Mollie's Feel Good Feed: How I'm keeping fit in lockdown

This week Mollie shares her excercise for the week as well as a few things bringing her joy

Welcome to Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed, a place where each week Mollie King shares her round-up of the things bringing her joy in these strange and uncertain times. Check back each week for uplifting music, self care tips and, hopefully, a smile being put on your face.

I can’t wait to share with you the little things that have been putting a smile on my face this week. Let’s get straight in…

Singles

With this first recommendation, I feel safe going with the bold statement: ‘stop what you’re doing and listen to this song immediately’. I’m often asked in interviews whether I hear songs while working at Radio 1 and think, ‘Oh, that could’ve been a Saturdays song!’ And the answer is, yes, all the time. This first song brings me that exact feeling. It’s all the summer vibes you could want, wrapped up in a super pop melody, brought to us by German pop star, Kim Petras.

The song is called Malibu and honestly does make you want to throw on your bikini and run around the house, which is proven in the accompanying music video. Last week Kim asked fans to send in footage of themselves in their beachwear to compile for the music video… Not a bad idea while we’re all stuck in lockdown!

Not only did the general public send in clips, but she’s also found fans in Demi Lovato, Jessie J, Jonathan Van Ness, Paris Hilton and Charli XCX, who all appear in the video, too. Definitely worth a watch!

At the other end of the scale, Sam Fischer is an Australian singer-songwriter who I’ve been loving listening to over the past few weeks. In this difficult time where I find it hard to stop my mind moving at 100mph, this song forces me to slow down, sit back and listen.

Check out the song, This City, which he recently performed on James Corden’s The Late Late Show. If a more stripped back, acoustic sound is your vibe, this beautiful song will start your day off right.

TV shows

This show is completely different to the kind of thing I’d normally sit down to relax to, Netflix’s Drive to Survive. It follows the previous year’s Formula 1 season, giving you a hugely in-depth insight into the goings on, both on the track and behind the scenes with each of the F1 teams.

You watch team meetings, debriefs, and really feel like you’ve come away knowing the different drivers at Ferrari, Mercedes and all the top teams. Strangely, I’d suggest you start on Season 2 – not something I’d normally suggest for a TV show, but I would here as it follows the 2019 series.

Next on my list is BBC’s Race Across the World. I know what you’re thinking; doesn’t that sound like the show I’ve just mentioned? But it is, in fact, very different. Five pairs of contestants race each other across the globe, travelling from country to country, to reach the final destination first. All sounds pretty glamorous, doesn’t it?

That's until I tell you they’re not allowed to travel by plane, have a very limited budget, no phones, and have to raise their own funds to continue their journey (in weird and wonderful ways). This show is a relaxed watch, and as much about the people taking part as it is the travelling. Give it a go when you fancy something laid back and easy.

Self care

It’s so hard picking a daily skin routine that works for you, isn’t it? I think it can quite often feel like we’re bombarded with names of top brands, but often don’t quite know the difference in what each of them are providing. I suffered a lot with acne growing up and was often on medication for it as a teenager and in my early twenties, so skincare is something I like to put a lot of care into.

I’ve been loving trying different brands, but recently have fallen in love with Murad. Their Essential-C Cleanser and the Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum make my skin look brighter and like it’s seen more fresh air than it actually has in the last few weeks.

I’ve also been treating myself every few weeks to one of the SK-II Facial Treatment Masks. These are sheet masks, which are actually quite nice to hide your face under after a long day, not to mention they’re the perfect sign to anyone else at home that you need to lay flat and not do house chores for the next 15 minutes!

Fitness

It can be hard to find time, or should I say motivation, to exercise at the moment, but for me that endorphin rush has been the thing keeping me going over the last few weeks.

This week, I joined my boyfriend in his cricket drills – I know, what was I thinking?! This week’s set consisted of six short sprints (or an over for any cricket fans out there), alternated with six recovery walks. To put it simply, we sprinted the length of half a football pitch, and walked the other half, six times, repeating the whole set three times. When he first told me what we were about to do, I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it sounded too difficult… how wrong I was! My hamstrings didn’t know what had hit them!!

I’ve also been trying to do short sets of ab workouts… my least favourite part of the body to work out! For this I did an Instagram Live along with my trainer, Tyrone Brennand, who made sure I wasn’t slacking and promised me we would keep it to 15 minutes… I think I deserved a doughnut after that, to be honest!

Thanks so much for reading Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed – check back on Marie Claire every Friday for more of my feel-good recommendations. Take care and stay safe!