Heathlands Exercise at Home

Exercise at Home has been a successful keep fit project for learning and physical disabilities groups during the time of the pandemic and has continued to flourish a year and a half after its inception. This project started with the Heathlands, a day service in Carlisle, deciding that to help those most in need, and who were isolated at home, an online platform would be created called Heathlands at Home. The Heathlands at Home platform creates and broadcasts different activities such as cookery courses, games and an array of exercise sessions on a daily basis, so that disability groups at home can interact and take part on their own home computer. The platform uses Facebook, Google Meets and Youtube to broadcast and has been remarkably successful in popularity.

 Exercise at Home which averages 50 views a session is a lively 30 minute  interactive exercise to music session using easy exercises and achievable routines to attract it's membership. This session allows individuals to take part in exercise in their own homes with the minimum of space and is free of charge.

 Sports England helped this activity by providing funding for both sports equipment to be bought (to both engage the participants, learn new skills and allow for some  ownership over the activity) and made it possible for additional online sessions to be broadcast allowing for more people to take part overall.

 The success of Exercise at Home is that it is fast paced, fun with simple and funny moves. The exercise session also allows disability groups to comment and receive replies from the  instructor, while has allowed many people to remain active over the pandemic period which is still with us today.