Spring is in the air and it's soon Summer and we really need to stay healthier, now more than ever during this Pandemic. I've evolved into a fully online personal trainer via Zoom and taken full advantage of the beautiful outdoor training spaces in Bristol including the fabulous Brandon Hill.
Bristol Post recently interviewed me about my experience during lockdown, Check out the link here: Bristol Post Article
The full article is written below, mentioning my full holistic approach to Personal training and why we need more Outdoor Gym Spaces in Bristols Parks, check it out and let me know your thoughts!
Photos Courtesy of Bristol Posts Photographer John Myers.
Virtual workouts and one-to-one’s in the park: how Bristol’s personal trainers are adapting to lockdown
The business of personal training has taken a huge blow from Covid-19.
It’s a profession that relies on a steady clientele, and assures a tailored regime to meet the needs of each individual. But coronavirus has meant that business is unpredictable and training less ‘personal’.
This has caused problems for personal trainers who rely on gym space or do sessions from home, forcing them to adapt their business almost entirely.
It comes as a petition urging the Government to open exercise facilities first when the country comes out of lockdown has now reached over 205,000 signatures
For Bristol city based personal trainer Katherine Grace, coronavirus has meant she now carries out most of her sessions on Zoom.
She says she would like to offer more one-to-one classes outdoors, but the poor weather has made this difficult.
“I did do outdoor workouts before the weather got bad, but I don’t think my clients would enjoy hours in the freezing cold!”“At the moment I am doing Zoom workouts but this can be hard because you end up doing the full workout with the client so they can see what you’re doing.
“Also sound and lighting have been massive issues for me when doing online.”
But Zoom workouts are something Katherine’s clients have only just got used to.
“The first lockdown was really worrying because no one really understood Zoom.
“People really didn’t want to do it, but now they’re really open to it.”
Katherine - who currently has between eight to ten clients - says she is able to charge them the same as what she did prior because they get the same service, and the added bonus of her fitness app.
"My clients love the app, and I send them work outs on it all the time.
"I still say I get a lot of enquiries because I work independently, and I don't work out of a gym.
"I think people approach me because my website works quite well on Google."
“You end up becoming people’s life coach, councillor and friend - but I love it"
But Katherine said it’s not only fitness that people need help with, instead people have come to her because they are experiencing poor mental health.
“Recently I have been coaching a Headteacher who came to me very stressed. I also get people who work for big companies all day who need a break.
“So I do a lot of breath work and yoga, I’m very holistic.
“You end up becoming people’s life coach, councillor and friend - but I love it.”
Katherine says she wishes that outdoor gym spaces were more accessible - which would make personal training a lot easier.
“The one thing that Bristol needs is more outdoor gyms,” she says.
“We need one in every park. It’s not just about personal training - so many people would benefit from using outdoor workout areas.”
To find out more about Katherine's services, visit her website.
Thanks For Reading
Katherine Grace xxx