With the aim of promoting the Olympic Movement in Jamaica and educating Jamaicans on whole-body workouts that builds strength and endurance while living with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the Jamaica Amateur Body Building and Fitness Association (JABBFA) have launched a series of streamed workout sessions entitled ‘We Train’.
The sessions will include strength training, weights training, body-building guidance, aerobics, and dieting and will be streamed on Instagram and Facebook on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:00 pm. The first session was held on Monday.
The sessions will also be available on the JOA’s YouTube channel.
Each session will last for 45 minutes, focusing on training that can be done at home without gym equipment. The sessions will be conducted with athletes from various member sporting federations of the JOA as they prepare for the Olympics and other competitions in 2021.
In her endorsement of the programme, JOA member relations manager, Novelette Harris, shared: “Our ultimate mission is to promote the values of Olympism, which encompasses the synergy between mind and body. In this respect, an objective of the ‘We Train’ online workout sessions, in this very challenging time, is to engage both the mind and body of the athlete in not just coping with the current situation, but in the relentless pursuit of excellence in their chosen sport.”
Harris further added that “what is great about this partnership with JABBFA is that it facilitates the involvement of our other member federations.
“As such, athletes from sporting disciplines such as rugby, softball, gymnastics, boxing, basketball, badminton, and hockey will be featured in these high-energy, interactive sessions.”
The JABBFA’s vice president, Kirk Frankson, is elated to be part of this unique partnership with the JOA and JABBFA sponsors PushitJa and Seven Seas to provide the series of free online workout sessions.
“JABBFA, as the approved and recognised governing body for bodybuilding, will be providing 20 personal trainers for the sessions over the next two months from the cadre of trainers, physiotherapists, dieticians, doctors, and other health personnel who are members of the Association,” he said.
Transformation specialist and former bodybuilder and president of JABBFA, Audrey Allwood-Mullings, endorsed the benefits of the sessions, noting that programmes which promote strength training must be an integral part of every athlete’s training regimen. She shared that the correlation between strength training and improved athletic performance is now universally accepted.
“The training sessions are tailored to both seasoned Olympians and those Jamaicans who are looking to participate in a workout session for the first time and reach their potential,” Allwood-Mullings said. The ‘We Train’ workout sessions are designed to provide a tried and tested structure to workouts that are linked to the other sporting disciplines and will enable persons to train while at home.”
