Uncategorized – Page 9 – Never Give Up PT

Momentum

There are periods throughout the year that we might find ourselves taking a couple of weeks away from the gym. This might be due to going away on holiday or other commitments have temporarily taken priority. For me personally I decided to take two weeks away from gym training because of the Easter holidays and I wanted to have fun with the family. I’ve remained active but there’s been a few days where my nutrition has suffered. That hasn’t been down to chocolate eggs, however, as I don’t particularly like chocolate! But I have not controlled my diet so much and allowed for extra calories on occasion. Like I say, I wanted to have fun with the family and not sweat over whether a cheeseburger will destroy 25 years in the gym.

I like to keep things real. It’s how I PT and how I live my life. I am a 43 year old who is happy in their body, feeling and looking better than 20 years ago and who can be honest about when to hit the gym hard and when to let go now and again. I am not a bodybuilder, I am not training for a photo shoot, I am not a professional athlete and I am not the next Spiderman. My cheeseburger won’t need to have a cameo appearance through the lycra. I am, first and foremost, daddy to two little boys.

And although I like to train hard I like to acknowledge why it is that I train in the first place. This past two weeks I have been able to walk long distances, play football in the park and eat food that I wouldn’t usually eat. If we can’t identify or we forget why we do it, then doing it in the first place is so much more difficult. Remember why you do it and write it down if you have to.

During a strength phase I can train up to two hours a day, five days a week. I reckon I’ve lost almost 20 hours of training this holiday. In a two week period, however, the research suggests that I have lost no muscle mass or aerobic capacity. Studies show that we can lose 5-10% of our endurance capabilities after 3 weeks and yet I’ve been much more aerobic in the past two weeks than I would have been in the gym anyway. Simply put, as long as I go back to the gym with a plan on Monday, physically I have lost nothing.

But here’s the problem for so many. After a holiday or any significant time away from the gym there’s no plan in place. So what becomes more important than what we lose physically is the loss of momentum. This leads to further inactivity, less aerobic capacity and muscle mass. Mentally, picking up from where we left it before an illness or a holiday is the big test and even the first session can be a little rusty with form and tempo. It could take a few sessions to get back to how you felt previously. Lifting a few weights was never going to be the difficult part about training, but doing it correctly with the right attitude was.

But if you have a plan and promise yourself a day to get back to your training then you will once again create the habits that you had before your break. You’ve lost nothing but a bit of momentum. Remember why you do it and find it again.

Are Chemicals Found In Our Food Bad For Us?

Why would we eat anything that is also used in building materials and household cleaning products? Well, if you eat fruit, vegetables, meat and fish then you will eat formaldehyde. In fact this chemical is found naturally in most living organisms, albeit in very small doses. Humans also produce formaldehyde in their body as part of a normal metabolic function.

Linalool is a natural occuring terpene alcohol chemical found in citrus fruits which is dangerous in high doses and is more commonly used as a skin care product once extracted from its natural environment.

Chemicals that are often thought of as poisonous and dangerous are often found naturally in our food. I’m not wishing to put you off of your food here, but rather provide reassurance.

So let’s look at my title again…

Are Chemicals Found In Our Food Bad For Us?

No food is bad for us if we have a balanced diet. Eating too many apples in a day can cause illness. Bananas, beef, chicken, chocolate, milk, coffee or any food and drink in excess, can cause illness.

We often categorize foods as either good for us or bad for us. This is led by the media and ‘experts’ who want to tell us what to eat to make a headline or sell a book. Yet we have the power to choose our balanced diet to ensure that a food is never bad. I also don’t believe that ‘superfoods’ actually exist. There is no definition of what a superfood is and although the term is often used to refer to nutrient dense foods such as eggs, salmon, oats, blueberries and broccoli they still have the same effect as any other foods when eaten in excess.

