Before the pandemic, I was leading group class exercises at the gym. Before the restrictions, I was doing stretching, cardio and strength group classes in the gym. I also participated in road races as an individual 10K and 21K distance runner. The Covid-19 outbreak scared me, as it did everyone else, at first. My priority was not to catch the epidemic and then to continue my life in a healthy way.
During the restrictions, I needed to continue my training. I was a trainer who exercised 5 days a week and was training to people every day. With a few equipment and my own body weight, I could do my workouts at home, but I realized that people did not know how to exercise during this period. The house I lived in was located in a 5-storey apartment. I set a daily goal for myself by going up and down stairs every day. While I was thinking about how to reach people, I realized that I can exercise anyone who wants to by broadcasting online. At first, I prepared and sent simple exercise programs to people I knew. They then asked questions about exactly how to do the moves. I also tried to reach as many people as I could through live broadcasts from my social media accounts (especially Instagram) online.
My target audience was very different. There were those who exercised regularly, and there were those who had never exercised in their lives. In the pandemic, the number of people who understood the importance of sports and movement had increased. For this reason, I broadcast online 3 days a week, in the morning and evening, and 2 times these days, within a program.
Morning exercises were at a light pace for beginners. The evening exercise group consisted of people with a previous sports background. The reason I did it 3 days a week was because the content of each exercise was different. I was exercising in three different systems as Strength-Cardio-Stretching.
At the end of the exercise, I was getting the comments and shaping the next exercise according to the feedback. After a while, I realized that people want to learn about proper nutrition along with exercise. For this, I talked to a dietitian, and I made programs on how balanced and quality nutrition should be, with mutual questions and answers in chat mode on zoom and Instagram. As a result, I spent the pandemic process by exercising, getting exercise and learning how to diet right, despite the restrictions.
I have observed that people find it risky to go to the gym after restrictions are lifted. I continued group lecture exercises in open spaces, and online broadcasts continued as well. I continued to exercise at the same time with people close me and with people far away through online posts. After the Covid restrictions finished, my classes in the gym and in the open areas continued. What was important to me was being able to touch people and improve their quality of life. I think I’ve accomplished that too. I am currently leading a running group of 150 people in Izmir and we can exercise freely in any area we find. We explore our city and many other cities by running. The one who cannot run then he can walk and the movement continues.

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