The Feather In The Drawer

I walked up to my 8 year old son’s wardrobe with dread. I knew, as soon as I opened the double doors just very slightly a heap of clothes, football shirts, teddies and toys would spill out. As much as we ask him to tidy his bedroom we know that anything on the floor will get thrown into the wardrobe if he can’t find a home for it. We also tackle the cupboard often too. For some reason I’m the nominated football shirt sorter. My wife is the school uniform organizer. There are so many different football shirts so I feel like I’ve got the raw deal here . I put them in their correct place either folded for footy practice the next day by his bed, in his wardrobe or in his younger brothers drawer if they are small shirts. And if they have the shirts to match then the same procedure has to happen for them. The socks too.

But I can’t put all of the blame on our son’s lack of tidying up skills. Also inside of this wardrobe is loads of old clothes that no longer fit the boys. The tractor t-shirt that they both wore as babies, mittens, dungarees, shorts from their first summer holidays, coats from a few winters ago. I remember their first ever snowman that they built in those. I think that this wardrobe would be much more organized if mum and dad could just let go.

We’ve got so much better at not hoarding so much stuff. We’re both sentimental so selling or throwing our kids clothes can be tough but we do have periods in the year where we have clear outs. Certain coats, mittens and dungarees always remain though. They have special memories that we just can’t let go it seems. A tatty old Baby Jake book will always be remembered for the late nights getting our eldest to sleep as a baby. I knew the book by heart. How could we throw that?!

Funnily enough I’m not sentimental about the big, life changing stuff. I’m from Leeds and I moved away about 14 years ago. Apart from fleeting visits to see family occasionally I have no desire to go back. I have not once considered going back to the Corn Exchange for old times sake or standing at the steps of College of Technology all teary eyed. Stepping back in time seems daunting. But for some reason, the feather that my son picked up when he was one and a half remains at the bottom of the takeaway drawer in the kitchen. My mind pictures the moment every time I see it.

I have always wanted to reinvent myself in some way. Standing still or looking back doesn’t sit well with me. If I’m not happy with something I move on. I won’t dwell on the things that make me anxious. I didn’t like my birth name so I changed it. I don’t like where I live or work then I change it. And for the ultimate challenge if I don’t like my body, I change it. Selling up and moving on has come easily to my wife and I. In our 15 years together Scarborough has become our 5th town or city and we’re living in our 6th house. And that’s not necessarily because we disliked where we lived but because we found a new challenge elsewhere.

I have gone from a senior in a day center, restaurant manager, confectionery business owner, market stall holder, support worker, Personal Trainer and now Online Coach in the time that my wife and I have known each other and I know that she has played a huge part in those successes. She has her own success story. As for the failures we take them on the chin and move on.

I proposed to my wife in the Boboli Gardens in Florence. During that trip we created a travel journal and collected receipts, napkins and photos to put in it. Of course, we still have that. Looking back through that feels like a life time ago. I felt young and free spirited. Now, I often feel old with the occasional glimmer of free spirit! But that glimmer comes from my job as a husband, a dad and to my work and while I have those then that glimmer will always be there.

And if it’s an old tractor T-shirt in the wardrobe or a feather in the takeaway drawer that has to remind me, then they are worth keeping.

The 20 Minute Workout Challenge

The recent successes of my clients taking on the 20MWC has prompted me to keep the programme open. I often develop new challenges which I will announce in due course but the 20MWC is a keeper due to its high demand and the feedback I have received.

The beauty of this challenge is that it solves the issues of some of the biggest concerns for those wanting to begin a fitness journey. Time is the number one concern for most people and it holds them back at beginning an exercise routine in the first place. And then there’s the issue of where to exercise. I have worked with many people who chose to exercise without a gym membership and I think that we all discovered alternatives during gym closures in the past two years. You can exercise anywhere… especially for just 20 minutes a day.

But it’s not just about staying active. Build into the 20MWC is the calories and macro calculator for a trainee to keep on track of their nutrition targets. And the best bit is that I never ban any food. Those who have read my views already will know that I believe that banning foods can be counterproductive. By the end of week 4, my trainees have completed 400 minutes of exercise in their chosen environment and have been able to balance their calorie and macro intake without ommiting any food types with fantastic results.

Indeed, it has become such a huge success that some trainees who have completed this challenge want to take it up again. Of course, I raise the bar for round two!

