Up until two weeks ago I had never given bee keeping a serious thought. Indeed, even just putting on a bee keeping suit and observing wouldn’t have been something that I ever expected to do.
I mean, I don’t scream when a bee comes near me, but the thought of being surrounded by thousands of them whilst sweating in a space suit and disturbing their home making them angry was never on my to do list.
And then my wife and I began planning our Wellbeing Centre in Portugal when the suggestion of keeping bees came up. A good idea I thought, but the conversation didn’t really progress until I found out that my wife had organised a trip to the local beekeeping society so that we could start learning the ropes.
I’ve been looking forward to today, albeit a little nervous. But our move to Portugal will be a time for many firsts. Why not give our visitors a beekeeping experience too?!
My eldest wasn’t as excited by the experience as the rest of us. With a tear in his eye, he reluctantly put his suit on but said that he wouldn’t get too close to the bees. That’s fine! After all, I wasn’t sure how close I would get!
As it turns out, both boys were excellent in following instructions, staying safe and getting as close as they possibly could. Myself and my wife were also keen to watch and learn as the keepers opened up the hives.
I don’t know if we will develop the beekeeping in Portugal. There is lots to do before we get to that stage, but we’ve organised another trip to the hives in two weeks time so we are obviously keen to pursue it.
Not only was it a great way to spend an afternoon, but it left us all buzzing!
As my wife and I were walking down our street this week the first sightings of Christmas decorations were spotted.
“Them at number 23 have gone early,” we seemed to simultaneously comment.
Every year we look for the early birds “going early” and every year we judge whether it’s a touch too early or not.
We’ve said the same thing for years…
“They get earlier every year, they do.”
“Channel 5 have gone early with their Christmas films this year.”
“Zoe Ball has gone early with playing Mariah Carey on the radio.”
We seem to have an issue with people going too early with their Christmas celebrations. Indeed, no sooner have the Pennywise masks left the supermarket shelves and the After Eights are stocked up. I do cringe at the thought of consumerism that is involved which in turn makes us all go too early.
However, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to bring forward the festive cheers. The last few years have been tough and, just this year alone in the UK, we’ve had political unrest with a few different Prime Ministers, a cost of living crisis, the Queen’s passing with a few weeks of mourning and Neighbors getting cancelled. It’s been a strange year.
So when I woke up listening to a Michael Bublé Christmas classic this morning I did feel a little cheer and a festive spirit lift me. It was about 6:45 and Finlay, my youngest, had asked Alexa for Christmas songs. I wouldn’t have chosen to be awake so early on a Saturday with no school or work to get up for and Finlay hasn’t yet mastered how to ask Alexa to turn the volume down. But if I’m to get woken up by anything, it could’ve been a lot worse than Bublé.
And I can just imagine what the neighbors will have been saying…
My wife and I had the perfect chance for a weekend without the kids. It is my birthday on Monday and their grandparents had offered to take the boys to their house so that we could celebrate my birthday with a meal out or an evening at the cinema.
It’s rare to have an opportunity for a ‘date night’ or to have any significant time together so it was very tempting. But I didn’t want it to happen this weekend. I wanted my wife and two boys with me.
It’s perhaps a cliché thing to say, but when my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said ‘my family with me’. At 44, other than a new pack of undies or socks, my desire to unwrap expensive things or something new and exciting has gone. Undies are exciting. Yes. I have reached an age where a new pair of undies without any holes thrills me. And I’m happy with that.
As a kid I would open up a birthday card and a tenner would fall out. After pretending to not notice the money and instead read the verse of the card I would thank the person and then look in shock as I eventually found the ten pound note which had dropped into my lap. It was an awkward moment. I was always very grateful for people’s generosity at birthday and Christmas time and I still am, but sometimes the bestest gift you can receive is the closeness and love of your family. You can’t buy it.
Seeing as my birthday landed on a school and work day this year, we decided to have a ‘birthday weekend’. We like to extend our celebrations. For example, Eurovision is watched from the semi finals throughout the week with flags on the walls, not just on Saturday’s finale. And daytime Christmas films on Channel 5 are starting to get recorded already for us to binge on a November Sunday.
Our boys love a celebration. It usually involves cake and pizza so why not?! And for Lou and I it involves wine, so we love a celebration too! But it wouldn’t have felt right to send them to their grandparents this weekend. We played Monopoly, went for a coastal walk to the local pub for a few games of pool and managed two movies with copious amounts of food. And I was allowed to open a present before the big day too! Seeing as I complain about being cold so much, the boys had decided that a fluffy house coat is what I needed. Once they were all partied out, they went to bed and I could pop open a bottle of fizz. The coat stayed on.
