleep (and more)
Bananas are packed with sleep inducing magnesium, potassium and tryptophan
Fill a pan with 2–3 cups (500–750 ml) of water and bring it to a boil.
Gently rinse a whole banana under running water to remove dirt and debris such as yuk from transportation and creatures crawling all over, I recommend organic too!
Leaving the peel on, slice off both ends.
Add the banana to the boiling water.
Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 15–20 minutes.
Add cinnamon or honey (optional).
Remove the banana and divide the remaining liquid into 2–3 cups.
If you’re enjoying the tea by yourself, store any leftovers in your refrigerator and drink them within 1–2 days, cold or reheated.
To avoid waste, use the leftover banana in other recipes, such as for smoothies, with porridge, pancakes, or banana bread.
Let me know if it works and tell me about your super success stories big and small.
Love ya,
Helen xx
