When An Taoiseach Leo Varakdar announced that all GAA fixtures were cancelled, Limerick physio Elaine Houlihan found herself at home full-time on her family beef farm.

Elaine, a member of Kilmallock Macra, decided she wanted to help people on their fitness journey throughout the pandemic and when approached by Macra Na Feirme, she was more than happy to create workout videos that are fun for people to do at home, without having to buy expensive equipment.

Farm fitness

Elaine told the Irish Farmers Journal: “It's so important to keep active during this time for your physical and mental health and wellbeing. A lot of people are very stressed and they turn to food instead of exercise."

The recommended exercise is 30 minutes per day, which for a farmer may not seem achievable.

"If a farmer only did 10 minutes of a workout I put up, they will make up the extra 20 minutes themselves by going around checking stock and different things," she said.

Look around your farm and improvise

The Limerick woman encourages people to look around their farmyard to see what different things they have that could be be used as gym dupes.

“Even using old tyres and baling twine - you can do tyre pulls with them. You can put a bag of nuts in a wheelbarrow and use that as a weight.”

For more videos from Elaine, visit Macra Na Feirme's social media channels or keep an eye on our website next week.

If you've got a farm gym or a farm fitness idea, get in touch! Email kkinsella@farmersjournal.ie.

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