A STEVENSTON gym boss has been keeping the community fit by running virtual workouts from her garage.

Claire Houston, who owns Motiv8 studios in Stevenston, has been running classes virtually ever since the lockdown.

And she has even been offering free live workouts for residents stuck at home while managing to keep her business running under lockdown.

Claire said: “It has been challenging but everyone seems to be enjoying it. It’s been a lot of work and tears trying to get it right but it’s been worth it.

“It’s just completely different to a live class. You’ve got to make sure everyone’s enjoying it as much as they would if they were at a class.

“The feedback has been brilliant. It’s actually worked really well with their life balance, children and working from home.

“I’ve put on really early classes at 7am for people before their work and a lot of the children have joined in as well so that’s been nice.

“There is actually one girl who is deaf who has joined in, and I hadn’t a clue how that would work, but she’s got a blue tooth implant so she can hear it all and gave nice feedback in sign language which was amazing. You don’t want to lose people, so it’s nice to get more people included.

“We’ve got a membership running for people to pay as they go, but I also try to do two or three classes that are free for everybody through Facebook, Instagram and one a week through the Zumba website, so I try to do three free live ones a week.

“Exercise is so important, and more for your mental health, it does so much. Because I’ve got the timetable some people say it helps them structure their day, which helps massively for a lot of people.

“It also allows people to just chat and see someone outside their house. With the regulations being as strict as what they were, one exercise a day was really quite difficult for a lot of people , especially active people who like to come to class. and socialise so it’s been nice for them to see everyone.

“Even though it’s virtual, we have a wee waiting room for everyone to have a chat, set up and make sure everyone is well.”

For more information visit the Motiv8 Studios Facebook page.