Merry Christmas from Mamafit®

Where do I even start… what a year! 

Each Christmas I like to take a look back over the past 12 moths and put together a review of the year alongside our Christmas message; this year has been a little different to say the least! 

January and February were fantastic; we had grown, we were delivering classes in more locations that ever before across Liverpool & Knowsley and had just launched our Mums SOCIAL programme in St Helens, then along came March, little did we know what the rest of 2020 had in store for us! 

As we now know, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the UK went into lockdown towards the end of March with pretty much everything other than medical services and essential shops being ordered to close; something none of us had ever imagined possible, however this year made us expect the unexpected!

It has truly been the most bizarre year, with plenty of twists and turns along the way, it has pushed us out of our comfort zone; making us become more resilient and more resourceful than ever before. 

Our programme is bult around social interaction, as such we were one of the first required to close, to potentially stop the spread of the virus, it seemed like something out of a movie!

As such, our ‘in person’ classes ceased on Monday 16th March 2020 and we headed into the unknown not sure of what was going on, how we would survive and how we could continue supporting our community. 

After a few sleepless nights and lots and lots of planning, we put together a new plan to deliver Mamafit® online. It is something that has always been part of the bigger plan, but it was not something I imagined would happen under these circumstances or at this speed! 

Mamafit® @ HOME is born!

On Thursday 26th March 2020, I delivered our first ever Mamafit @ HOME – Facebook LIVE workout, to be totally honest with you it was the most nervous I have been teaching a class since I first qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2003! 

It was completely new to me; I had never taught online before and it is very different to delivering to a group of people standing right in front of you. 

So, armed with my iPad wedged into my garden chair I went LIVE delivering a 30 minute HIIT workout to anyone one who wanted to join me! 

I was totally overwhelmed by all the support and the amount of people who joined in with the workout! It is hard to know how it is going when you are essentially talking to a computer in your back garden, but collectively we made it work through comments in the stream, the sharing of photos of you and your family joining in and all the message of support.

I felt like I was making a difference to people in the most challenging of circumstances; seeing people turn up (virtually) to take part each week kept me motivated, focused and helped me establish a new routine. 

The Mamafit @ HOME programme ran for 19 weeks March – July with LIVE classes on Facebook, Instagram and via Zoom.

I have such fond memories of delivering online classes during lockdown, something I will always look back on and feel proud.

Thank you to everyone who supported us during that time. 

Return to 'in person' classes

On Monday 29th June, we were finally given the go ahead to recommence ‘in person’ classes, however, we had to make huge alterations to ensure that we could keep everyone safe during classes.

Initially, we were limited to 5 attendees, rising up to 15 attendees as restrictions eased. We also needed to change class formats, remove equipment, implement social distancing and complete thorough risk assessments to ensure we remained COVID secure. 

Once the planning was complete, the next and most important part was would people come back? Did they feel safe and do they trust us? 

I will be forever thankful for those of you who believed in us; returning to classes or joining Mamafit® for the first time in the midst of a pandemic. Thank you. 

The return of ‘in person’ classes has been up and down with changing restrictions, introduction of tiers and a second national lockdown to contend with, but we are now better positioned to adapt and work with the restrictions in place to ensure we continue to support pregnant women, mums, dads & families as best we can. 

It has been fantastic to be able to provide face-to-face support again, not only helping mums to get fit and active, but also providing opportunities for mums to meet and socialise in a COVID secure way; connecting with others and developing friendships. 

Feedback

The feedback has been great; not only through comments but seeing smiles on people’s faces during the toughest of years is a joy to witness.

We have also continued to provide online fitness classes via Zoom; they have become a popular addition to the timetable and will be here to stay! 

We have a SURVEY running to gain feedback on the support we have provided during the pandemic, we would love to hear from you: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MamafitCOVIDSupport

2021

Have we ever looked forward to a new year with more anticipation than this one? Let’s hope that 2021 is a more prosperous year for all of us!

In January some of our most popular classes will return! 

Restrictions and tiers allowing, our indoor pregnancy and mums fitness classes will return.

Mamafit® ALL: Pregnancy Fitness returns to The Academy of St Nicholas, L19 on Thursday 14th January accompanied by Mamafit® HIIT returning to its original slot indoors at 8:00pm.

Mamafit® ALL: Mums Fitness returns to the Arncliffe Centre, L25 on Friday 15th January, the perfect indoor fitness class for new mums looking to start getting active. 

All our indoor classes have been thoroughly risk assessed and are COVID secure with reduced capacity and social distancing measures in place.

We look forward to returning to our indoor venues and hope to see you there! 

Merry Christmas from Mamafit® 

Lastly, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

I know it is not like any of us imagined and plans may have changed, even in the last few days, but I do hope you manage to spend time with loved ones, even if just for a day or virtually. 

Thank you more than ever for all the support you have shown Mamafit® over the past 12 months, it has made a bigger difference than you will ever know.

Thank you for everything.

All the best for 2021

Rob 🙂

Classes resume Monday 4th January 2021.

BOOK HERE: www.bookwhen.com/Mamafit