Doing any type of exercise is going to help build your physical fitness. Most people often forget the benefit exercise and training can have on you mentally too.
Exercise and training releases endorphins in your body which stimulate your brain, often know has the happy chemicals, which is why you feel better once you’ve trained.
It might be hard dragging yourself to the gym or going out for a run when the weather isn’t too appealing but you always feel happy and when you’ve finished.
I always like to praise my clients for the accomplishments they achieve, no matter how big or small they are.
A number of my clients this year have wanted to take on new challenges and for them in meant upping the distances they were running to include marathons and ultra-marathons and events.
I’m sure most of you in the Obstacle Racing scene will have over the last few weeks been hearing non stop about the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships.
If you haven’t and wonder what it is all about, it’s an amazing event where countries from all over the world come together to celebrate and test themselves amongst some of the great OCR athletes out there.
I'm sure lots of you have seen my pictures from racing at Spartan Midlands this weekend at Marston Lodge. I took on the Sprint race on Sunday morning. It was a tough course, and I seem to have blanked out the pain and the amount of hills there were in it from last year!
My legs aren't feeling too bad which is surprising however upper body is very achy today, and it got me thinking about how many of the obstacles relied on upper body strength.
Some of you may have seen my training videos and making the most of training outside and using the boys swing frame in the garden to practise my pull ups and grip strength work.
I’m sure loads of you think this is crazy training in this weather, but for me it marks the start of my next goal.
Over the last few weeks I've been speaking about every bodies race season getting underway and mine started this weekend at Aztec Escape. An OCR race based at Cliff Lakes, with great obstacles and a choice of distances to run, plus the finishers t-shirt is amazing.
Have you ever thought that you need to change your training and always put it off?
You either feel you haven’t got the time or you’re happy to keep going as you are?
I know the feeling, to keep going in the usual routine can feel comfortable and you know what is coming.
However sometimes something happens that forces you to have to make a change. Whether that’s the feeling of burning out with work or at home, or the little niggle that you’ve been putting off that you think will ‘go away’ on its own becomes a more persistent injury. This then forces you to re-evaluate what you need to do.
Now that winter has set in, its a great time to start thinking about the New Year and the races that you have planned.
This week I've already booked in two events in May (Aztec Escape) and July (Spartan) after really enjoying them this year. I've got a few more lined up so I'm aiming to do one each month as soon as the weather gets nicer.
With an packed race schedule its important to think about the goals you're wanting to work towards over the year.
I'm now properly back at work after taking time off to welcome the latest addition to the family. Wilf joined us on 2nd November and Laura, Monty and Wilf are all doing well.
We're all learning the skills needed to juggle a new born baby and a non stop toddler.
It has been a long process and many of you have been involved with the development of the studio, from the early ideas in a note book to the realisation during the summer that I could get my own premises in West Bridgford for a Personal Training Studio.
Now we've up up and running for over a month and the feedback I've had has been amazing.
Lots of you know the my story of why I became a PT after seriously injuring my back and being told I would never play football again by a consultant.
Fortunately for me, my Physio at the time was amazing and helped me to see a silver lining to it all and we changed the way I trained and found different sports for me to do, gradually building up the strength in by back and whole body.
This is the approach I take with a lot of my clients.
This weekend saw me take on my first Spartan Race. Despite the very hot weather which pretty much meant any type of running or jogging was out of the question, I loved it.
What a busy couple of weeks. last week I took sometime away to spend with my family. We took Monty to Peppa Pig World and went into the New Forest for some exploring. It was great to recharge the batteries and see the excitement on his face as he met Peppa and George and trying out new activities.
With the weather finally getting nicer it's heading into busy race season. Clients are racing most weekends now, the weekend just gone saw Cheryl take on her first OCR of the year at Reaper. She's worked hard over the winter in our Blast Programme to make sure her shoulder has recovered and her injuries from last year are well and truly behind her.
Last week you'll have seen me post on my Facebook page about the success Glenn has had on our group training and how he is managing his osteoarthritis and using training to his advantage. If you haven't already seen his story go and check it out.
You might have seen some of my videos last week about me starting training and having a Biomechanics assessment completed by Tiff at Ridefit Academy, if you want to find out more check out some of the videos I've done and if you're looking to be able to move better, drop me a message.
Who has seen the exciting news yesterday, when it was announced that the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships is going to be held in the UK for 2018!
Ever felt like you've been hit by a train after a race?
I took part in Mud7 at the weekend, what an amazing event and boy does my body know about it. I eyed up this race last year and had it on my radar as a goal to complete this year.
We are now a couple of weeks into 2017 and I’m sure many of you have set New Year’s resolutions and are on track with them. It is great to look at client’s updates on Facebook of their workouts and comparing the miles they are racking up on their Fitbits and various other trackers. You are all smashing your virtual runs.
