We caught up with Young People's Sport Panel member, Hannah, to find out how she is staying active during the latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.
What role does sport and physical activity play in your life?
I have always been a sporty person, I was a dancer from the age of three to 12 and have competed in swimming, hockey, athletics and cross-country running. I started climbing eight years ago after my brother had been climbing for six months. Within a year I was selected for the Scottish youth squad before being selected to represent Great Britain in 2017.
My training involves five climbing sessions per week and a lot of conditioning too. During lockdown my training has changed a lot and I have been climbing on a small climbing wall that we built in my back garden.
Aside from climbing I have really been enjoying going on walks with my family during lockdown.
How have you been staying motivated during lockdown?
Staying motivated with training has been difficult during lockdown. It hasn’t been easy seeing other people who I compete with getting to train in climbing walls while I still have to stay home. Unfortunately, there are no climbing walls in the council are that I live in which makes it difficult for me to train.
Before the Christmas holidays I was living in Edinburgh for university, I am on the University of Edinburgh’s Performance Sport Programme and had access to their performance gym where I worked with my allocated coach, Rob, three times a week.
I had never actually used a gym for my training before so this gave me plenty of new psyche to start seeing improvements! I can’t wait to get back to these sessions once restrictions are eased.
I think the main motivation I have had is actually the other people around me being active: my dad is training really hard for the Cape Wrath Ultra Marathon in May; my younger brother is also a GB Team climber who is training just like me; and my boyfriend has started his first climbing training plan, which he is excited about.
Surrounding myself with motivated people has always helped me stay psyched.
What's your advice for getting active?
I think it’s important to start off with something simple.
Start with something achievable in your daily life such as a short walk or ten minutes of yoga.
Don’t jump in at the deep end and do a 10km run because you won’t be able to do that every day and it’s unlikely that you’ll manage to stay motivated to do vigorous exercise every day. Keep it simple and not too challenging until it becomes habit, and then you can build up to more demanding exercise. Consistency is key!
What are the benefits of being active?
I think there are way too many benefits to list them all! Being active builds confidence, problem-solving skills and self-esteem and has so many positive outcomes alongside being very good for you!
Since lockdown started, I’ve found that doing something active in the morning boosts my productivity for the rest of the day as it wakes me up and puts me in a good mindset to tackle the day ahead. I truly believe that everyone can benefit from being active.
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Image credit: The BBC Scotland Adventure Show
