Presenter Clare Balding on how she's keeping fit in lockdown
Clare Balding has surprised herself over the past few months - by discovering a new found love of running!
For the August issue of Good Housekeeping, Clare spoke to us about keeping fit during lockdown, the importance of compassion and coping with the summer of sport being cancelled.
“With the Olympics, it was the only decision they could have made," she said."That uncertainty, particularly for the athletes, would have been difficult. I’ve been pretty sanguine about it.
"I can’t change it and you just have to be a bit more creative. You have to adapt. It’s going to be such a great relief and celebration of everything that’s lovely about sport when it returns.
"This summer, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics are being shown on TV, so I’ll get to see things I missed because I was working, such as the full opening ceremonies and Super Saturday.”
As well as watching sport on TV, Clare's recently taken up a new exercise regime herself during lockdown. "I've never been a runner, and I never thought that I could be one but it's far more enjoyable than I thought it would be," she explained to us.
Clare revealed that her wife, broadcaster Alice Arnold, has also been bitten by the fitness bug: "We’ve been doing Pilates classes online with beautiful toned American women called Rhian or Jessica, but we always end up swearing at them, which is just funny because they can side plank and put their arms in the air and their top legs up and I’m like, ‘What? How am I meant to do that?!
"Frustratingly, I haven’t lost any weight. I haven’t put any on, but I haven’t lost any. However, I do think my body shape is changing slightly, mainly because of the Pilates that I’m doing. I have been doing a great 10 minute arm workout, too."
For Clare, the importance of being kind is also a guiding principle - and that's one of the main themes of her most recent children's book, The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance.
“Be kind. It’s something you cannot say often enough. I think I am very lucky, and I’m very appreciative of what I have. If you are given the choice, choose to be kind. It will never be the wrong choice."
Clare also revealed her hope for the future. "I do hope this pandemic has made us more concerned for each other and more forgiving, kind and grateful," she said. "Think about what more you can do. Can you help more and can you offer more? It doesn’t matter what age you are.”
Read the full interview in the August issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale now. It is available in all supermarkets and online at MagsDirect.
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