The gyms have shut due to the national covid-19 lockdown in the UK. Lucky for me I bought my weights long before the prices inflated.

I started taking my weights with me down to the beach. You can stay suprisingly warm in winter if you just layer on enough clothes. Soon enough you strip them off because you are so hot.

Watching the sunset and talking to curious onlookers is also enjoyable.

Unfortunately the lack of squat rack limits me to the amount of excercises I can perform. So far I am taking to:

• Practicing my power cleans
• Overhead presses from the floor (higher reps as its too hard to clean a typical 5 rep max)
• Barbell rows
• Rear delt flies using the grips on the plates

For those who lack weights you can construct a kettlebell by getting a gallon jug of water. These usually have handles you may want to pad out with some tape. Then you can purchase 10-15kg of children's playsand and fill the bottle up.

My decision to continue to find ways of lifting with shut gyms is part of the better than nothing philosophy. More specifically the better than nothing workout.

As in many things in life we may not always have the best circumstances to achieve our goals. With lifting this may mean no energy, no motivation, no time, no friends, no food, etc. But we do have our grit. In the video below Scooby explains that you don't always have to feel great or be in the right mindset to lift. You need to do it and you may be surpised what can be achieved despite not feeling up for it.