Climbing the walls: Backing track to keeping fit at home alone

Whether it is the second hand ticking ever so slowly around the clock, the burning pain in your legs from exercise or the longing to finish off the rest of the kids’ biscuits in the cupboard, it is easy to lose your focus and motivation.

I’ve never signed up to a gym, but I understand why you see pretty much everyone walking in and out with headphones. Music though has become the soundtrack to writing at home for this newspaper – and when it comes to exercise time, I need something a little different to motivate me.

So, here are a couple of the things that have been keeping me going in recent days...

While live sport has taken a back seat, I must have watched classic highlights of just about every sport imaginable.

Thankfully, TV companies are using this time to delve into their archives and treat us to some great action of years gone by.

ITV will soon be showing every match from Euro 96 and has also uploaded some classics such as the full highlights of the Liverpool-Arsenal title decider of 1989 – still the best and most dramatic end to a football season EVER. Sorry Agueroooooooooooooo.

But the best of is currently up on All4, having been shown on Channel Four a couple of weekends back – the Maradona documentary. Combine the two-hour-10-minute runtime with some exercise and you’ll be feeling the burn as well as enjoying an incredible insight to one of the all-time greats.

When it comes to football, for me there is only one – Quickly Kevin, Will he Score? The 90s Football Podcast.

Funny, informative and interactive, Josh Widdicombe, Chris Scull and Michael Marden bring a classic era of football back to life with interviews, memories and some incredibly funny correspondence. The great thing too is you can listen from episode one without ever feeling it has been dated.

There are hours of content to be found there, so get your shorts on, plug your headphones in and give yourself the motivation to keep active through this.

I want to hear and see what you are up to sporting-wise during lockdown – the good and the bad – so email your pictures and videos to derek.bish@expressandstar.co.uk or contact me on Twitter @DerekBish_Star. I will include the best ones in this column and retweet plenty of ideas that everyone can get involved with.