Chocolate is not classed as a ‘superfood’ in any publication I have read. A good reason for this is its high fat and sugar content, yet it does contain the chemical flavonoids which, according to Harvard Medical University, reduces blood pressure. Unfortunately for the chocolate lovers though a daily intake of 30 calories a day is all that is needed, not a 100g bar all to yourself!

And there is the problem. We hear some great news about a food and run with it. I used to drink down 4 raw eggs each morning when I heard of their protein content. But it is only when I decided to vary and balance my diet and explore the different types of food and protein sources did I realize that I didn’t have to crack 4 eggs into a cup and pinch my nose as I slithered them down my throat each day. And even though chocolate is a much more pleasurable experience, just because it possesses flavonoids doesn’t mean stocking the cupboards with mars bars is the right way to go either.

The bottom line is that there are no bad foods, but there are bad choices that many of us keep repeating day after day until it becomes a difficult cycle to get out of. Enjoy food…all of it. But do keep it exciting and varied before you fall into the same trap.

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Be Smart

It is totally understandable that a potential client tells me that their weight loss goal is (in this example) 15kg. It is their responsibility to tell me their ultimate goals.

But, in turn, it is also my responsibility as a PT to tell them that their immediate goal is to lose 1kg. It is my job to enable sensible (SMART) targets that are more achievable to them.

Specific to the client’s goals. Tracked to ensure Measurable outcomes. Attainable and realistic. Relevant fitness levels and lifestyle and setting a Time for each milestone.

It is said that 1kg of weight per week is a healthy amount to lose. Therefore, potentially one could lose 15kg in 15 weeks. However, focussing on the bigger numbers becomes a much more daunting prospect than focussing on the very first number. Weight loss is psychological.

What do I achieve from telling people “calories in/calories out”? This is just touching base with the facts. But ultimately it needs a psychological shift for it to become a success. Certain lifestyle changes need to happen. And a lifestyle can’t be changed in a week, but a 1kg weight loss can. Before we know it, week by week, positive lifestyle affirmations take place without any pain, restrictions or resentment and we get to 15 weeks. I allow for wiggle room. 2kg either way. We get a lifestyle change and a successful weight loss programme.

The picture below is of a bride to be who wanted to lose weight before her big day. We had 6 months to achieve her goal. Instead of thinking of a weight that she wanted to lose I asked her to improve her strength, stamina, posture and technique in the gym. I gave her little tweaks to her diet so her choices were healthier but she could still enjoy seeing her friends for an evening without feeling restricted on what she could eat and drink. She became more confident each week as she developed a routine around her busy home and work life and pretty much forgot about the numbers. She knew that she felt great and was getting stronger both physically and mentally. It became more than just numbers on a scale. As she walked down the aisle nobody would see a number. Just a strong, confident woman. I took care of the numbers so she didn’t have to.

She deserved more than to be a number and just giving numbers as targets would not do her or her big event justice and nor would it provide a lifestyle change that would promote adherence beyond that. Numbers provide analytics and statistics whilst action provides change. Saying that you would like to lose 2 and a half stone means nothing without a plan. I want a week in the south of France but it won’t happen without planning it.

The truth is that I have seen so many people lose weight only to put it back on. I suspect that they eventually reached a target with great willpower and motivation and that is credit to them. But willpower and motivation are fleeting emotions that last just weeks, days and sometimes only hours. Never rely on them. Emotions can become extremely strong and can work in your favour but are equally just as strong and potentially destructive. Emotional eating plays a huge part in weight gain. Exhaustion, loneliness, stress, depression are all factors is why we choose the comfort of food. Daily weigh ins are bound to add to your irrational emotional side.

The target I give to my clients of 1kg is meeting them half way. The scales are so ingrained in our culture that I don’t recommend cold turkey if they are not prepared to ditch them immediately. Perhaps one day they will like my client in the picture above, but I need to understand that it isn’t so easy for everyone. There is no point in me making demands that aren’t yet achievable to a client (SMART) so that is why I put the 1kg target in place. After all the weighing scales can be a tool in assessing progress for some people, albeit a small one.

