Tag Archives: Fit Happens

You’re never too old… Watch this video to prove it!

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I was recently asked by SunLife to feature in a video promoting something close to my heart – that life can and should be great after the age of 50, with new experiences and enjoyment around every corner waiting to be discovered.

www.bitly.com/LifeAfterFifty

 I agree massively with Sun Life’s view that ‘You’re never to old to start something new’ and – as you know – the new thing for me was turning my health around with the discovery of the joys and benefits of getting fit.  So here is the video, produced by Kingdom Creative for Sun Life, and my thanks to both for permission to reproduce it here.

New ‘Fit Happens’ TV series

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Season Two of my Fit Happens TV series is now ready!

Initial TV transmission in the UK is in May 2017 by the Community Channel.

Season Two is five half-hour episodes similar in format to the episodes 1-4 of Series One, but bigger and better with an extra cast member – joining Keith Cormican and me on the studio sofas and in fitness locations globally – is top fitness personality Nicola Feustel.

As well as improving the looks of the sofa-sitters massively, Nicola brings massive knowledge and experience from working on her own fitness, individual clients and group training.

There are many new features in Season Two – a new logo, more segments, more subjects, more cameras – our first drone footage – and a massive crew of highly-talented media production individuals putting it together.

Expect to see crossfit, boxing, spinning, fun-running, bike testing, group workouts, a brand-new ultra-cool kitchen with great new recipes, and new workouts and exercises all over the place!

Plus more expert guests to join the three of us from the world of fitness.

The current transmission times are here: Fit Happens Transmission Times May 2017

Keep looking on www.Fit-Happens.co.uk or the Fit Happens Facebook page for more details of future transmission times.

Gym Review

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Snapshot - 201I’m lucky to have tried gyms all around the world, in just about every continent (damn you, Antarctica) – and I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit Fitness First in Tottenham Court Road last week, just down the road from my usual London gym in fact.

This was my first visit to the gym and I was impressed by the huge range of facilities there – at 6pm, there were four exercise classes taking place simultaneously, all well-attended.  I don’t know many other UK gyms that have the amount of separate studio rooms that would be needed to support that number of activities.

And there is, as you’d expect, a large range of cardio machines – with multi-channel TV – and a large resistance training area with a good weights platform (for all of you who for some reason insist on dropping the bar in a deadlift rather than lowering under control) plus dozens of machines from calf raise to shoulder shrugs and everything in between.    For virtually every machine, there are multiple instances – I think I counted four leg extension machines, for example.

All good – and massively popular.  And that, perhaps, is a drawback – it was very crowded in the cardio, free weights and resistance training area.  A workout would need to be flexible if you didn’t ever want to wait for anything.  Supersetting could be a bit difficult, I expect.

A more personal drawback is that it doesn’t have high ceilings.  I know that may be seen as a weird comment, but I like training in an airy space – in London, think of Jubilee Gym in Covent Garden, and Fitness First’s own locations in St Pauls and Broadgate, both of which have partially double-height workout areas.  Further afield, two of my favourite gyms – Hercules Gym in Telford and Gold’s in Venice Beach – both have high warehouse-high rooflines, which contribute to the atmosphere (it for me, anyway).

There’s also a swimming pool, which I didn’t use, and looked pretty tempting if you like that in your gym.  I’ve discovered that putting a swimming pool in a Fitness First gym usually moves the membership category up a tier – which means those with Fitness First memberships of a more lowly calibre can’t use any of the facilities there – which is why this was my first visit.

In summary, Fitness First Tottenham Court Road is a great gym with more equipment and a bigger floor area than I’ve seen in any other London Fitness First.   And I guess the popularity was due to my 6pm visit time.  Go at some less popular hour, and I know you’ll have a great workout!  Checkout their website and you may just find a way to get a free one-day pass.

And thanks so much to Shaun and the team at Fitness First Tottenham Court Road for inviting me over for the visit.

