During the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdown conditions led to significant changes in our routines, the critical role of exercise became clearer than ever. Not just for physical fitness but for mental wellness, balance, routine, a way to cope with stress and overcome serious obstacles.

Optimum Nutrition, the world’s largest sports nutrition brand, wanted to remind the world of the importance of fitness at a time when it needed it more than ever.  As a response to a public call for stories, we identified six amateur ‘everyday’ athletes from the UK, Australia, the US and Japan and worked with them and their families to highlight the critical role that fitness and nutrition has played in their lives. For some it was recovery from trauma, for others confidence and personal development, others again, just direction and focus. But from all these stories the consistent thread was the incredible power of fitness and nutrition to help overcome everything life throws at you.