Summer is my favourite season; I don’t know about you. But I’m embracing the winter, after the last year – the hats, woolly jumpers, and of course my birthday. But I’m not looking forward to the cold - the rain - and the dark mornings.
Are you a hugger?
If there has been one thing about COVID that has been a blessing in disguise is the need to have personal space.
I have spoken in the past about aiming to run three times a week and then you other sessions can then be based on resistnace work, stretching and active recovery.
You’ll only ever make improvements in your training if you strategically progress it at points during your programming.
We can all be guilty of only doing exercises we like doing, especially when planning our own training or finding generic exercises on YouTube which anybody can do.
Mental imagery is when you use all your senses to rehearse a scene or movement you need to perform. You want this to end positively to set you in a good mindset.
This time last year me and one of my clients Cheryl, were in full training mode for the Obstacle Race World Championships, that were being held at Nuclear Races.
It seems like a lifetime ago now, especially as this years races have been cancelled.
We’re half way through the year now and it got me thinking about why I train and exercise and what I’m training for now.
Previously all of my training was building towards races and focusing on different obstacles that would appear on a course.
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.
Running helps you mentally in other ways too.
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 going to go over why you might want a personal trainer and what's involved in a personal training session, in case you've ever wondered.
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.
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.
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.
This is a great question and one that loads of clients ask.
Its like the holy grail of training, everybody wants to know how long you can Plank for.
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.
It's been a busy few weeks with all of us at Fundamental Sports and Fitness.
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.
As today is pancake day and tomorrow is valentines day and you all know I love a good challenge so here it is for you.
This week, I have a challenge for you and it'll keep you busy over the Christmas break.
Some of you may have heard about how I got into coaching, many think its because I love sport and competing, which yes that is a big reason.
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.
What’s one of your biggest fears when you’re out running?
This week I'm going to tell you a story, all about whether you perceive yourself as being strong or weak.
Over the weekend and epic bunch of ladies took part in The Suffering Race aiming to get LEGEND status.
What a weekend!
A few weeks a go I put a video out on Facebook. Did you get a chance to watch it?
Have you ever struggled to fit in training with work or trying to justify going to the gym and training along with other expenses.
Have you seen the videos on my Facebook page from yesterday?
For me this weekend has been lovely, I've been able to spend loads of time with my family.
Last week I told you all about Cheryl and how she took on her fear of heights at The Obstacle Gym walking across the high beam.
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.
I have recovered from my race and the the bruises have finally gone down, my legs no longer look like they have been kicked.
A while back I got you thinking about goals and where you wanted to be or what you wanted to have achieved.