Rebecca-Anne Withey: The BSL fitness pages that have kept me active for the last 12 weeks!

It’s been 12 weeks since we have been officially ‘staying home’ now. Moving forwards, there are a few things I’d like to keep doing even when we return to some sort of normality. One of those things will be to stay active.

By following government guidelines and staying home, I’ve discovered hidden nature trails, shortcuts to the local village and secret fields in a place that I’ve been living in for 5 years. With two children in tow, we’ve enjoyed our daily walks and scooter rides religiously and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever been so active – even when I was working as a dancer.

A few of my deaf friends have been nominating each other to do the couch to 5k runs, which is one way of getting couch potatoes off their backsides and pounding the pavements instead. If this appeals to you, you can find all about this here.

But seeing as running is something I loathe, I’ve been relishing the great range of free fitness workouts available online in BSL. If you browse social media, you’ll see a ton of personal trainers or fitness folk dishing out all sorts of workouts. At first glance it may seem that not many are in BSL – but with the help of my fabulous friends I’ve discovered some real gems of the BSL fitness world.

James Stavros, a deaf personal trainer, has been delivering daily live workouts in partnership with The Royal Association for the Deaf. These lives can be found on the RAD Facebook page, with pre recorded sessions also being uploaded onto RAD’s YouTube channel.

James has also been offering ‘Legs Bums and Tums’ sessions, funded by UK Deaf Sport, and as all of his sessions are in BSL and beautifully easy to follow, I highly recommend the sessions if you’re just starting out on becoming more active.

You can find James’ videos here. The RAD Facebook page is here

It was after a FaceTime call with a deaf friend who said she was ‘off to join the BSL Fit Fam’ that I found out about Julie Platt’s BSL Fit Fam online. The page, which is on Instagram, is chockablock full of HIIT (High intensity interval training) videos which target different parts of the body, regular LIVE sessions and even collaborations with other signing fit folk such as the Signing Yogi, Bethaney Mouzer.

Julie is a CODA and BSL registered interpreter. Her regular live sessions have proved to be very successful, attracting a large number of regular deaf followers and the interaction experienced online must be what motivates them to continue –  despite the brilliantly brutal workouts!

Julie says,

“I grew up quite obese as a child and so, was bullied at school. As a result, when I grew into a young adult I felt the need to constantly try every ‘fad diet’ going.

For over 15 years, I have been so fortunate enough to have trained with some of the very best, in the very best places. I have done anything and everything from Spin classes, to yoga, pilates, aerobics to bums n tums etc!

I have gained so much knowledge in the bodybuilding industry especially as this was my passion. Since having my baby, I decided to get back on my fitness journey and thought ‘how can I be accountable and but be real at the same time?’

 And so, in January 2020 I opened a brand new Instagram account named ‘BSLFITFAM’. The account gives nutritional information, pre recorded fitness workouts I do in the gym, LIVE workouts between myself and followers but most of all, videos of me talking all things in BSL.”

You can follow the page on Instagram @BSLfitfam

Also on Instagram, be sure to check out ‘Sign Language Health’ by BSL interpreter and fitness fanatic, Hayley Brown. Her videos, all in BSL, even show work outs that you can do with your children in the garden.

An active promoter of BSL, be sure to view her core workout which practises the BSL alphabet at the same time as working those abdominals. How’s that for multitasking! And if you are feeling brave enough, you can also take part in Hayley’s 1000 rep challenge.

Hayley is passionate about supporting mental wellbeing using fitness and nutrition so her posts often feature these too. Despite having no prior connection to the deaf people, Hayley was drawn to the deaf community and BSL and has even begun to explore translating other fitness pages into BSL in order to include the deaf community.

“Despite no real professional experience in the fitness industry,  I have trained most of my life. I come from a very athletic family and have created two young athletes in my children. Exercise also saved me when my mother died from a mental health disorder when I was 25.

 So, alongside being passionate about providing access for deaf people I am passionate about mental health awareness. I have close family that have mental health disorders such as bipolar. I have always invested lots of time into researching how to stay fit, build muscle and eat well.

 So in a bid to keep signing, keep moving and encourage people to take care of themselves I decided to try and create a page that can build awareness for both healthy living and sign language.”

You can find Hayley’s pages here:
Instagram @signlanguagehealth
https://www.facebook.com/Sign-language-Health-108196767569370/

For further online fitness inspo you can use the hashtag deafstayinworkout on your social media platforms to see what other deaf people have been doing for the last 12 weeks too. And if you have been a bit of a couch potato, well –  its never to late to start moving!

By Rebecca-Anne Withey.