It’s January. Cue an onslaught of #fitspo filling up your feed. Workout videos promising you the abs of Davina McCall and the arms of Jennifer Aniston. Soup diets. Sirt diets. All the diets.
Here at InStyle we’re totally into the idea of a bit of self-improvement to start the year. The difference is, we don’t really care (that much) about the state of our arms and the shape of our calves, these days we’re more concerned about our minds.
After a Christmas break spent staring at screens – both TV and phone – we’ve started January feeling not good at all. The consensus among the InStyle staffers is that our brains feel fuzzy, we’re struggling to sleep and simple tasks at work have been taking all of our effort.
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So we recruited Jamie Jewitt, of Love Island fame, to be our January fitness expert. Sure, he has a great body. A really great body. But we got in touch with Jamie because his main focus is actually mental health, that, and the ability that exercise has to help with anxiety, depression and stress. The Love Islander recently even gave a TedX talk about social media and its affect on mental health, having been open about his battle with depression in the past.
Jamie and his trainer, Lewis Dove, have created a bespoke workout for us and we’ll be releasing a video each week of January. The exercises are designed to be done with a friend, at home, with very few props. So put down your phone, step away from social media, grab a pal and get ready for a sharper, focused mind. Think of this as a free mini mind boot camp…
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Exercise 1: Lateral Shuffle
Physical intensity: high
Mental intensity: medium
How: Chase your partner and tag the spot he/she tags.
Trainer tip: "Stay on the balls of your feet."
Exercise 2: Push-Up Tag
Physical intensity: high
Mental intensity: low
How: Do a full or half push-up and then tag your partner's hand.
Trainer tip: "If a full push-up is too hard, start on your knees."
Exercise 3: Seesaw Sit-Up
Physical intensity: medium
Mental intensity: high
How: Stand on your partner's toes and take turns lowering each other into a sit-up position. Repeat.
Trainer tip: "Don't worry if you fall, the whole idea is to have fun."
Exercise 4: Shoulder Sparring
Physical intensity: high
Mental intensity: high
How: Touch your partner's lead shoulder and avoid them touching your lead shoulder.
Trainer tip: "Focus on your partner."
Head back to InStyle.co.uk, Facebook or YouTube next week for the second exercise created by Jamie Jewitt and Lewis Dove.
