A quartet of volunteers, dressed in full carnival attire, visited leisure centres across Hackney to encourage residents to move their body’s more.

On August 29, a Carni-Vibe Crawl took place, led by founder of Afroca Fitness Rosaleen Lyons.

Rosaleen, and three other volunteers, visited Hackney leisure centres, dressed in glamorous carnival costumes, to perform fitness routines infused with the spirit of carnival.

The fitness instructor was inspired by her work with older adults and saw first-hand, the impact the lockdown was having on peoples’ health.

READ MORE: Tune into the “spirit of Hackney Carnival” from home

She said: “A lot of older adults I work with have been stuck at home, so their joints are worse and they are a bit scared to come outside.

“So I’m trying to encourage them to exercise, in a positive way, using the carnival feel, and it has been working.”

Rosaleen said the lockdown highlighted how important community activity is for health and wellbeing. To address these issues she started providing exercise tips to clients and delivering equipment help them exercise at home.

Eventually she decided to launch afrocafitness, a free community video resource to help people exercise more, from home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=214&v=QUe3KtTEnqo&feature=emb_logo

“I have always tapped into services for support, whether that be housing, health or training.

READ MORE: In pictures: Crowds of 60,000 make Hackney Carnival 2019 the biggest - and greenest - yet

“Twenty years on, and recognising what Hackney has given me is invaluable.

“As an exercise professional I am working with Hackney’s community everyday and I am aware of the challenges that my participants have to be physically active.”

The group’s workouts were filmed and will be released and shared online for free during the Hackney Carnival weekend (September 12-13).

To watch the full workout for the Carni-Vibe Crawl visit www.afrocafitness.com or follow Afrocafitness on instagram @afrocafitness