If you would like to begin this challenge or enquire about any of my other online PT work that might be of interest to you email me at shay.pt@hotmail.com.

The Car Park Walk

In the previous gym that I trained in the car park was huge. The gym was attached to a busy shopping centre and, despite its high demands, the car park was never even half full. The gym I train in now shares its car park with the college, university and the Town’s football club stadium. It is massive. Not everyone’s gym has such luxury, admittedly, but if you are a member of a nationwide gym then I would imagine that it is a part of a shopping or leisure complex with ample car parking.

It is striking how many people I observe parking as close as possible to the gym entrance (even the naughty tinkers parking in a disabled spot without a badge in an attempt to get even closer) and then proceed to warm up on a treadmill.

I might have mentioned in a previous blog that I find treadmills excessive in these nationwide gyms. Simply put, I think that they take up too much room. These gyms are lucky to have two squat racks whilst rows upon rows of treadmills take up centre stage. Gyms do this for two reasons…

1. They are appealing to a mass market where consumers still believe that running on a treadmill burns more calories than resistance training.

2. Their PT’s don’t need to have a variety of knowledge standing next to someone on a treadmill. Teaching someone how to squat needs strength and conditioning experience. Cheering someone along on a treadmill is as good as getting the pom poms out. Teaching movement is a skill.

Machines and cardio equipment are easy and comfortable enough for the gym goers and the gym staff to work around and it sells memberships and cheap PT. A brand new gym member with little experience will always make a beeline for the tready first. It’s a comfort zone. Also, treadmills tell you how many calories a user has burnt during their time on it whereas a round of German Volume Training doesn’t. But guess which comes out on top?

Yet nothing can tell us how many calories we have burnt in any given activity. There are rough guides which is what we read from a tready, but unless your £40 a month gym has invested in the same high tech equipment as at Harvard Sports Science then we, the general public, are left with an estimate based on how fast you set the treadmill for.

Any room for a squat rack?

Walking and running, however, are fantastic exercises which is why the treadmill has its uses, they just don’t need to breed so heavily in a mainstream gym. Yet walking and running can be done anywhere, even on the spot at home, in the office and the best of all in the great outdoors! Walking and running can be incorporated into a kick ass fat loss routine that gets results. That is proven. So what’s so bad about the carpark walk? Surely it can save you time in the long run.

If you have one hour to train, getting your heart rate up and your blood pumping with a swift walk across a car park is ample enough. Your cool down, too, can be the walk back to your car. This gives you more time to focus on more reps, sets and activities with everything else in the gym rather than warm ups and cool downs eating up your precious time.

If my trainee is performing deadlifts, then I will ask them to do a couple of warm up sets at deadlifts. I see no evidence to suggest that being on a treadmill will warm them up any better or as efficiently as the movement that they are about to perform. Likewise, if they are training for a marathon I wouldn’t warm them up with deadlifts prior to their run. Soccer players kick and run before kick off. Tennis players rally with each other. A boxer will shadow box in the locker room, not perform the Riverdance before their bout. It needs to remain relevant to your goals.

So let’s stop wasting time, use your training time wisely and, if you really want to get your steps in, do the car park walk.

Do You Know What Your Problem Is?

Your fitness journey is a problem. Make it your problem.

Ok. So before you criticize me for being all Negative Nancy on you, let me explain.

This problem is not a bad problem. If you think of a mathematical equation, a riddle, a puzzle or a science experiment, these are all set to challenge us but are also something to solve.

To solve this problem there are no time limits.

I was asked today ‘At what point will you be satisfied with your fitness achievements?’

I think I answered probably by 70 years old, but that’s incorrect. To a certain degree I’ll never be completely satisfied. I want to keep on learning, developing, defying the ageing process and become stronger. To do this, my fitness journey needs to be my problem that I can succeed with, fail with, become really pissed off with, cry and laugh with.

Some logical decisions have been made to help me continue succeeding, but there are the ones that must be avoided and that is comparing myself to others. It doesn’t matter what Big Dave from sales is deadlifting. He’s a good 20 years younger than me, genetically blessed with quads of steel and is performing in the next Pro-Am bodybuilding contest. That’s HIS problem. I’ve got my own.

Big Dave from sales showing off again

The only young whippersnapper I’m comparing myself to is my 30 year old self. I want to be ahead of him. If, as I get older, I’m still ahead of him then I’ll be a bit closer to cracking the code. One thing that I know now that my 30 year old self doesn’t is that once you crack a code, there’s a whole new challenge to engage with. The problems stack up. There’s a bigger puzzle at the other side of the door. He doesn’t know that and it immediately puts me at an advantage, despite my age, because I’m prepared for it.

