Welcome to the Lockdown "Injury Prevention" Challenge Series 

Time for some fun

With the vaccine being deployed, every day we are one step closer to "normality" and being able to take part in mass participation events again. 

Lockdown brings it challenges, but I hope these fortnightly challenges I'll be setting you, starting on Monday 11th January,  will help you to escape the stresses of homeschooling, have some fun  - and help you get your body conditioned for your 10k, half marathon or marathon later on in the year.

Challenges - With a Difference.

Social media has been awash with a range of fitness challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic-  but these challenges are going to be a bit different.

Instead of seeing how many "squats or press ups you can do in a minute" or "how long can you hold a plank for" the GH Training "Injury Prevention" challenges have been designed to specifically focus on the areas where runners, walkers and even cyclists are weak and often need strengthening.

Press up and plank challenges are all well and good - but they are NOT "functionally specific" to runners or trekkers and do very little to specifically target the muscles which are often either "in-active" or "weak" in those who are part in endurance events.

In the coming weeks, you can expect a range of challenges targeting key areas from your glutes, to your calves to your lower abdominals.

The good news - is that all challenges can be done inside and attempted / practiced at the same time as home schooling. You can even get the kids involved - as something a bit different to PE with Joe Wicks.

Impress me or make me laugh - and win!

If you Run, Trek or Ride for a Charity who subscribes to a GH Training Running, Trekking or Cycling Hub - then you're in with a chance of winning a copy of my best selling book "The Marathon and Half Marathon: A Training Guide"

But you're going to have to impress me - or make me chuckle.

Send in your videos to the GH Training Facebook Page of you attempting or completing the challenges and if you impress me over the series of lockdown challenges - a book could be yours.

How can you impress me? Here are a few ideas:

• Before and After - Send in some videos proving how much stronger you've got over the 2 weeks.
• Showboating - Complete the challenge with added resistance (a dog, a child, your partner are always going to get a laugh and some credit)
• "As one" with nature - As long as it's socially distanced - completing the challenge outside in (especially in inclement conditions) will certainly grab my attention. :-)

New Challenges will appear every 2 weeks, so keep checking back and see what challenge is up next.