"Macclesfield's Joe Wicks" has been putting people through their paces during the lockdown with the towns very own online live fitness classes.

Personal trainer Matt Rigby has taken his Park Fit sessions- which would normally run in South Park- to Facebook Live in partnership with Macclesfield Town Council.

Park Fit began last June and the free sessions proved popular and this has been the same for the virtual workouts.

Matt told Macclesfield Nub News: "I became a personal trainer in December 2016 and the following summer I decided to do something called HIIT in the Park. This was in Victoria Park, close to my home and aimed at getting people outside exercising."

While the initiative did not take off on that occasion due to poor weather that summer, he never lost his desire to get people outdoors and active.

Matt, who is also an ambassador for the Tough Mudder endurance races, said he approached the town council last year about doing something similar, which they threw their weight behind.

Cllr Fiona Wilson, the town council's leisure and outdoor champion, said: "Park Fit is part of our range of leisure services to promote physical activity and wellbeing and I'm very pleased even more people are participating in the sessions during lockdown."

While they did hope to return to South Park after the Easter break, the coronavirus forced Matt to get creative with how he delivers his classes.

He said: "When the lockdown came, I was thinking, 'what are we going to do?', but at the end of the day you adapt to your situation. I didn't really do that much online training before, so I've had to look into that."

Cllr Wilson said Matt has become "Macclesfield's Joe Wicks" with his workout sessions keeping everyone moving during the lockdown.

Matt said: "Joe Wicks is doing his 'PE With Joe', but if you actually watch some of his workouts, he can't be directing that at kids. Even some of the stuff he does I would struggle with."

Matt said what Joe Wicks has been doing "has been great for the country" in keeping people fit, with one client doing that workout along with Park Fit twice a week.

"I think he's really, really clear when he does his sessions and are very easy to follow," Cllr Wilson said, speaking as a regular participant of Park Fit Live.

One of the upsides of moving the sessions onto Facebook Live is the ability for people to use them whenever is convenient if they can't join while Matt is streaming live.

Working out at home has meant participants have had to be creative. "Some weeks we've used objects, so I've asked people to get a two or five litre bottle of water; you can get them from about £1.50 and one litre equates to one kilo. So, five kilos for £1.50 is not too bad, especially when people are struggling to get dumbbells and other equipment."

While they are considering keeping the live streaming element of Park Fit when they are eventually allowed to hold sessions in the park, Matt said the thing he misses is being able to give feedback to clients.

Park Fit Live is not the only exercise event to go virtual, as Macclesfield Nub News has previously reported, Matt has helped spearhead a 'Virtual 10k' event which will take place in June.

The Park Fit Live sessions take place on Mondays and Thursdays at 6pm and you can workout with Matt on his Facebook page.