So whatever weight loss goal you are targeting, make sure of that first 1kg and then you can start thinking about the next 1kg. Be SMART.

South Bay

My gym time is limited to just going in to train my clients during the Easter holidays and I’m enjoying the wind down from training myself. Luckily with two lively boys though I knew that I would remain active. So I might not be pushing, pulling and lifting my way to fitness but I’m sure feeling like I’ve had a good workout each day! Now into the second week of the holidays and my step count must be off the scale. And there’s a good reason for that.

Along with touring the numerous play parks, playing football in the garden and walking around every 2p machine that Scarborough’s South bay has to offer, at the beginning of the holiday I was informed that the trams to take us down do the beach weren’t working. If you’ve ever visited Scarborough you will know that there are either steep hills or steps to go up and down the cliff or there are the trams. And seeing as all the trams have been taken away for maintenance I now have buns of steel.

The beauty of where we live is that we’re out of the tourist hot spot of South Bay enough to appreciate the quieter side of Scarborough but close enough to dip our toe into the packed beach and amusements to feel like a day tripper over the holidays. My favourite bays are by far the hidden gem of Cornelian Bay where we live and the calmer Cayton Bay, but the kids are attracted to the fun and games that South Bay has to offer and I must admit when the 2p’s start falling I get a little carried away myself!

I’ll look back fondly at the Easter holidays, but I’ll also breath a sigh of relief when I pack the boys off to school too. I need to go back to work full time for the rest!

But if the boys are like me they will look back at the amusements, the donkey rides and ice cream on the beach as fondly as I remember my childhood holidays at Scarborough. My days at Skipsea, Hornsea, Primrose Valley and Morcombe stay with me much more than the holidays abroad as a kid. The sun, food, culture and intrigue at being in a different country was always a wonderful experience, but having parents, grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles all squeezing into a caravan to play cards on the coast of England was magical. I can still hear the laughter. And now with some of those family members no longer with us, those memories become even more special.

Our plan is to transfer our business ideas to France one day, but the more memories we can create here in England the better. I know that many memories can be created along the beaches of La Rochelle but I’m not sure it is famous for its fish and chips, joke shops, candy floss or saucy postcards. Perhaps if our business fails in France we could try selling Kiss Me Quick hats to the locals.

The cliffs at Scarborough are tough to get up and down but as a tight Yorkshire man even if the trams were working I’d be telling the family that we’re walking just to save a couple of quid! But also I don’t really want to pass on the opportunity to get the heart rate up a little and have a decent walk. As I always tell my clients, if you can’t get to the gym make sure that you manage a decent walk in the fresh air. Just make sure that if you ever walk down to the beach at Scarborough you can get back up again!

I Have No Idea Where He Gets It From!

I think I’d make a good Batman. I’m not rich and the Juke is nothing like the Batmobile, although a couple of shopping bags in either boot would be a struggle. My wife complains about the boot of the Juke after every shopping trip but I reckon she’d be disappointed just as much with the Batmobile’s boot. Does it even have one? Does Batman even need 20 ‘bags for life’ bags, de-icer spray, boxing pads and a torch stashed in his car boot?

I don’t have his house either. There’s no Bat Cave behind our bookcase. In fact the biggest secret behind it is that the colour of the wall doesn’t match the exposed wall seeing as we painted around the bookcase. If only lockdown three could have been a day longer we would have got that wall finished.

And I don’t have his suit either. Not unless you include the pyjama onesy but I don’t think that would frighten away the Joker. It’s cosy enough but it doesn’t demand authority. But, still, I think I’d make a good Batman.

