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#YourActiveStory - Sebastian and Larisa

Published: 21 May 2020
Sebastian and Larisa

As former competitive athletes in swimming and water polo, me and my partner, Larisa, have always made best use of Southampton University's pool and gym, conveniently heading there daily after our jobs at the university to sweat off the stresses of the day and try to keep fit as near to competitive level as possible. 
 
We are fortunate to be able to continue working full time from home, but also initially had to brainstorm how to maintain our fitness level gained at the campus sport facilities. 

We picked up on the fact that Larisa had never run more than 1 mile in her life, preferring to swim. That's how we agreed, starting on the first weekend of lockdown, to start running around 5 days a week. We started off with a nice and slow 3km per day, and have since moved to 5.5km circuits, all the while gradually improving our times. Most weekends we have tried to include a long distance run; our latest was a decent 16km, mainly done within the lush Southampton Common. That's the furthest I'd run in nearly 10 years, and Larisa's record distance. 
 
To not let our muscle mass waste away, we do 2 weekly outdoor HIIT sessions, with special emphasis on the legs. Squats and different variations of lunges ensure that our legs are appropriately knackered and makes the jog home an effort. 
 
On top of the running we have subscribed to the Southampton Sport & Wellbeing YouTube channel, to start doing yoga after our runs and properly stretch out, work our core stability and relax before enjoying the evening. 
 
We can't wait to head back to the pool again nevertheless, and weights at the gym do make strength training somewhat more efficient!

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Like Sebastian and Larisa, if you're finding it difficult to work from home, remember that Sport & Wellbeing have FREE online fitness classes available live on Facebook and fitness class archives Youtube. You can also receive fitness advice from the team by using #DYGCoach on Twitter. All of this information and more can also be found on our dedicated #DoesYouGood page.

Thank you for getting involved with #YourActiveStory Sebastian and Larisa. FREE headphones and a water bottle are on their way to you.
 

 

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