Following the government lockdown earlier this week people around the country have been coming up with ingenious ways to keep fit, and often sharing them with others on social media.

While government guidance states that we are allowed to leave the house in order to exercise – just once a day, and alone – this does not suit everyone, especially those with children or who are accustomed to using an indoor gym, which will now have closed under the lockdown.

Castle Terrace car park and other NCP venues free for all key workers

Phil Spackman, 31, with daughter Freya, 2.

In response people have taken to new and creative ways of keeping fit.

One of the most popular in the UK has proved to be fitness coach Joe Wicks’ free online PE classes which he has begun to stream on YouTube every weekday.

The 30-minute lessons are streamed live on his YouTube channel The Body Coach at 9am, and at their peak have been watched by more than 950,000 households.

“Awesome way to start the day with your small person,” wrote one Twitter user.

“We both giggled and had fun together. Thanks, Joe, you have made the beginning of our days great, we’ll miss you at the weekend! Roll on tomorrow.”

Mr Wicks posted a message to thank everyone who took part yesterday.

“Wow, thank you everyone for taking part today!” he said.

“Thank you for sharing and telling your family and friends and helping to get more people involved.

“How incredible is it to think that over 950,000 households around the world all tuned in live to exercise together.”

“If we can eat healthily and exercise then we can come out of this just fine,” he told the Evening Standard.

“It’s about kids feeling energised and happy for that half an hour. I want them to feel safe and not be worried about what’s going on, because it’s a confusing time for little ones.”

Another fitness guru with a viral following is 72-year-old Edinburgh grandad Tony Robertson, who the Evening News reported had set up a home gym in his garden last week after the coronavirus pandemic forced him to stay away from the gym.

Mr Robertson went viral after a video posted on his Twitter account, called “The Tonyvator”, was retweeted by Judy Murray.

He appeared on ITV’s This Morning yesterday to tell hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about his efforts, filmed by 70-year-old wife and camerawoman Lisbeth. He showed off the resistance bands he has tied to trees for arm exercises, and demonstrated how he lifts garden tools as weights, using buckets hooked to a pole as a barbell.

“An absolute pleasure to be on the show,” Mr Robertson said afterwards.

“I have a great time and we both may have a wee celebratory drink tonight.

“More videos to follow and share workouts with your parents and grandparents #pensionerpower.”

Mr Robertson has said he will aim to post a video on social media every day during the pandemic, in order to keep Edinburgh residents and those elsewhere fit while they cannot visit the gym.

Edinburgh Leisure have stepped in to provide their own online workouts during the crisis, with over 100 videos available for free with trainer Les Mills.

Categories include dance, HIIT training, bodycombat, post-pregnancy and mindfulness.

Many locals responded positively to the videos being made available online.

One wrote on Twitter: “Because I’m a creature of habit, I just did Body Balance at the regular time (Sat, 10:15am) on my kitchen floor (and the dog mat – I don’t have a yoga mat). And it was stretchy and good.”

Edinburgh dad Phil Spackman, 31, has gone to extreme lengths to support his two-year-old daughter Freya in continuing her exercise.

He has recently been doing ballet at home with her, complete with tutu, since her classes at the Edinburgh Dance Academy have been cancelled.

“Freya has been doing ballet at Edinburgh Dance Academy since January. We try to give her every option to try all different things, for example she rock climbs, does gymnastics and obviously does ballet,” he said.

He explained that it was not a difficult choice to join Freya in her ballet exercises: “When your daughter asks you to do ballet, you don’t argue, you just do ballet; I’d do anything for that little girl.”

“I strive to create memories for her everyday from our adventures,” he said, adding that he posts pictures of the moments shared between father and daughter on his Instagram page, @our_adventurememories.

“It’s great that Miss Simpson at EDA was able to put up a video class for us to do them,” he added. “I don’t think I’ve stretched like I did since doing martial arts.”

From the Tonyvator to home ballet: How Edinburgh is keeping fit during lockdown