～WELLBEING～
A socially distanced boot-camp for our times BY L aura Burgoine
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upreme Fitness isn’t your usual kind of workout. It’s not even your usual kind of boot-camp. It’s refreshingly free of running drills, press-ups and military whistleblowing. It’s more a dynamic circuit of ultra-challenging weight training. There’s 15 stations, and you work in your own space, at your own pace. The session runs for just over an hour and the time flies because you’re in the zone, you’re having fun and you’re outside, which after months of lockdown, is downright refreshing! Supreme Fitness is the brainchild of Surrey Docks Wonder Woman Jo Jedrasiak: fitness model, elite bodybuilder and Miss Galaxy Universe supreme champion 2015. Originally from Poland, Jo studied sports science and physio, where she went on to work with people with sporting injuries before qualifying as a personal trainer. “We wanted to do something different from what you do in a traditional gym,” Jo said. “You’ll be doing functional exercises that use the whole body, like lifting and flipping tyres, pushing a sled and wheelbarrows, carrying sand-bags –and some Olympic lifting, which is what my background is in.” 14
“It’s a very fun way of exercising. It’s entertaining. The groups seem to enjoy it and people build a good relationship between each other.” We spent three minutes at each of the 15 stations, in intervals of one minute with a 15-second rest, doing things I’ve never done before: flipping a giant tyre, driving a weighted wheelbarrow, pushing a sled along a carpeted runway, hitting a weighted hammer against a tyre, throwing sandbags. There’s also the kinds of exercises you might be familiar with from the gym: kettlebells, boxing bag, battle ropes, and medicine balls. The following day I had a pleasant all-over muscle ache, which I can say is very satisfying. The regulars at this boot-camp are really strong, really fit, walking advertisements for the class. If, like me, you spent lockdown waiting for the gyms to open up again, outdoor exercise is a smart bet –not to mention a welcome relief from anything on a computer screen. Jo has adjusted the bootcamp to ensure social distancing and Covid safety measures are strictly in place. All the stations are spread out, at least a couple of metres apart, with certain exercises (like tyre flipping) naturally requiring large isolated areas, and when the buzzer