Fitness talk on HayesFM – listen again…

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I had the great pleasure of being invited to be a guest on the FuestelFIT programme on HayesFM 91.8 a couple of days ago.  HayesFM is West London’s leading community radio station, and this particular show, hosted by fitness personality Nicola Feustel, is the top weekly radio show specialising in fitness anywhere in London.

During the chat with Nicola, I talked both about my own fitness story, and also tips for others – both over and under 50 – during the half-hour I was on air.

If you missed the show, and you’d like to hear it, then you can listen again on
www.bitly.com/ChrisOnHayesFM

Three stage fitness

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I’ve written an article about a very simple approach to fat loss. One of my clients calls me the Patron Saint of the Bleedin’ obvious, and I think this article probably qualifies – at least as far as Stage One is concerned! Obvious, but true and sometimes it makes sense to go back to basics…

Take a look, its been published on the great WatchFit website – Click here

As always, I welcome comments, thoughts, questions via email.

Join me at FitFest!

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There’s a full day of fitness fun, presentations and discussions coming up in Chelmsford on Sunday 14 September!

The FitFest event is designed for anybody who wants to improve their fitness levels, reduce their fatness levels or a bit of both – whether you’re a total newcomer to fitness or you already know which bit of a dumbbell to hold!

I’ll be there talking about how I changed ‘From Fat to Fit at Fifty’, my presentation is at 12 but I’ll be there all day helping anyone I can.  There are quite a few people that I’ve helped add years to their lives, and life to their years – and I’ll show you how I do it.

Other presentations by top fitness folk including my fellow Ultra-FIT magazine author Paul Mumford and James St Pierre – its at Unique Results 220-221 Waterhouse Business Centre, CM1 2QE – and the fun starts at 10 and goes on until 4 or later –   I hope to see you there!!

TV update

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I have produced a four-part TV series on fitness called ‘Fit Happens’ which is currently being shown in the UK.  I chose the series name because it rhymes with…

Each episode is hosted jointly by me and sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and takes a magazine-type format – a bit like Top Gear but on a tiny budget!

The target audience is anyone who is interested in learning more about increasing their fitness levels, reducing their fatness levels, or a bit of both.

CK and foodIn the four shows we cover gym training for various body parts, running, cooking healthy recipes, cycling, aerobics classes, cardio, yoga, stretching and a wide variety of viewers’ questions.

We hope we haven’t missed anything, but there’s only so much we can cram into four shows of 30 minutes each!

Its on the Community Channel, which is found on Sky 539, Freeview 63, Freeview-HD 109, Virgin Media 233, and Freesat 651. Each episode premieres Sunday night at 8:30pm.  Then that episode is repeated on Monday at 6pm, Wednesday at 9pm and Saturday at 8pm.

Dates of the 8:30PM Sunday premieres are:

Episode 1 – July 27
Episode 2 – August 3
Episode 3 – August 10
Episode 4 – August 17

Fit Happens LogoAnd remember, if you miss the premiere on Sunday, that episode is repeated three times in the following week – as mentioned above. Keith and I hope you watch and can pick up a few tips that will improve your fitness – not just in the short term, but for the rest of the year and beyond.

We’d love to get your feedback:

To me on :Chris@FitnessOverFifty.co.uk
To Keith on: Info@KeithCormican.com

Fit For Life

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I spend a lot of time in gyms these days, either trying to improve my weight-training performance or working on removing some layers of fat – usually both. For this week’s blog, I thought I’d explain why I’m doing this in the first place – and how this spreads into other areas of life. I hope this will show that the level of addiction with gym-based stuff brings benefits outside of the weight room – and I my case, how it’s changed my life completely and forever.

A little personal history first, if I may. Up until the age of 50, I was lazy – did no exercise and ate all the wrong things. I hit my 50th birthday at a weight of nearly 18 stone, officially obese and with a bodyfat percentage figure that I can’t imagine. Something else hit me at the same time – a doctors warning that I was in a pre-diabetic state and was heading for some other serious health issues.