As I write this I’m feeling a bit knackered myself and my birthday hasn’t even arrived yet. So I don’t think there’s going to be much celebrating tomorrow. Maybe whilst they’re at school, I could have an old man nap to find my energy for the week ahead! It is my birthday after all.
I didn’t dress for Halloween to be scary. Although a man in his 40’s wearing an inflatable Yoshi and Super Mario costume running around the streets might have creeped some people out. Anyway, my kids loved it and with the response from the other kids doing their trick or treat rounds, it went down well this Halloween.
There’s something very inevitable about Halloween that is as predictable as a Mariah Carey song at Christmas. I eat and drink rubbish. White bread looking like tombstones, pizza, cheap hotdogs, crisps in the shape of ghosts, cake draped in marzipan, beer and wine to be exact. I tried to convince myself that, seeing as I had Yoshi with me, I was eating for two. He’s a hungry little dude.
But I accounted for the evening binge by how I behave the rest of the year. Indeed, there will be other occasions where I’ll abandon my structured eating habits this year and it is all within my caloric limits. This is how I know that I won’t put on unnecessary weight.
For many years I have assisted people in balancing their diets. I am proof that we can eat whatever we like on special occasions without the guilt, the ill health or the weight gain. We can live our lives without the restrictions of formal diets.
If we can plan for the occasional ‘day off’ of protein powders, fruit smoothies and the training schedule then it is very easy to appreciate it, enjoy it and move on. But planning it is the key. It’s my birthday in two weeks and, again, this will be a planned day (or two) away from thinking about my nutrition too much. As long as I put the work in-between these events then I am confident that I will be absolutely fine with no regrets.
My only regret about Halloween is that I didn’t go as Bane.
Yesterday my wife Louise and I celebrated 13 years of marriage. We’ve been together now for almost 16 years and we are still making a strong team.
As with any healthy relationship, we have had testing times too. But we work hard at keeping what we have because it is special. I think it comes down to communication. We try not to let things fester and address our issues by talking to each other as soon as we can. We support each other. Sometimes I’m the stronger one and sometimes it’s Lou.
I knew that I couldn’t continue my Support Worker career and be the father that I wanted to be. Lou made me believe in myself that a change was possible. The hours and the risks were making me unhappy and I knew that I would miss out on being a dad to our new born. Also, the wages aren’t enough for the responsibility of a Support Worker. Lou knew that health and fitness was my number one passion and she told me that I could be a PT. The cost of the course and the extra hours in attending it each weekend for almost a year on top of my full time job would be difficult to do, but Lou said that I must do it. She knew how important is was to me.
And then I returned the favour! A few years later and being a full time mum to two little boys, Lou needed to get back into work. I encouraged her to follow her dreams in going to college to learn holistic therapies. She now runs a successful business in the centre of Scarborough.
We could’ve played it safe. Staying in the same City that we knew, plodding on in the same jobs. But to get to this stage in our lives, we have lived in three different cities, two towns, 6 houses. We’ve created 3 successful businesses. We have worked together as support workers, Cafe managers, nightclub bar staff and shortbread biscuit entrepreneurs. Together, we’re quite a formidable team. And we’re not afraid to change something if it isn’t working or it is no longer enjoyable. As individuals we have changed and our relationship has evolved because of our need to change something that is not making us happy. Like I say, we don’t let anything fester.
Yesterday was a hoot. We both took the day off work and played the tourists in our hometown of Scarborough. When you live somewhere it’s easy to miss the beauty or the fun bits of it. Life becomes about getting to work and back, the weekly shop and getting the kids to school and extra curricular stuff. So yesterday we made it just about us and the fun to be had on South Bay and an evening meal at one of our favourite restaurants. Just looking through my photos it looks more like a pub crawl! I’m holding up a glass of something alcoholic in almost every picture! But it definitely wasn’t like that. I had appointments this morning so I stayed very sensible.
So here’s to the next 13 years. We’ll see how many more houses we can live in. One thing we haven’t done yet is take our business ideas to a different country and we are desperate to give that a go. Watch this space!
Gym Classes are an excellent way to introduce yourself to formal exercises, meet new people with similar goals and to plan your fitness routine for consistency. From Stretch classes, Zumba, Spin and Boxercise the mainstream gym have covered it all. And being a Fitness Instructor myself I can see the fantastic benefits of booking onto a regular gym class….but it should come with a warning.
Here are my gripes on classes…
* Gyms that I am aware of are regularly putting on virtual classes. This seems to limit the cost of paying for a live instructor and can run throughout the day. I find this counterproductive from a gym going by the feedback that I receive as many gym members want live instructors and some have moved to other gyms to find them. A trained fitness instructor can manage the pace and intensity of the class and adapt workouts each week to fit the needs of their participants.
* I see more injuries occur in fitness classes than I do in the gym. An instructor cannot check the form of 30 class members. The classic exercises for poor form are deadlifts, bent over rows and kettlebell swings. In fact kettlebell classes are an injury waiting to happen. When you need to teach hip hinges, breathing and core control to a room full of people who see their half hour class as a way to ‘blast their abs’ or ‘fat burn’ it becomes an impossible task.
* When you think about the titles that they are given, such as those above (abs blast and fat burn are real life class titles) it is very misleading. An abs class once a week won’t get anybody a six pack. An abs class won’t do a great deal for stabilising core muscles. A fat burn class usually consists of fast paced reps that use exercises that require slow, controlled movement to focus on target muscles and avoid injury. Getting these movements right and incorporating them in a fitness programme is essential for all types of fitness goals, but repping out as many deadlifts as you can in 60 seconds won’t. Yes it burns calories, but put your back out and you won’t be burning those calories again until you’ve recovered from your injury.
* Classes can be demoralising for lots of people. They feel inferior compared to those around them. Yet many class goers have been going to the same class for years and might know what to do. If they know the instructor then they will probably know what equipment is used and what exercise is next. They probably even know that the class starts with Rock DJ and finishes on a club version of Castle On The Hill. But new people might feel out of their depth. Which leads me onto my recommendation…
Oh do tell Shay!!
Well, for anyone going to a new gym and are a little apprehensive or have never been to one before I would suggest hiring a good PT (a good one! Not a Poundland special) and learning how to move correctly. Of course I would say that, I’m a PT right?! Yeah but Brian who is reading this at his home in Penikuik won’t be hiring me 1-1 so it’s of no great advantage to me. It is, however, sound advice.
5 sets of ten deadlifts will be far more important to a gym goers goals than a class when they first start out on their journey. When to breath, how to engage the core, foot placement, hip hinge, strength and stamina building, morale boosting and goal setting are all of things that will be learnt fairly early on in regular PT sessions. None of which are taught with any great depth (if at all) by Mr Motivator at the front of the class whooping and jumping like a Duracell Bunny on speed.
The Journey should begin on the gym floor, not collapsing on a class floor.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my blogs then check out some of the other stuff too. See you soon!
Father’s Day and the whole of the weekend was a nutritional disaster. Well, actually it wasn’t. I bloody loved my low value nutritional feast! What’s disastrous about that? But here’s why I allowed such a diet and why I can look back at a great weekend guilt free…
On Saturday (the day before Father’s Day) I met up with my dad with my family and his friends in a beer garden at Cayton Bay. Firstly I was happy to drive. A few hours drinking in the sun doesn’t appeal to me like it did once upon a time. I have kids, I have an online business that can require my attention at any time and I’m a tight Yorkshireman. Pints were £1.50 the last time I had any interest in drinking all day in a pub beer garden. So me not drinking didn’t have anything to do with my diet which requires me to be in a calorie deficit. I made up with it with the BBQ that the pub had provided.
On the Sunday we travelled to see my in laws. Graham’s famous paella was on offer plus burgers and chips. It was on offer so, of course, I ate it. Over the two days here’s what I had to eat in total…
* 6 scrambled eggs with two slices of tiger bread
* 4 cheese burgers
* 1 wild boar hot dog
* beef curry and fried rice takeaway
* 4 portions of chips
* Seafood salad
* 1 family sized bar of chocolate
* half box of Pringles
My protein is actually quite high from the weekend, but so are my calories! And I don’t care.
There are occasions in the year that we need to give ourselves a break. I’m dedicated to my goals but, because I’m dedicated, I don’t allow my goals to become a chain around my neck. I make sure that I don’t resent my goals or the process. I’m not an athlete. Yes, I’m a Personal Trainer but I’m also a regular person that wants to enjoy family holidays, Christmas, anniversaries and family gatherings. I’m not a footballer going to bed early on Christmas night because of the early kick off on Boxing Day. Pay me a Premier League wage and I’ll do it!
