Experience Fitness at The Farm

Love working out? Love being out in the countryside? Well…Shamaila found the perfect mix.

On Saturday October 27^th we organised an exclusive FitFest Oxford ‘fitness session’ courtesy of Leah Maclean of Fitness at The Farm. Oxford based wellness and lifestyle blogger and #Fitfestoxfordfam Shamaila joined us to see for herself why this was a ‘must attend’ experience.

Here’s what she had to say;

As much as I love being outside in nature, I’ve never really been able to take to running. I much prefer weighted exercises, HIIT and plyometrics surrounded by people doing similar stuff, which kind of limits me to being in the gym. So, when kindly given the opportunity by FitFest Oxford to attend a class at Fitness at The Farm, I was excited but a little apprehensive. A group session, at the farm? What? I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into. Are we going to be crawling in the mud? Are we going to have an audience of chickens? Are we going to be weight lifting sheep? Do I have to wear a hat? No idea

Turns out, neither of the above applied. I took along a friend and off we went. We arrived at the farm 10 minutes before the beginning of the class so that we could find our way and have a look around. The location was easy to find and there was parking allocated specifically for people attending the class. We got lucky with weather – yes it was cold to begin with the sun was shining and it felt great breathe in fresh air. We were greeted by Leah, founder of Fitness at The Farm, who would be leading the class. People began to arrive and already, there was a friendly and positive atmosphere. Leah began by introducing herself and giving us an overview of what we would be doing. She reassured and encouraged everyone to go at their own pace and stop if they felt they needed to.

We didn’t feel the cold for long at all, as we warmed up by running a slightly bumpy 1km around the field. This was followed by some plyometrics. Didn’t take long for the jacket to come off. Leah was great at demonstrating each exercise she wanted us to do. It always throws me when instructors throw out names of exercises and I have no idea what they mean!

After being done with the warm up (which I must say, was a toughy), we went onto the main part of the class. The class was made up of a really big circuit. I loved that the size of the circuit was big, as it made the workout incredibly varied. However, I may be wrong, but this may be dependent on the number of people attending the class. We got to do things like weighted sprints, squat jumps paired with burpees, lifting tyres, battle ropes, boxing – the lot! We had a minute on each workout and Leah went around checking everyone’s form and cheering us on – always helpful. At the end of the circuit, we played a short competitive planking game which was sooo fun. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever smiled while planking.

Overall, I was really impressed with this class. It was a great opportunity to meet new people, Leah was really friendly and funny but most of all I was so pleasantly surprised by how varied the exercises were. By the end of the session, there was no muscle I hadn’t used, AND I had felt my heart rate elevated throughout most of the session. Leah runs her classes throughout the week all year round so if you’re looking to get away from the norm and get a good workout, check out Fitness at the Farm

About Shamaila

Shamaila has a background in Health Psychology which focuses on the connection between the body and mind which she loves to incorporate into her creative projects. Her blog, thewellnessedition.com is a place for tips, reflection and musings on several topics within the self-care/wellness niche from a relatable place.