A fitness instructor has gone from training people on a beach to coaching them from her garden shed during lockdown.

Lisa Monger, 44, was first forced to move her classes online when the UK was plunged into a national lockdown in March last year due to Covid-19.

But she said the new format had allowed her to reach an international audience, along with parents who have childcare responsibilities.

Mrs Monger, from Leigh, said: “What’s been really good is that we’ve now got a member in the States, and people who are in Manchester, Cambridge, Coventry and Bath.

“It’s also been really good for people with small kids, who haven’t been able to come and train previously because of childcare. Now all they have to do is just log on.”

Braintree and Witham Times:

She added: “I’ve managed to go from thinking in March, ‘Oh God, what am I going to do?’, to it actually turning out to be, dare I say it, quite a good thing to happen (for the business).”

Mrs Monger, who founded Rebel Health in 2015, holds her classes in a hut in her garden and is able to interact with those taking part through the video conferencing platform Zoom.

She has gone from hosting 12 classes a week to 30 due to their popularity.

“It’s been much more successful than I thought it would be,” Mrs Monger added.

Braintree and Witham Times: