Reunited and it feels so goooood
“Have you been Back Yet?”
“Is the vibe a bit… weird?”
“Does it feel safe??”
So this is a random sampling of my Instagram DMs after I posted a photo on my stories on my way to a class at Frame a few weeks ago. So many questions. Turns out that even some of my most exercise-hooked friends – the type who have been known to get out of bed in the pitch black and freezing cold to squeeze in a pre-work class in deep midwinter – haven’t quite made it back to IRL Framing yet.
To answer the questions first. Yes I have been back about once a week – the first class was a shock to the system, no doubt about it. No, the vibe isn’t weird at all, I am glad to report that the joyous Frame spirit is alive and well. Yes, with temperature checks and personal cleaning kits it feels safe and clean and responsible – and healthy, too, which has never been more important.
But I totally get where the questions are coming from. In lockdown I was still working out – or at least, I thought I was. I was running – but only when it was sunny, and not if it was too hot, and not if the park was really busy. I was doing live classes at home – but what with being interrupted by my family and my dog and the postman, I wasn’t always all that focussed. At the time I thought I was keeping myself fit, but looking back it was kind of….half-hearted.
Twenty minutes into my first post-lockdown Reformer Pilates with Robin at Shoreditch, I remembered what a proper session feels like. The way it wears you out but somehow makes you feel amazing for the rest of the day. The energy you get from a smiling-but-brutal instructor. How good it feels to be in a team, working together, for 45 minutes.
I’m back. And it feels good. Except for my abs, which are absolutely killing me.