Fitness instructor creates workouts to show home can be 'playground not prison' in lockdown

An Edinburgh fitness instructor has created a series of alternative home workouts to prove that a home during lockdown can be ‘as much a playground as a prison’.

Jason Auld, 31, works at Primal Gym, an obstacle-course based gym in Edinburgh.

He has created a series of videos to entertain and inspire people to maintain their fitness during lockdown, and to be creative about how they work out.

Jason Auld gets inventive with his home workout. | Other 3rd Party

The videos include him doing tricep dips in the bath and hanging off doors and doorframes, as well as sumersaulting on furniture and over the hoover.

“People feel quite isolated, both literally and psychologically during lockdown,” said Mr Auld.

“Exercise can be a bit of a double-edged sword – we know it’s good for you but if you go online and see everyone else running and exercising you can feel like you’re missing out or failing.

“We should see exercise not as a chore but as something we enjoy – I wanted to encourage people to move without needing their gym, and to have fun with it.

Spiderman has nothing on Mr Auld. | Other 3rd Party

“The message is that you don’t need a whole load of equipment, if there’s something you enjoy doing and which gets your heartrate up then that’s all you need.”

Mr Auld added that the exercises he performs in the video aren’t necessarily what he would advise people doing at home.

“Obviously the stuff I’m doing is more complex for the benefit of entertainment,” he said.

“I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing everything in the videos – especially not pull ups on the door for people who are really keen on their doors!”