I used that message as a serious jolt to my system, and spent the next few years getting fit – lots of cardio in the gym, and eating much more nutritiously. After a couple of years, I added resistance training to the mix. Which brings me to where I am now – about 11.5 stone, with a bodyfat level of 11% which has dipped to about 7% for fitness and muscle model contests – including my win for my age group at the Miami Pro World Championships in April.

So I could talk and write for ages about nutrition, cardio and resistance training. Indeed, I often do. But there have been many benefits to my adoption of a fitness-focused life – and I hope that describing these will encourage you to spend more time on fitness activities.

Firstly, there are obviously the health and longevity benefits. If I hadn’t changed course 7 years ago, I think I’d now be over 20 stone and pretty much immovable, being out of breath just walking across the room. If I was still breathing at all. Now I hope I have many years of fit life ahead if me and will reach 60 in a couple of years fitter and healthier than ever.

I’ve discovered sports I couldn’t dream of doing – I ran my first ever 1k fun run six years ago, then progressed through 5k’s and 10k’s and now regularly participate in marathons. I’ve also bought a bike or two, and now cycle up to 100 miles on some days. Add in the swimming, triathlons and mountain walking, and the fact that Is I have discovered the joy of exercise – something alien to me 10 years ago.

But there are other benefits. I feel much better about myself mentally, more positive for the future. I now believe it’s never too late – for anything – rather than the pessimistic outlook I used to have.

I share many activities with Jenny, my wife. She had pretty much given up on me from a fitness perspective, and we spent too much time apart – as she went off for a run, while I stayed in and watched TV (and probably phoned for a pizza). Our time together has probably doubled, and is much more enjoyable.

Outside of my family life, I’ve become involved In the community through the local running club and organising and presenting fitness training sessions for other, local, over 50-year olds. My oldest regular attendee is well Into his seventies and has progressed in fitness to have a metabolic age of 44 and is still improving. At the other end of the age range, I’m a mentor to Dan Wynes, a fitness star of tomorrow. It’s a particularly good feeling to be able to pass on the benefits of fitness I’ve had to others from 20 to 70 and behind – and be respected as a result. This level of respect, the feeling that I’m doing something that genuinely helps others and be appreciated as a result, is a feeling that was unknown to me in my past life.  So, yes, I have the trophies and a bit of glory on the way, but they are matched in every way by the other joys of being healthy, enjoying life and making a difference to others. It’s infectious, and I hope – well, if you haven’t caught the bug yet, that maybe this article has helped.

By the way, I’m the co-host of a new fitness magazine TV programme. Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on Sunday evenings at 8:30, repeated on Wednesdays at 9:00. It’s on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233. Each week I’m joined by sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and I hope you get the change to watch – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!

New Fitness TV Series – Fit Happens

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I’m the co-host of a new fitnesIMG_3153s magazine TV programme starting this weekend.  Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on this Sunday and for the following few weeks.

Its a fitness magazine programme, covering fitness in a number of different ways – in the gym, in the kitchen, in exercise classes and out in the fresh air.  We’ve targeted this programme at the overall community – its not a commercial enterprise in any way.  If the programmes help just a handful of people find ways in which they can reduce their fatness levels, and increase their fitness levels, then it will have done its job. 

Much as I would have liked ‘Top Gear’ style production values, it was made on a zero budget – so no glamour trips for us (the local park is the furthest we went!).  But the message, I hope, is large.

My co-host is top sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and he joins me for each of the four episodes.  In this first episode, Keith takes us through cooking a healthy meat meal, while I look at gym exercises for the Pull group – Back and Biceps.  Together we are in the park for the 5k ParkRun, and we have a go at answering viewers questions.  Future episodes include features on aerobics, cycling, yoga, gym training other parts, more tasty and healthy kitchen treats, and answering more questions from viewers.

The first showing is at 8:30PM this Sunday on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233.  And then at the same time each week for four weeks. 

I very much hope you get the change to watch some or all of the episodes  – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!