BOOT CAMP KICK STARTS NEW FITNESS REGIME

Former Royal Marines Reservist Rob Dale is launching a new offensive in his fitness company’s bid to keep Guildford fit and healthy in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year.

Rob launched 121exercise in 2004 offering personal training based on the tough workouts he developed with the marines in some of the world’s most inhospitable environments including the Norwegian high Arctic. He has now launched a new lower cost option which brings fitness coaching within the reach of everyone.

Rob, who lives in Burpham, Guildford, says “121exercise has proved to be very popular for men and women, offering an individually tailored programme for a period of weeks or even months. This is good value but the cost of individual training was beyond many people who wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle”.

Drawing on his experience as a physical training instructor in the Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) where he specialised in improving recruits’ endurance, strength and circuit training abilities so that they could pass the arduous commando tests, Rob has now launched a boot camp group training programme which reduces the cost to members.

Rob, who holds a sports science degree from Kingston University, says “my sports science background and time spent training with the RMR has developed my awareness and skills of how to train people from all walks of life to go that extra mile and reach their full fitness potential”.

Boot camps are 45 minute group circuit training sessions that work the whole body and cater for all ages and abilities. The circuit can consist of any number of exercises including sit-ups, squats, press-ups and sprints.

Also there are different ways to do each exercise to accommodate all levels of fitness. Each exercise lasts 20 to 60 seconds before moving on to the next activity and classes can be all male, all female or mixed and are held virtually anywhere.

Rob says “circuit training once, twice or three times a week can significantly improve overall fitness and has been shown to burn more calories than traditional gym workouts”.

Rob is currently running boot camps in Burpham, Claygate and Hersham. For full details please visit www.getfitbootcamp.co.uk

Interval Training 1 (Duration approx 30 minutes)

Go to your local park or athletics ground. Try to find a flat non slippy 100 metre stretch of ground (e.g. football pitch).

Jog around for 5-10 minutes performing mobilisation exercises (shoulder circles, heel flicks etc) and short controlled sprints (10-20 metres / 18 yard line on a football pitch) to fully warm up.

Once ready sprint / fast jog 100 metres as fast as you can then really slow jog or medium paced walk back to where you started keeping your arms and legs moving.

Once rested / active recovery for 1 minute perform another 100 metre sprint / fast jog as fast as possible and repeat the walk jog back for recovery.

Perform 10 of these interval repetitions trying to push yourself as hard as possible for the 100 metres knowing that you’ll have a minute’s recovery afterwards to catch your breath.

You’ll most probably become a bit slower and more tired towards the end of the sprints but still try to work hard.

Afterwards perform a good controlled cool down and stretch and if you want to make the session longer then combine with a continuous / steady state jog afterwards or sit ups, weights etc.

Winter Warmer Smoothie

Warm and spicy – ideal for a cosy winter’s night.

• 2 pears, quartered and cored
• 2 apple, quartered and cored
• 4 whole star anise (Chinese spice)

Juice the fruit together and pour into a saucepan. Add the star anise (Chinese spice). Bring slowly to the boil and allow to infuse. Pour into a glass and serve warm.

Government Exercise Guidelines

Government guidelines recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, but only one in five women currently reaches that target, a survey of over 350,000 people found last year.

Visit this BBC link to read the whole report:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7094936.stm

There has also been an interesting study into the health benefits of moderate exercise compared to vigorous exercise.

The NHS guidelines say "taking a brisk walk, spending some time doing the gardening or doing a few laps of the local swimming pool on the way home from work" can all improve health.

But the researchers from Exeter and Brunel Universities said these activities were unlikely to do much for them and added, "brisk walking offers some health benefits, but jogging, running and other vigorous activities offer maximal protection from disease."

Visit this BBC link to read the whole report:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7035557.stm

Wettest November in History!

The Met Office has said last month was the wettest November on record, with an average of 217.4mm (8.6in) of rain across the UK.

The previous recorded average of 193.6mm (7.6in) dates back to 1951.

Well done to all my boot camp members who came out and trained through the wet conditions. The sessions only last for 45 minutes so if you turn up wearing sensible clothing then you should stay warm and dry and still be able to have a good beneficial workout.

I’ve got Gore-Tex waterproof trainers, water resistant tracksuit bottoms, a waterproof golf jacket, waterproof gloves and a water resistant hat that keep me warm and dry whilst I run the outdoor boot camp sessions for my members. I picked them up from different places like TK Max, Sports Direct and eBay.

When I used to be in the Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) we used to say ‘If it aint raining, it aint training!’.

If you can enjoy the sessions through the wintertime then you’ll love them in the summertime!