Brazil Part Two

So after my first week in Rio, Wil arrived to spend two weeks with me and I never thought I'd be so happy to see a familiar face, especially after only a week!
We gave Rafael and his family some space and rented a room in someone's apartment that was 5 minutes walk from the gym, even though Rafael was more than welcoming of Wil too, the move made my life so much easier being so close to training so I could go back and fourth much quicker.

Our first session together was wrestling. I was on one side of the gym with the lighter people however Wil, despite only weighing 76kg was over on the other side with the heavyweights, half way through the session I glanced over with a look of 'told you the heat and training was a killer', he gave me a nod as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

I was so happy to have someone experience the training conditions with me that we just don't get back in England as trying to explain just wasn't the same, the scorching heat, slipping over, sliding, your feet constantly coming out from under you because the mats are puddled deep with sweat and people still shooting the takedowns when they'd reached the tiled pathway along the edge of the mat! I witnessed Claudia smash her knee off the tiles a few times and just keep going, that was hardcore.

I did quite a few sessions with Poliana Botelho which was cool, she's so strong. She has quite a bond with Rafael, I could see that from when we filmed TUF, she was there and the two of them would constantly be talking about training, well I assumed this from their body language of practicing techniques mid conversation! Me and Poliana got along well despite the language barrier, I look forward to seeing her again and watching her fight.

Claudia looked out for me, she is such a nice person. After a hard weeks training she took me and Wil to a massive indoor market for food and to look around. On the drive there I introduced her to some North East rave music, she didn't mind a bit of Mc Stompin!!

Again, we hit up a load of training sessions though out the weeks, it didn't get easier, I had some good sessions, some bad but by the third week I could definitely see improvements in myself.  
Wil went home and I had one week left. I felt a physical wreck but mentally brand new. I have a Mindsport coach who I mentioned previously called Rob Dawson and he worked with me everyday I was there. I set goals for each day and some more long term, one of which was to submit a blue belt female there who I had been training with from the beginning. She was like a little bull, approximately the same weight, super aggressive and I absolutely loved going with her every session. We had major tussles back and forth but neither of us managed to submit the other. I didn't achieve that particular goal but I know striving for it helped bring me along and when I came home to my training partners, they noticed the change in me which was still an achievement.

By the end of my month in Rio I was ready for home. I had a tough but amazing time, I had shared the mats with a plethora of hard working, experienced and knowledgable individuals. My last session was wrestling and I had prepared a speech in Portuguese as a thank you to everyone who I trained with. My hands were trembling as the gym went silent and I read out my speech, thankfully they understood my Portuguese then immediately after they all clapped, hugged me and one guy translated to English 'welcome to the family'.

Huge thank you to Rafael and Claudia for looking after me, especially Rafael. He is amoungst one of the kindest, honest, most caring man I have ever met I'm proud to be able to say we are now great friends.

Thanks for everyone's support and to those following my journey...lets see what happens next!

Thank you to my sponsors: Mindsport Consulting, The Upgraded Grappler, SL Sports Massage, Steffan Abel Chiropractor, Functional Self, LED Supply & Fit, My Protein.

First Week in Brazil

Claudia Gadhela's coaching team were brilliant. Their kindness, their support, not to mention the mass of experience and knowledge they had between them all. So when an offer came up to train with some of them after the show, it was one I couldn't refuse.

It was Rafael who mentioned on numerous occasions that I would be welcome go over to Brazil to train at Nova União and to stay with him and his family. As soon as I arrived back in the UK I told Wil the crack and he was fully on board. We agreed I needed to go for a minimum of a month. I wanted him to come with me this time, we had already been apart 7 weeks, so I used the coaches challenge bonus to book up some flights and two weeks later I was in Rio.

Wil couldn't leave the gym for a full month so he was going to do a two week stint in the middle of my four. Here's how my first week panned out...

So Friday night I land in Rio de Janeiro, Rafael and Claudia are there to pick me up, it's about 8pm in the evening and absolutely sweltering. I get introduced to Claudia's crazy driving as we cruised the streets of the city before she dropped me and Rafael off at a taxi rank, as we needed a smaller vehicle to get up into the favales where Rafael lived.

Now, coming from Darlo and having also stayed in some less economically prosperous
places in Thailand as a child such as the small Thai village where my family lived; a pretty typical place, Thai toilet, no hot water, little furniture etc. I thought I was fairly well prepared for what lay in store in Rio and wasn't expecting to rock up at the ritz. But man, I still got a shock when I passed through areas near where Rafael lived, the Brazilian favelas are quite breathtaking and the poverty is really quite apparent as soon as you enter the area, but Rafael's place, whilst modest, was extremely welcoming, like a typical Darlo or Thai family home and I was really grateful for somewhere friendly to stay.

He introduced me to his wife and son then I got some sleep.

Saturday morning I went to the open mat and almost cooked alive in my gi. Training in a gi, in a room of 20-30 people with no air coming in and an outdoor temp of 35 degrees centigrade is something I will never, ever get used too but I had to find a way to deal with it for the next month!