My health is important to me, but maybe not in the same way as you might think. I won’t live my life just to stay alive. But I will live my life to enjoy it way into my later years. It is rare that I see an elderly person and think ‘I want to be like that when I’m their age’. Instead they give me more reason to get my ass to the gym. I don’t want to struggle when I walk or run. I don’t want to have weight issues that cause breathing difficulties and bad knees.

And, unashamedly, I want to look the best too. I want to be confident in my clothes. I don’t just want to be strong I want to look strong. Be it at 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 years old. After that I might quit my gym membership and just watch Loose Women all day. I’ll decide on that if and when the problem arises.

What I can’t do, then, if I aim to achieve all of this, is give up on my problems. What’s the alternative to giving up on the gym? If I aren’t happy with my progression in my fitness goals then I’m certainly not going to be happy if I sack it off. The answer lies with the willingness to solve the problem and persist.

My favourite Einstein quote says,’It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer’.

To really begin to solve problems we must really dig deep and keep trying to find answers. If we quit, the problem is still there, it’s just that now it becomes an unsolved pain that we have to live with rather than one to embrace and celebrate after another success. And the success, no matter how small it might seem, is another piece of the solution.

We don’t have to be smart, we just need to never give up.

Fail Better

As a kid I had this unhealthy attitude towards winning and losing. Losing to me was failure. I hated it. But then winning didn’t feel like the best thing in the world either. It felt ok but the negative emotions that I felt during defeat was far stronger than the emotions I had at winning. For years, I was a sore loser.

It didn’t help matters that I also found it difficult to get over a defeat that was out of my control. When the football club that I supported lost it could easily spoil a weekend. So supporting Liverpool in the 90’s gave me many miserable weekends.

Without realising until I was much older I now look back at my old self and wonder what opportunities I missed out on, just in case I failed. Did I not study hard enough during my GCSE years because of the hurt I would put myself through if I didn’t get the grades I wanted? Did I avoid wanting to be noticed at football so that I never had to be told that I wasn’t good enough? Did I miss out on job interviews or promotions because I didn’t want to be judged and told ‘no’? I’m sure many of us reading this can relate to how our younger selves handled these types of situations.

I’m determined for my kids not to go through the same turmoil as me. I want them to succeed in life therefore I need them to fail sometimes. I now know that the biggest learning curve is when you are having to deal with disappointment. Rather than be scared of failure, I want them to appreciate that it happens. It will be inevitable at some stage. Winning is good, but knowing how to do it after bouncing back from defeat is even better. If they can learn to manage their feelings of failure and know how to put it right now, their path to success is much smoother in later life.

In my career I have spoken to people who still sound like they hold that fear and cannot handle disappointed.

“I’d never go to the gym so there’s no point in getting a membership.”

“I’ve got a bad back so I can’t lift weights.”

“My doctor says I need to lose weight but I like eating XYZ too much.”

“I haven’t got time.”

These are all examples of excusing themselves in order to avoid disappointment. And the truth is that they will have had a gym membership before and they will have tried to diet, but their fear of not seeing results has made them quit.

The results are a big problem. We put events in our lives as either success or failure. Did I fail at English GCSE because I got B/B instead of A? Did I fail at football because I was scouted by Leeds City Boys instead of Leeds United? Did I fail in my job because I made a senior instead of managing the whole facility?

I have achieved many things but perhaps sometimes I expected too much too soon which put greater pressure on me. And much like the people I speak to, their expectations are too high. It seems easier to quit than to manage such extreme goals. Their comfort zone of not trying anymore feels safer than having to face defeat.

And yet, actually, there is no defeat as long as they have a plan, stick to it and trust the process. Results worth getting cannot happen in an instant. It does take time and it can be difficult. Sometimes, even feeling like they’ve failed will be there. It has to be there as part of the process. But that’s only because they are human and no matter what successes they have along the way it will always be the one setback that stirs the emotions the most. Using that setback as a springboard to further success is the key. Fail better.

Perhaps Dr Seuss says it best…

“Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best. Wherever you go, you will topple all the rest. Except when you don’t, because sometimes you won’t.”

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.

https://www.trainerize.me/profile/nevergiveup2/?planGUI

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.