Background
The Isle of Man has gone into a 21 day circuit breaker lockdown for the second time. The aim here is to eradicate the covid19 virus from the island as was the case last year.
The Govt is asking people to do the following –
We are to stay at home as often as possible
We are allowed out to exercise for an unlimited period within the day
We are advised to wear a mask or face covering although this is not compulsory
We must follow 2 meters social distancing at all times.
The above allows for athletes to exercise over the next 3 weeks. This can take place in the home and garden with members of your household. In addition it would be possible to exercise away from the home in your exercise period.
General Points to Follow
- Try to exercise in a quiet area away from other members of the public eg parks, quiet areas in your locality, quiet roads, on the fells etc.
- If exercising on or near roads take care and if at night always wear reflective and Hi-Vis clothing.
- The possible icy weather means you need to be careful and check underfoot conditions as well.
- We suggest you wear a face covering or mask. If you are on your own this does not have to be over your mouth and nose. If you see members of the public approaching pull your mask or face covering over your face. You can drop it down once you have moved by. A Buff is ideal for this kind of situation.
- Take runners responsibility – as you run, walk towards others – you make the move first to get more than 2m away from them if this is at all possible and pull your face covering over your nose and mouth.
- If you decide to move from the pavement take extreme care to ensure no traffic is coming towards you or from behind. Always consider safety first!
- It is important to wash hands or use hand sanitizer when using equipment etc during exercise.
- We would suggest juniors should exercise in a park or on footpaths away from busy traffic.
Exercise for athletes and children
- Seniors or older young athletes – Coaches will be in touch with their training groups with ideas to help keep fit during this period. If you do not have a coach you work with and want some advice then email andyfox059@gmail.com or ring 495830.
- Parents and younger athletes – the set of videos on this link https://funetics.co.uk/for-parents/funetics-activity-videos/ are from UK Athletics and they are called Funetics. They are simple exercises youngsters can try to improve their technique in different events and movement
skills. They can be done in the garden, some in the garage and some even in the
house. You could also do these with some simple equipment in your exercise period
away from the house in a quiet area – try to avoid other members of the public. - The way to work with Funetics is –
Do a warm up – a few stretches, a jog of 4 or 5 mins, some drills.
Now do 5 or 6 of the exercises you have chosen.
Do each exercise for a few minutes and work on trying to improve performance – this does not necessarily mean throwing or jumping further but improving the technique – the way you do the skill.
Do a cool down to finish off with a jog for 4 or 5 mins and some stretches.
This mini session could take between 30 and 45 mins in total – it depends on how long you warm up and cool down and how many exercises you decide to work on! - For Parents and older children try the Jenny Meadows home challenges on
https://www.englandathletics.org/about-us/athletics-at-home/supporting-11-year-olds-to-keep-active/jenny-meadows-challenges/
You can work in the same way as the funetics videos by creating a training session – do a warm up, then 3 or 4 of the exercises and then a cool down. You do not need to do the exercise once – do it a few times and try to become better with each attempt. - For all athletes, runners including seniors check out the England Athletics website where you will find a number of challenges and ideas to help keep you fit.
- In addition we will be adding on Manx Harriers Facebook Page a weekly garden exercise session based on the Alphabet and names to designate the exercises undertaken. Please look out for this in the next few days.
- Lastly just doing a walk, following a Joe Wicks Session or a Yoga session online will all help add variety to exercise and help keep you fit and active. There is plenty to see online that can help or if you are not sure contact Andy as suggested above or any of our other coaches – all contact details are on the training page on Manx Harriers website.
- It is important athletes check their membership is paid up and they are registered with UK Athletics. This means you are covered by insurance for activities undertaken.
- If the lockdown continues beyond 3 weeks we will look to try some challenge events eg 5km time trials, Garden pentathlon etc as we did in the first Lockdown last Spring.
Conclusion.
If we can all follow the Government expectations over the next 3 weeks hopefully the circuit breaker lockdown will be successful and we will return to the free and normal life we enjoyed before Christmas. In the meantime hopefully these ideas to help keep you safe and enjoying exercise will keep you fit and ready for when that normal life returns and competition starts up again.
All the best,
Andy Fox
Chairperson Manx Harriers