15 charity classes complete, and over £1,800 raised in total for St John’s ambulance, with more to come.
As a part time job alongside Craft, I work as a personal trainer at Core Connection in Wandsworth. Sport and fitness are something I am so passionate about, but instilling that passion and drive in others, for me, is as rewarding. I love the atmosphere in the room during a tough workout, and the level of motivation you experience as everyone encourages each other. When the gym closed, we quickly adapted and scheduled 121 clients over Zoom. This shift was difficult but has been surprisingly rewarding for building relationships and successful in delivering on client’s goals.
About a month ago, a good friend of mine suggested hosting a workout for charity. From hearing first-hand, the support that St John’s Ambulance needed in order to help on the front line, and the fact their involvement may be overlooked, I was keen to raise money for this cause. To be completely honest, I didn’t think there would be a huge demand for the class as there is a proliferation of in-home workouts across social and online. I was proven very wrong. £370 later (donated direct to SJA on that occasion) and with 30 people signed up, I hosted the first session on Zoom, which was a huge success. Everyone loved working out with their friends and strangers as it felt like they were part of a community, and even better that they were in turn contributing to a great cause.
This got me thinking. I might be busy currently juggling my time between two jobs, both of which I am so passionate about. However, building a mini community that people can rely on for keeping active, endorphin release, seeing others, and staying positive, alongside the feeling of contributing to something good, was a no brainer.
Now that we are stuck at home 90% of the time, and the gyms will be closed for the foreseeable future, people will be wanting to maintain an ‘in-home or in-park’ gym plan. I don’t usually workout in the classes I teach at the gym, but I am able to do that over the zoom sessions, and seeing me working out alongside them is all the more motivating. I can combine multiple things into that time; my own workouts, training others, bringing friends and families together, and raising money. So, I decided to keep going. Since the initial class, across the 14 classes we have raised over £1440 on top of the £370, which is amazing and I am so grateful for everyone’s generous donations and participation.
I am offering a range of workouts; Strength/Conditioning, HIIT, Core and Strength with weights, and now Yoga, which is being taught by a friend of mine. These are scheduled across the week, offering options for pre-work, after work, lunchtime and Saturday mornings. This week, a fellow PT from my gym is taking the Core session and a friend who is a PT is taking the Saturday Strength (so I can donate, join in and have a few sessions of teaching)! I am asking people to donate a minimum of £3 for a 35 min class and £5 for 45 min class. Friends, family, clients and colleagues are all getting involved and some people are coming back class on class or paying for the whole week.
A few testimonials include:
‘I love feeling and being part of something’
‘Great sessions from Anna, they are tough workouts but so rewarding to do and even more rewarding we’re raising money for St John’s Ambulance 💕’
‘LOVE IT... great way to mix up the stay at home workout routine. A great excuse to break up the day and get the endorphins going’
‘It is the highlight of my week’
I have been posting about it across my Instagram award_pt, and sending out regular whatsapps to a broadcast list. My plan is to keep going as long as people still demand the sessions and as long as we are in this situation (stuck at home and the gyms are remaining closed)! At the moment, everything is for St John’s Ambulance, but my plan is to ask the community to suggest another charity they would like to support, so that they can have an option.
If you have read this, and want to get involved then by all means get in touch with us. All you need to do is donate to the link below, let me know which class (anna@craftmedia.london) and I will share the zoom link with you!
Let’s keep moving and saving J