Hoyles Fitness » General

Stop Christmas Destroying Your Body

Alan — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:06:46 +0000

The fitness industry loves January. It is a time of year when millions of people decide that this year they will join the gym, get themselves fit and lose some weight. Sales managers can rest easy in January, knowing their membership sales targets will be hit with ease. Gym managers can relax, they know the tills [...]

Stop Christmas Destroying Your Body

How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

Alan — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:06:30 +0000

One of the common reasons I hear for why people don’t dedicate time to exercise and looking after themselves is the poor excuse of “I can’t be bothered”, or “I’m too busy” Personally, I believe these are weak excuses – I work 6-7 days most weeks, often over 12 hours and still find time to [...]

How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

Winterproof your body

Alan — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:20:53 +0000

It seems winter is the season for illness – NHS statistics back up the fact that more sickness absence days are taken during the winter months (November-February) than any other time of year. It could be argued that Christmas accounts for a portion of this, but remember the Christmas period is only 1-2 weeks of [...]

Winterproof your body

Mental feng shui

Alan — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:11:01 +0000

Over the last 12 months, my life has evolved into a much busier and stressful version of its former self. There are a number of reasons for this, and they have generally been as a result of conscious moves towards my personal and professional goals. I have a busy, full time job. Due to a successful [...]

Mental feng shui

The Death of the ‘Fitness’ Industry?

Alan — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:00:19 +0000

For many years, the fitness industry has been incredibly successful at changing and adapting products to suit its own requirements. Taking an existing concept, putting a different spin on it and repackaging it as a different version of itself has allowed the fitness industry to grow and evolve into the multi-billion worldwide industry it is [...]

The Death of the ‘Fitness’ Industry?

Sorting and Assessing

Alan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:50:18 +0000

There is something very therapeutic about organising your life. Today Rachel and I are having a day where we sort out our apartment – clean from top to bottom, organise work papers into order, throw away the stuff we don’t need etc. Personally, although it is a job that takes a long time, it is [...]

Sorting and Assessing

FitPro congress 2010 – inspirational

Alan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:03:35 +0000

This year was my first ever visit to the FitPro spring convention. I had heard how incredible it was, the quality of the speakers and the enthusiasm and inspiration delegates come away with. This article is a short summary of my initial thoughts, with more detailed articles to follow. The convention is held at Loughborough University [...]

FitPro congress 2010 – inspirational

Upstream medicine

Alan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:37:27 +0000

I was recently invited to a think-tank of forward-thinking exercise professionals (before you think it, I was surprised to get an invite too!) and one of the topics on discussion was ‘upstream medicine’. The term upstream medicine refers to the use of diet, exercise and a general healthy existence as a means to avoid preventable lifestyle [...]

Upstream medicine

Three Peaks Challenge

James King — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:57:00 +0000

It all started as a charity idea. The company I work for has an obligation to raise money for a different charity every year, through a variety of different means. Over the past couple of years this has been through sponsored swims, sponsored rows etc. This time I wanted to do something outside of a [...]

Three Peaks Challenge

Plyometrics

Alan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:53:08 +0000

A good trainer or coach will have a range of techniques designed to get the best out of his trainee or athlete. For sports people in particular, it is important to be able to develop speed and force – without necessarily needing to increase strength. Plyometrics, sometimes referred to as explosive jump training, or high [...]

Plyometrics