Staying Active with WheelPower

If you’re able to, regular exercise not only offers great health benefits but also releases endorphins which can help reduce stress and boost your mood.  While it may not be possible to get to the gym at the moment, WheelPower has a solution.  The national wheelchair sport charity has developed a series of online accessible exercise classes designed especially for wheelchair users, so you can stay active from the comfort of your own home.

Be a Sport

WheelPower is dedicated to helping wheelchair users stay active and encourages more people to get involved in wheelchair sport.  During the pandemic, with sports clubs and gyms closed, they wanted to continue supporting people and help them find more inventive ways to maintain their fitness.  The result was a range of weekly online exercise classes, held live on Zoom and lead by fitness and yoga trainers, including U25 Women’s Wheelchair Basketball World Championship medal winner, Ella Beaumont.

Full of Beans

In fact, Ella had been running her own online accessible fitness classes during lockdown on YouTube.  The sportswoman was passionate about staying active and started her own venture when she was disheartened at the lack of online exercise classes for disabled people.  In her videos and with a lack of gym equipment at home, she uses everyday items that can be found around the house, including brooms and tins of baked beans for weights!

Ella explained: “At the beginning of lockdown I was really missing exercise.  My mum and sister were taking part in online sessions with Joe Wicks and I used to look at them and wish there was something like that for disabled people.”

Online Gym Bunny

Since Ella teamed up with WheelPower to expand her classes, the new fitness series has gained thousands of loyal fans.  There are now three weekly classes, running from Tuesday to Thursday that cover a range of exercises to tone and build muscle.  Get your heart-pumping and join the Tuesday cardio classes with Ben or slow it down with some calming Wednesday morning yoga with Nina.  If you’re really raring to go though, push yourself with Thursday’s challenging circuits with Ella.  If you haven’t been active in a while, don’t worry, you can still take part without any previous experience.  All the exercises can be completed while you’re sitting in your wheelchair and can even be adapted to work for you.  What’s more, you can even apply for a free set of resistance bands from WheelPower to enhance your workouts.  So, what are you waiting for?  Find out more information or sign up today at: wheelpower.org.uk/sport-events.