One of my favourite past times in the gym is hanging around upside down on the gymnastic rings. It’s a cracking core workout, but my desire to do it simply comes from the fact that it’s rather fun to be suspended upside down! And I thought I was alone in my strange hobby but as it turns out my youngest has a real talent for it too! It takes a good lot of strength to be able to carry your body weight on parallel bars and rings and if you have seen the gymnasts that perform these moves in competition they are super ripped athletes.

I can’t claim to be a gymnast though. My ambition was always to perfect the ‘human flag’ technique until I damaged my shoulder which set me back a bit in my bench press. The bench press takes priority over the human flag so I had to put a stop to that. But my youngest son might just have the knack. At 5, if he continues hanging upside down and doing crazy things that have the other parents in the play park cringing then he could be a very good gymnast. I think we might have to revisit the gymnastic classes. We used to take him when he was two but he didn’t have the attention span for it.

My eldest is a little bit more cautious when it comes to climbing on frames and trees. He tends to keep his feet on the ground most likely kicking a football. But his younger brother will happily swing, jump and lift himself to the highest point of equipment in the play park. I look at the other parents and say “I have no idea where he gets it from”, knowing full well come tomorrow I’ll be hanging upside down in my very own play park at the gym!

I might not have the car, the money or the house but I’ve got a few moves of my own that would make Bruce Wayne jealous.

Petit Dejeuner

This morning I discovered that I like blueberry shredded wheat. I also found out that I do actually have the stomach for a breakfast. This is something that I tend to put off until elevenses. I’m learning lots at the dining room table today. The family sat at the dining room table and ate together in the morning for the first time in months. There’s a few reasons why we don’t manage this more often. My lack of appetite on early mornings plus the chaos of getting the boys ready for school (and us for work) are the two main ones, but it’s the Easter Holidays and although I’m dressed and ready for work the boys are still in their pajamas with no great hurry to be anywhere. 15 minutes sitting at the breakfast table was a real treat.

I made some other discoveries too. I now know how to describe the weather in French, Finlay can count in two’s to ten in French and Jonas can count to 69 in French. The French throw a curve ball from 70 onwards so a few more family breakfast times might be needed for this.

Chef Alice Waters once said, “It’s around the table and in the preparation of food that we learn about ourselves and about our world.”

Our evening meal is when we usually get to sit together as a family. Football practice or working late can sometimes make this impossible for us all but it is the one time that we make the effort to be able to sit down together with our meal. This is when I find out about the kid’s and my wife’s day. I ask the boys what they have learnt at school and it can often bring about conversations about their aspirations, thoughts, fears and laughter as we sit and chat over our cottage pie. Having a map of the world in the dining room prompts discussions about politics, flags, history and current events and the French poster keeps us brushed up on the language which is important if our vision of moving to France to persue our business ideas eventually comes to fruition. We wouldn’t move to a country without having a good grasp of the language, so I must improve on my skills from sounding like Inspector Clouseau for that to happen!

Sitting together and eating a meal can make us value what it is that we are eating too. I hate the rushed occasions where I’m having to grab a bite to eat in the kitchen whilst quickly putting something together for the boys before their football practice. There are certain things throughout the day that we have to do which should be observed with the respect that it deserves. Eating a meal should be one of those times. But I’m a realist and realise that this isn’t always possible, so when it does it should be special. If the effort and want to do it is there then preparing a healthy meal and having the time to eat it can happen with regularity.

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Working times have changed massively in the past 20 years. 9-5 in the office is no longer the norm. 14 hour shifts, night shifts, sleep ins, split shifts, working from home and on call are all very popular working structures now but this has disrupted the family home. You are having to adapt to your working hours yet your body has consistent periods of hunger and tiredness each day that might not fit in with what is required of you in your job or your family life. You get stretched to the limits by your obligations and commitments.

But just like your obligation at clocking in for duty, preparing a meal and sitting down to eat should be a high priority too. That is your duty to yourself. Your boss won’t care that your sugar levels are low. Your 8 year old doesn’t care that you’ve skipped a meal as long as you drive them to football practice. The only person that you can truly rely on to create a structure to your meal times is yourself.

