Strictly’s 2020 professional dancers, plus Mark Wright, Joe Wicks, Mr Motivator, Kevin Sinfield, Adam Peaty, Tyrone Mings, and more will take part in a series of BBC programmes to help the UK stay fit and active during the lockdown.
Sports and entertainment stars work with BBC Breakfast: Lockdown Life to help keep the nation fit through the lockdown. Kicking things off on 11 January, the show is a weekday segment during lockdown where a host of stars provide top tips to keep both the body and the mind active for viewers of all ages.
Celebrity fitness guru Joe Wicks starts the series at 7.50am on BBC One followed throughout the week by Mr. Motivator, rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield, Olympian Adam Peaty, and Premier League footballer Tyrone Mings for the rest of the week. CBeebies’ Maddie Moate and partner Greg Foot will also join BBC Breakfast regularly to offer advice for home schooling and fun activities to try.
The segments will be available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Breakfast social media channels for viewers to revisit whenever and wherever they like.
Morning Live returns to BBC One at 9.15am on 25 January, where presenters Gethin Jones and Kym Marsh will be joined each day by a Strictly Come Dancing professional who will bring a bit of sparkle to the nation’s fitness regimes.
With gyms closed and sporting activities cancelled, Morning Live hopes to raise viewers heart rates and spirits with fun and easy-to-follow daily routines that the whole family can follow. Hot off the dance floor, Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel-Horwood, Oti Mabuse, Gorka Márquez, Janette Manrara, Aljaž Škorjanec, Giovanni Pernice, Amy Dowden, Anton Du Beke, Dianne Buswell, Johannes Radebe, Graziano Di Prima, Karen Hauer, Luba Mushtuk, Neil Jones, and Nadiya Bychkova will get all generations moving with their specially designed workouts.
TV and radio presenter Mark Wright will bring fitness to secondary kids as he leads a daily dose of energising fitness sessions on BBC Two, iPlayer and other platforms from 25 January on weekday mornings. He’ll be joined by a host of his celebrity friends as they encourage the nation’s teens to keep active this lockdown.
Mark Wright says: “When I started training on Instagram during the first lockdown, I could not believe how many people joined in with me – to make even a small positive difference was so rewarding. To continue this journey and team up with the BBC to help motivate teens to get healthy and to get moving is something that I’m really proud to be a part of.”
The BBC Sport website has a dedicated Staying Active In Lockdown section which has a range of advice for staying active, including guides to working out at home and new fitness activities to try in 2021. The Couch To 5K app is also available to download via the BBC Sport website. With 1.5million downloads and counting during the pandemic, the app is a nine-week long programme to encourage novice runners to work up to completing a 5k.*
From Monday 11 January, 5 live Sports Extra will replay a series of exercise programmes designed for the older generation in a partnership with Sport England. 10 Today – which will also be available via BBC Sounds – is a collection of ten 10-minute exercise programmes designed to get older people more active in their homes. Inspired by Radio Taiso in Japan the programmes aim to encourage people to do just 10 minutes of physical activity a day which can protect against poor health and disease, improve mental health and maintain independence.
BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore says: “Now more than ever it’s so important to stay active and healthy. Our range of BBC fitness programming is suitable for viewers of all ages and will provide vital support to parents and children in lockdown, as well as creative ideas to keep moving and stay fit from home.”
Over on CBeebies, little ones can join in the action by watching Oti’s Boogie Beebies, Let’s Go For A Walk and Andy’s Wild Workouts, all available on BBC iPlayer.
Primary school students can enjoy a daily Super Mover session each morning by tuning into BBC Bitesize Daily on CBBC. Super Movers helps children across the UK get physically active with curriculum linked videos.
How To Be Epic @ Home on CBBC also includes dance moves and other skills that can be learned from home to keep kids active and stave off boredom and BBC Bitesize online has plenty of infographics and videos available for secondary PE students to learn more about the theory behind exercise. The website also features interviews with top sport stars about how they got into their sporting careers, including the Sparks and Play By Play videos.
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