EVORians sweatin’ it out’

Fresh on the heels of our Walk This May challenge, we kept our fingers on the pulse with our June Bootcamp.

You are probably aware that June is known as GRESB season at EVORA. For our consultants, this is the biggest deadline of the year, with a larger than normal workload. It can be super stressful, so the Health and Wellness team wanted to make sure the activities and theme this month fitted in with the consultants’ busy schedules and helped them combat stress and keep a healthy mindset.

Therefore, we had Liam, a personal trainer and nutritional coach, run two sessions a week for the company, via Teams. This was optional to join, with no commitment to come to every session. It was important to us that it was held virtually so that anyone from the company could join in, no matter where they are located.

On Wednesdays, we met at 8:40am GMT to have a HIIT (high intensity interval training) session. As the name suggests, this really got us going before work on a Wednesday. It was great to see colleagues from around Europe join in and exercise together. It was great how we managed to warm up and down and still get a great heart pumping session in, all in 20 minutes.

Exercise is so important to mental wellbeing, getting the blood flowing, reducing anxiety and increasing cognitive functions. It’s also a great way to stay fit, especially for us office based lot who are used to a more sedentary lifestyle. Sara soon realized that when she works out in the morning “my mood is much better and I eat healthier during the day”

These HIIT sessions were great at working up a sweat and putting you in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day. EVORians were encouraged, and for Emma “doing the energiser has made me feel more alert and ready to crack on.”

On the Friday session, we slowed it down with a more sedate session. This one was held at lunchtime and had us stretching and releasing all the built up tension from the week. This was a great way to end the week, and Sarah felt it was “lovely to spend some time undoing all the hours of sitting that I do in a week.”

Straight after the more relaxed session was our regular meditation meeting on Teams. We’ve had this weekly since lockdown and is now led by one of our very own – Matt has been meditating daily for 7 years now and knows the importance of breathing exercises and meditation for both the mind and body.

Matt uses Headspace for the sessions, which all EVORians have access to once they’ve passed their probation. These sessions are a personal highlight of my week, giving me 15 minutes to breathe and take a second to align my thoughts and meditate. Like the bootcamp, there is no pressure to come to every session and anyone can join wherever they are based.

After this month, many of us are committed to keeping up a HIIT session weekly – that adrenaline rush after a workout is hard to beat and the positive effects for the rest of the day huge. As Andrea said, the exercise “helps to focus my mind on something else.  I feel like I can concentrate better afterwards.” Whether this was people’s first time trying HIIT or they are regulars at the gym, we have all seen the benefits of adding a 20 minute session to our weekly routines.

Huge thanks to Liam for leading the sessions this month.