Perhaps when the holidays are over and the chaos that is the school morning routine begins again I can look at changing my attitude to eating at breakfast time with the family. Now I’ve found a cereal that I actually like I could look at waking 15 minutes earlier to dedicate this time to sitting and eating together. I’ll be sure to let you know if this happens when the kids go back to school and maybe one day I might even decide that porridge isn’t like wall paper paste after all!

Easter Holidays

“Daddy!” My youngest called from the sitting room. I was wiping the kitchen surface down for the umpteenth time today. They’re growing lads so the food prep throughout the day is lengthy. “Look at our new dance!” I went into the sitting room to see some shapes being thrown by my two boys. It’s probably from Fortnite. At their age I was giving it the ‘Prince Charming’ moves by Adam Ant so I get it. In fact, at 43, I still get the Adam Ant moves out after a few G&T’s.

It’s the Easter holidays. We are fortunate enough to have jobs where we can juggle the holidays and our work. The financial loss in our businesses due to lockdowns took it’s toll on us and we can’t justify holiday clubs every day for me to be at the gym and my wife at work, so I’ve been seeing lots of new dance routines this week. Today, I’m with the boys and my wife is at work. In the past it has seemed like we are spinning too many plates and trying not to smash them.

The gym, even when I haven’t got a client booked in, is my place of work. Just by being there and talking to people I can attract new customers and build new relationships. But this week I’ve definitely been ‘daddy’. Due to my online coaching at least I can still do work from home if I need to.

One thing that I can’t do though is train myself. The one thing that has kept my mental and physical health in check for the past 25 years has taken a back seat. Going to the gym is a necessity to my business of course, but it also plays a vital role in my wellness. The gym is my favourite place to be in my free time, not just in my professional time. It’s where I feel at home.

Yet this week it’s at my actual home where I find myself with my kids. To be fair, living in a town which is one of the most visited places in the UK during the holidays is a fun place to be with two young kids. So far we have played football on the beach, visited the amusements and walked along the cliff tops looking out to sea in search of dolphins. Scarborough is pretty cool like that. There’s always something to do with two lively boys.

Hearing their calls of “Daddy” still surprises me. I sometimes take a moment to think to myself, ‘they’re talkin to me! I’m a dad!’ It gives me a feeling like nothing else to think that I am their daddy. I’m a lucky man. And not training myself in the gym for a couple of weeks is well worth it. After all, to be what I want to be inside of the gym I must be the best person I can be outside of it. The foundations of success comes from the 23 hours outside of the gym. Being the best husband and dad is now my biggest goal in life. Master that and the rest is easy.

The Easter holidays have been planned in my workout programme, of course, so I have accounted for this. As long as I stay active and my nutrition stays stable, not going to the gym isn’t going to disrupt my progress. My body needs a rest sometimes. I’ve just finished six weeks of strength and power training so this couple of weeks will be a perfect break until I begin a hypertrophy cycle. It’ll get intense again. So giving my body a rest is important.

But there was a time where this would have freaked me out. Not going to the gym to train myself would have left me feeling flat. I would have felt like my progress had been stalled or totally derailed by not training. I now know that this isn’t true. I can not only rationalize this, but I know that it is in my best interest to put the weights down from time to time.

As much as I know that staying in the best condition in the gym is important to me, watching the latest floss dance from my kids is the most enlightening thing that I can do. It’s moments with my wife and kids like yesterday at Piglets Farm near York that will stay with me. The next gym visit is a vital component to my wellbeing but will always be secondary to creating memories with my family. I no longer have to spin so many plates, I simply just put them to one side until I’m ready to spin again.

Scapegoating

My job as a PT is made much easier from me having the experiences of many of my clients. I’ve got the qualifications but what really allows me to guide my clients is my ability to delve into my own past and draw parallels with them. Along with the many coaches that I have worked with in the past, I also became pretty good at coaching myself.