But I am mentally prepared for what these ‘breaks’ within my goals will require. It means that today, the day after my indulgence, I have to become disciplined again. By the end of the week any added calories from the weekend will be balanced out with structure and commitment. I can still enjoy these moments with my family and bring my nutrition, macros and calories back in line without anxiety.
I chose to binge and over indulge at the weekend. I now choose to track calories and my nutrition. I choose to train hard this week and at least make use of all the energy that I put into my body! It is all my choice. Not once did I feel out of control.
I work with some people who are trying to find that balance. One high calorie and low nutrition day can create their eating habits to spiral. One day leads to another. And another. They become frustrated and angry with themselves and they feel like giving in.
But I need to tell them and anyone who will listen that they don’t have to! One, two bad days. Jeez even a week of poor choices doesn’t ruin their hard work. What they do with their next week might and the week after that perhaps. Because that is where habits begin to form. But a few days? No. Not if they remain in control.
We can choose the high calorie and low nutrition foods if we know that we won’t be anxious about it. Enjoy it and move on. But it’s the moving on that is the vital component. We need to move on from poor food choices.
I felt great this morning. I had a lovely weekend celebrating Father’s Day. I ate what I wanted with no regrets and I was ready to focus once again. In many ways I think I needed that weekend. I needed to break the monotony of my structure. As much as I enjoy my structure, I like burgers and Chinese takeaway too!
And Here’s The Icing On The Cake…
The saying “You can’t outrun a bad diet” is true. Because eventually your poor choices will catch up with you and running will become harder anyway. But if you have structure with your meals and in your workouts then you can outrun a poor day, weekend or holiday. And then the only reason it would be poor is if you didn’t enjoy it and you became anxious about the calorie density of each choice. It would only be poor if you allowed yourself to form negative habits around food.
I enjoy food. All food. But I remain in control and look forward to another occasion where I can over indulge again. But until then, I choose to be in control of my diet and enjoy the process and its results.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. See you soon!
The Smith machine is becoming more and more popular due to its versatility. And yet when LA gym owner Jack LaLanne first rigged a sliding bar in his gym back in the 50’s I don’t think that the piece of kit was necessarily designed to be versatile. Even when it was modified by a trainer called Rudi Smith to what we now know as the Smith machine I doubt that it was ever supposed to be anything but a squat and press machine.
As a squat and press machine the jury is still out. Unless you are also performing free weight squats the Smith is a poor alternative according to a recent report stating that free weight squats activated muscle 43% more than with a Smith.
“So why big up the Smith machine if it’s no good, Shay?!”
Well it’s a great bit of kit if you are going to Smith squat as well as free weight squat. But on top of that, for the past 70 years trainers and gym goers have been coming up with some very clever ideas to isolate their muscles to further enhance their hypertrophy and ‘toning’. After all, squats are one of the best compounds that you can perform but without the finishing touches then we might not always get the shape that we desire.
Enter the Smith Donkey Kick!
I would consider the Donkey Kick to be up there with the very best of glute isolation techniques, especially on a Smith. Remember I’ve talked about the need for progression in our workouts? Well eventually you will need a new way to stimulate your gluteals past your usual body weight kicks. If you’re a man reading this you might not think that Smith Donkey kicks apply to you. Wrong! Just because you don’t see other men perform them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. A recent survey by Gentleman’s Journal showed that 62% of females find a good ass attractive. And if you’re like me and you’re already taken and you don’t feel the need to peacock anymore then a good ass can be satisfying for your own self esteem too. We all turn in the mirror to give our own ass a good squeeze right?!….Or is that just me? Ok…. Moving on!
The vast majority of Smith Donkey kickers are female, that’s true. And if you were to ask any of them to give up one aspect of their training they wouldn’t choose the SDK. It has become an essential part of booty isolation because of the results that they get from performing it. But they also do the tough free weight squats and deadlifts too, so don’t think you can kick your way out of doing the heavy stuff too.
The BOTTOM Line
The fact is that our muscles need as much stimulus as possible to produce new lean muscle that can make us look and feel great in a pair of jeans, dress or shirt. But not just that. It enhances performance for our sport, general fitness goals and in every day life. An independent 80 year old who can still walk, stand from a seated position and climb out of a bath tub will more than likely have a history in participating in a sport, performing compound movements and working on muscle development as a younger person.
So seeing as I enjoy a quote from the great philosophers of our time, as Ice Cube once said…”You can do it. Put your back in to it. Put your ass in to it.”
Thank you for reading! Please check out my other articles on gym life, family life and nutrition on my site.
Never Give Up PT 