Fitness Only

Boxercise: Boxing for Fitness

Boxercise is a boxing-based fitness system which is fantastic for body and mind: it combines aerobic exercise with the complex movements of boxing (punching onto pads and footwork). It will improve your cardio fitness, upper and lower body and core strength and is a lot of fun: you will learn the eight basic punches, footwork, defensive manoeuvres and how to counter-punch, using your feet, hips and shoulders to get your body weight behind each punch. There will be a lot of drills, punches, ducking and diving and you’ll be a lot fitter at the end of it!

Running

Running is a great way to get fit but it can feel like a lot of effort to get started again if you haven’t run for a while. Lots of people try to do too much too soon, get out of breath and exhausted and don’t try again. I can assess your current level of fitness and design a programme for you that starts where you are today and builds up gradually to get you running 5k, 10k or beyond, working on your cardio fitness and whole body strength plus your running technique to help you run as efficiently as possible, teaching you how to warm up and cool down properly to avoid injury and fatigue. Your level of fitness doesn’t matter – if you can walk you can run!

Weight Lifting/Resistance Training

​Weight lifting is a wonderful way to build your strength, improve posture and prevent conditions such as osteoporosis as regular training stimulates bone development. Working on your strength is important at any stage of your life but gets even more important as you get older and start to lose muscle mass: resistance training can delay or reverse muscle loss and doing the work now will help prevent falls when you are older by improving your balance. I can teach you how to use resistance bands, kettle bells and dumbbells, with some-body weight drills thrown in, showing you the best technique to lift safely and efficiently, to build upper and lower body and core strength.

Pilates & Visualisation to relieve chronic lower back pain

Pilates is a wonderful exercise system for improving core strength, flexibility and posture and is perhaps the best form of exercise to resolve and prevent chronic lower back pain. Pilates builds strength and flexibility throughout the whole body though and also bodily awareness. You will learn how to use your core to stabilise your pelvis and lumbar spine, whether sitting, standing, lying down or bending and moving, enabling you to move and lift correctly and safely. It is a gentle form of exercise, much of which happens on your back, side or front on a mat. 
Pilates was developed in the 1920s by Joseph Pilates who referred to the practice as “Contrology” (the name was changed to Pilates after his death.) It is based on the Six Principles of: 

• Centering: developing the strength of the core, the body’s “Powerhouse” between the ribs and the hips, and building all movement upon this solid foundation.

• Concentration: focusing on the movement of the body, letting go of all other thoughts, like moving Mindfulness: a deeply relaxing experience.

• Control: developing control over your muscles and joints, how you hold your body and how you move, leading to more biomechanically efficient movement.

• Precision: learning to move with precision and with alignment of the body.

• Breath: in Pilates, the body moves with the breath – you will learn how to use your breath to power and control movement.

• Smooth, flowing movement: Movement flow is fundamental to Pilates and you will learn how to progress smoothly from one movement to the next.