I have had the anxieties about my body. Am I too skinny? Am I too fat? I need more muscle to be accepted. I need to eat better but I like kebabs after a few pints. Should I try fasting? My friends inject steroids so I should do the same? I want results but can’t be bothered to workout this week. I might as well give up on my goals.

I have felt almost every emotion there is when it comes to my training and my eating habits and I still keep finding new things out about myself and my personality. Perhaps the journey is meant to keep surprising us all. But now, if it is a negative discovery or a challenging one I am now confident in knowing how to solve it.

One particular challenge seems to be one that I hear from people that I speak to often. We seem to choose a relatively harmless food to scapegoat. I’ve thrown certain foods into the wilderness, too, so i can empathize.

When we are deciding what we can or can’t eat during a diet we go through a process which is often a distorted version of reality. This presents an exaggerated response or conclusion. Therefore, the reason that you are over weight must be because of the banana that you eat every day. The issue has been simplified to suit your case. The banana has been demonized because it is easier to do than focus on your alcohol intake or the amount of fast food you eat each week.

Fruit can get a bad rap at the best of times because it is high in sugar and I also made the arguement to myself that the apple, grapes, the banana I ate each day was the cause of unwanted weight gain. I didn’t want the copious amounts of beer and takeaways on the weekend to be the issue. I sacrificed the fruit. The fruit didn’t impinge on my lifestyle. Had I addressed my drinking and fast food choices, it certainly would have done.

The truth is the reason for my weight gain wasn’t the banana at all and nor was it the drink or takeaways. I realized that no food was the enemy. It was me and how I abused food that was the real issue. Having a drink with friends or a fast food meal didn’t have to stop. A daily banana didn’t either, of course. But it was the amount of food and drink that I was consuming that had caused weight gain. If I consistently put more calories into my body than I needed each week then I would see a slow increase in my weight.

Every successful client of mine will still enjoy a slice of cake with friends or a beer in the pub. Occasionally, they might have an unplanned event within their day which meant they had to ‘grab and go’ at their local Gregg’s or chippy and they’re doing it guilt free. Because what surrounds all of these acts are accountability, hard work and a positive relationship with food.

You don’t need to scapegoat a banana. Instead of blaming a banana at a 100 calories, see how you can make positive steps in reducing your overall daily calories to suit your goals. When you start banning foods you have an unhealthy attitude to ‘good’ foods and ‘bad’ foods. You beging to resent the process and often resent yourself for sometimes choosing the ‘bad’ food. This leads to further depression about your weight and binge eating due to your ‘failures’.

Choose a banana, just not the whole bunch. Choose a slice of cake, but not the whole cake. Choose fish and chips, pizza, apple, water, choose loads of veg with as many meals as possible. Choose a cheese sandwich on white bread but don’t use the whole loaf or block of cheese, choose a chocolate but not the whole tin and choose a beer, just not the whole keg. Choose life.

I’m Too Sexy

I never really had a problem with losing my hair. Perhaps when I first realized that I was receding as a teenager I panicked and tried shampooing my head with olive oil a few times but, as I say, I wasn’t overly concerned so I soon stopped as nothing happened anyway. Had I come out of the bathroom looking like Captain Caveman I might have carried on. Instead I persisted with the balding Kurt Cobain look.

But something happened to the baldies in the 90’s especially for those older than me and has probably still made a difference to the attitude of society in the UK. In a fictional London market place called Albert Square walked in the Mitchell brothers. They were two bald, burley, no nonsense characters in soap opera EastEnders that had the bald men if the UK snipping off their comb overs quicker than you could say ‘Get outta my pub!’

Being bald was accepted. Even David Beckham ditched his mohawk for the shaven look. Before you knew it walking down Briggate in Leeds looked like one big Right Said Fred convention.

