Chest, Back & Abs at Barry’s Bootcamp – Miranda Larbi, Strong Women editor

If there’s one thing I’m guilty of, it’s running all of my runs at the same pace. Going to Barry’s, however, forces me to sprint, climb and push myself on the treadmill. When that light goes down and the room turns red, I know that I’ve got to really dig deep and run as hard as I can – visualising how that’s going to help me on race day. I love how they give everyone speed options too, so you can work as hard as is right for you. The floor work breaks are equally as brutal but you leave feeling like you’ve accomplished something special (the upper-body focused sessions are great for those of us who tend to do a lot of lower body work outside of the gym). It helps that the trainers all seem to have impeccable tastes in music.

Weightlifting and swimming at Virgin Active – Amy Beecham, writer

Weightlifting has always been my go-to workout, but I lost a lot of strength during lockdown when gyms were closed and found it really demotivating. Now, for the first time in years, I’ve started coupling my strength workouts with swims. It’s a great way to get out of my head, shut out all the noise and focus on just moving my body. Changing up my usual routine has definitely re-inspired me to see fitness as a journey, and not something linear.

Back to school fitness: 5 of the Strong Women team’s favourite workouts for getting strong this September