The programme has been created to help address some of the undesirable "side effects" of lockdown including poor posture from lengthy spells of home working, disturbed sleep or unhealthy eating habits. 

From this week, the retailers’ members are being invited* to book onto a range of free live classes, including: 

• Talks from in-house Waitrose nutritionists on making healthier food choices and how to meal plan;
• Sessions on the importance of sleep and top tips on creating the perfect bedroom environment with John Lewis bed buyers;
• Family Fitness classes with Vitality’s sporting experts including Olympic swimmer, Lizzie Simmonds, and Olympic Modern Pentathlete Samantha Murray;
• Energising cardio sessions run by Vitality’s own in-house clinicians and coaches**;
• Posture principles, including a session with Olympian Lord Seb Coe and a Vitality Physiotherapist

Classes will take place every Wednesday throughout June. 

Peter Cross, partner & director of Customer Experience at Waitrose and John Lewis, comments: “Lockdown will have taken its toll on us all in different ways, whether it’s long hours working on an unsuitable chair in our bedrooms, unhealthy snacking, disturbed sleep or lack of proper exercise, as well as the impact on our mental health. We're really excited to be doing our bit to help and have created a broad range of content with some of the nation's superstars as well as our own in house experts to look at wellbeing from a variety of angles - we hope that there's something here for everyone however small."

Swimming Olympian, Lizzie Simmonds from Vitality said: “Our health and wellbeing, and that of our family, has never felt more important than it does right now, yet the biggest challenge many people face when trying to get more active is knowing how to get started or to fit exercise into their lives.

“We’ve designed these workshops to offer something for everyone, from children to adults, with more traditional exercise classes, right through to fancy dress activity classes in the garden. Vitality’s core purpose is to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives, and I’m delighted to be part of their partnership with Waitrose and John Lewis, and taking part in these workshops, inspiring many more people to get active.”