Also back in the 90’s something else happened. Not only did the media have a big influence in us seeing baldness in a different light, but they also pointed out Princess Diana’s cellulite on the front page of a Sunday rag and in doing so made not just Diana with an eating disorder paranoid but millions of other women feeling insecure too. All of a sudden just as men ditched their comb overs, olive oil and toupees, woman began to buy magic creams and cover up. It’s like a disease had been discovered on a papped Diana. And if a Princess who stayed very fit and active with access to the best foods, gyms and treatments had cellulite what were the rest of the female population going to do?!

Yet cellulite, just like baldness, is a pretty normal thing to happen. In fact, again just like men balding, cellulite can develop just after puberty and genetics can be a factor too. Some treatments can be found but with varying degrees of success and very active people can get cellulite. The skin losing it’s elasticity in older age can make it more noticeable. And it is probably only you who cares about your cellulite and is self conscious about it. And if it bothers anybody else then hit them around the head with a rolled up News Of The World.

We can do some things to change our appearance. If we are unhappy or unhealthy then you can do something about it. But worrying about the things that we can’t do anything about is pointless. Yes, I could have a hair transplant and fair play to anybody who has, but I am me. Other than a false tan in winter then I am who I am. Learning to live with yourself is one of the hardest things to do. Respecting yourself and how you look is where you need to begin when you want to change something about yourself. Change comes from believing that you are already beautiful. Changing yourself when you don’t even like what you are is very hard.

I never became a PT to shame people into needing to exercise. Instead I wanted to tell people “You are fabulous and how can I help you in becoming even more fabulous?!”

And if I can dance around my bedroom butt naked listening to ‘I’m too sexy’ then I’m certain that you can too!

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GABA

It’s pleasing to get the feedback from my client’s workout whether it be an online programme or in a 1-1 session. This morning was no exception. The message I received from a trainee 5 minutes after a 1-1 session was “that was much better than a bottle of wine”.

It’s great to know that my trainees are enjoying their workouts. After all, if we enjoy it we are more likely to create a consistent routine regarding our fitness and meet targets. And the science doesn’t lie when it comes to exercise. People enjoy the effects of it for a reason.

Even after 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity the brain releases a stress hormone called Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) which promotes relaxation, sleep and triggers seratonin production. The ‘feel good’ chemical dopamine is also released. Indeed, the comparison with wine is ironic in that alcohol will do the exact opposite and actually inhibits these chemicals from doing their job.

The physical benefits of exercise has been well documented since time began. But I believe that if we entered a fitness programme with our mental health as the priority then our physical needs would be met too. For example, other than a possible sarcoplasmic pump after resistance training, your body will not develope from just one workout. It needs several weeks, months and years to achieve muscle gains, better movement or sustainable fat loss along with balanced nutrition to accompany your goals. However, just 20 minutes of a fast walk, a run, a HIIT routine, spin class, jumping up and down or even sex can produce the chemicals and hormones in your brain that can make you feel calm, relaxed, happy and energised. Add these 20 minutes up and by the end of the week not only have you got a brain that is producing GABA at the rate of a Nestlé factory making chocolates but you are also enabling huge contributions towards your physical goals too.

And talking of chocolate. It’s main ingredients in dark chocolate especially is cocao which has large quantities of natural GABA. I don’t ban foods for my trainees. Together we will talk about their nutrition and find ways of improving things in keeping with their goals. I want happy trainees therefore chocolate stays in the menu! And GABA is also found in cruciferous veg such as broccoli and kale, so as long as there’s plenty of that on your plate then a bit of chocolate to sweeten the palate is not going to break your goals.

The bottom line is this… exercise can be the hardest thing to begin. You are tired and a workout is the last thing you want to do after a hard day at work or with the kids. Working out at home is a drag, you’re not motivated enough and a PT or the gym membership is too expensive. You can’t afford it. But when you look at the benefits of what it can do for you both physically and mentally, can you afford not to?