Many people will still be receiving good value from their new gym memberships following the festive season. Some of us, on the other hand, will not have been quite as committed to New Year resolutions and now, after initial bursts of enthusiasm early in January, will have sheepishly abandoned our short-lived fitness regimes. Then there are others who are still keen to adopt a more healthy lifestyle but haven’t quite found the right formula.
Step forward EasyJet’s cabin crew team, who have unveiled a new flying-inspired routine for British holidaymakers trying to get fit this month – and beyond. Their fitness plan was launched following new research by EasyJet revealing that 80 per cent of Brits would have made a New Year’s resolution to get fit, but three quarters of those will be likely to have given up their exercise regime by the end of January.
The new exercise plan is based on the daily routine of cabin crew, who “really do get their 10,000 steps in each day. On average they clock up half a million steps a year on the job, or 700 miles (1,127 kilometres) – the equivalent to walking from London to Barcelona.”
Free online exercise classes have been created, titled “Travel Bag Body Blast”, in which gym equipment and weights are swapped for cabin bag hand luggage, and participants can tackle such flying-themed exercises as “Landing Lunges”, “Cloud Climbers”, “The Pilot’s Press”, “Suitcase Squats” and “38,000 feet”.
A YouTube film for the campaign stars EasyJet cabin crew in orange sweatbands as they display exercises such as side lunges while serving the onboard Bistro, squats while stowing suitcases and push-ups with pushchairs.
The survey of 2,000 people aged 18 to 65 revealed that Britons, on average, admit to wasting £500-plus on gym membership fees over their lifetime, “signing up with good intentions but then quickly getting bored”.
On average, reports the airline, Brits spend £99 every year on unused gym clothes and, while two in five spend money on monthly gym fees, 65 per cent of those only go once a month. A further one-quarter (27 per cent) with gym memberships admit to not even going to the gym once. Of those surveyed, 72 per cent have bought gym equipment for the home, spending on average £278, with a third (34 per cent) admitting that this equipment is gathering dust as it never gets used.
“The new video will help people kick-start their New Year’s fitness resolutions by showing them simple exercises they can enjoy in their own home, without the price-tag of new equipment or a gym membership.”
The exercise course was devised by cabin crew in consultation with professional personal trainer Aimee Corry. Each exercise in the routine is performed for 40 seconds with a 20-second rest, before moving on to the next one. Once a full circuit is complete, participants are advised to take a 30 to 60-second rest before repeating. “Performing three or four rounds of this circuit can burn up to 100 calories.”
According to EasyJet cabin crew member Georgia Phelan, “Being cabin crew and looking after our customers while flying all over Europe is a fast-paced, dynamic job and so we all really enjoyed bringing that energy to these creative get-fit routines to help make getting active easy and enjoyable, all from your own home.”
Added director of cabin services Michael Brown, “In the New Year when people are making resolutions for the year and planning their holidays to look forward to, we wanted to bring a bit of enjoyment to homes up and down the country with our easy and creative work-outs, fronted by our very own fantastic crew and inspired by their daily routine, to help the nation get ‘flying fit’ – and have fun while they do.”
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions
So what were the full results of EasyJet’s survey?
- Getting fit and exercising more – 80%
- Saving money – 41%
- Taking up a new hobby or skill – 25%
- Giving up smoking – 20%
- Visiting friends and family more frequently – 19%
- Getting better at cooking – 14%
- Travelling to more destinations abroad – 13%
- Reading books more often – 11%
- Decorating/renovating the home – 9%
- Spending more time socialising – 8%