By Sunday I was done in, sun burnt, covered in mosquito bites, heat rash and managed to get food poisoning. I was in the bathroom every hour from midnight through till the next morning. I missed training that day and felt like utter shit. My Portuguese was extremely limited from my two week Duolingo prep so trying to ask Rafael's wife for help was done solely through sign language.

By Tuesday I was starting to feel safe without a toilet nearby so I went back to training.
I have walked into new gyms before but this was something else. I was terrified once again. I felt the target on my back, the gringo who doesn't speak their language, just some tourist here to train. I knew I just had to propel myself into every situation there was, I didn't expect anyone to try to talk to me in English so I never asked anyone to translate instructions, I usually figured out what we were doing by demonstration. MMA is a universal language.

I went to the ladies only BJJ with Michelle Tavares, a highly accomplished female BJJ black belt who also competed in MMA and from what Rafael said she was one of if not the first female from Brazil to fight. (Don't quote me on that though, something may have gotten lost in translation!). Anyhow I got to train with this amazing lady and a whole bunch of girls including Poliana Botelho which was great. I soon realised there's a high work rate, it's go or stop and it dawned on me that this was going to be one imensly intense 4 weeks if every session was this pace...it turns out it was and I actually felt broken by the end of the first week.

So during that first week I hit quite a few sessions, couple that with the journey back to Rafaels house it was tough. I weighed my rucksack after training it was 10+ kgs with all my sweaty gear, I would get the tube then walk to the first set of stairs I had to face to get up into the favales. I would grit my teeth and get up the first set, then I had an incline slope before I hit the second set. By that point I was so f*cking tired I thought that if I got mugged right at that moment, I wasn't going to be running away very fast, in fact not at all! I would literally be dripping in sweat by the time I got home.

That week I also had my first sparring session, it was a surreal experience where by you have to step onto the mat first to get your go and as you waited you would act as a wall to stop fighters landing on the tiles, it was just totally new to me. I was so nervous, I did a couple short rounds then there was a 75kg girl going next and no one stepped up, I wasn't going to either but then they prompted me to go and changed the 2 minute rounds to 5 minutes...I figured this is it, here's the gringo test. I did my best to stick and move but then she managed to launch me sky high and dump me with all her weight driving into my stomach, one of those moments where the crowd flinches and goes 'oooo'. It was disgusting but I knew I couldn't stay there, turned out my scrambles were quicker and I ended up in some good positions and I gained the respect of the fighters that were watching.

With the help of Rob Dawson, a mental strength coach I got in touch with a couple of years ago, I came to realise that everything around me could change, the environment, the people, the language, the food etc, but not me. I had to remember who I was and why I was there. I had to have a word with myself, bat off any negative thoughts and get on with it. Thanks to the people back home at the time that sent some positivity. Stay tuned for my next installment...it gets better, honest!

Why I Fought an 8x World Jiu Jitsu Player

On February 22nd 2014 I fought Michelle Nicolini and to this day I still get asked 'why did you take that fight?'

So why did I take the fight?

Anyone who knows me, knows I used to be a bit of a wimp. But for some reason I always seemed to grow a massive pair of balls when it came to accepting fights. I'm proud to say I have never once taken an easy fight. This I credit to Paul Hamilton, having trained with him for 10 years now, he taught me an amazing skill set and his confidence in me was unshakable...if only I had had the same confidence in myself earlier in my career I may have progressed further in the world of Muay Thai.

Anyhow, 8 years in I was finally truly confident in my abilities as a fighter. I was broadening my martial arts skills having done a little bit of jiu jitsu with Wil and learning more about women's MMA I found it really interesting and thought perhaps further down the line I might give competing in MMA a go. That was until Dale Percival was looking for an opponent at 52kg to fight Michelle Nicolini, 8 x world jiu jitsu champion on his show Made4TheCage. I saw the thread on Facebook and immediately knew I wanted the fight.

Looking back I didn't realise how big the match up was at the time, to me I was just super excited to make my pro MMA debut against someone who just happened to be extremely awesome at jiu jitsu.

I had 10 weeks to adjust my style of fighting. It was tough but also such an amazing time, I met new people, learned so much and I got to walk out to a home crowd with all my friends and family there to support.

Unfortunately, I stepped into the cage and everything went to shit.

Not having Paul there in my corner was a massive change for me, one I thought I could deal with but turned out I couldn't. The guys in my corner were absolutely brilliant but all of a sudden that cage door shut and I felt all alone and started to panic. The buzzer went and my head was racing, I was stood in front of my opponent and I was thinking of a million things whilst physically doing nothing. Michelle took me down and was on my back immediately.

She must have been choking me for a good couple of minutes, with the ref checking my arm to see if I was still breathing, Nicolini looking up to him to stop it, I managed to survive purely on stubbornness and refusing to lose. After she couldn't finish the choke I managed to escape/or she allowed me to so she could set up her next move, the crowd went mental but it was only brief as I was flipped over into the fence with my arm getting hyperextended to which I tapped.

I was devastated, not in losing to Michelle but in not performing as best I could.

Despite the result, it was still an awesome experience and one that has helped shape my path today. So do I regret taking such a 'huge' fight, hell no. Sometimes in life we make good choices and we make bad choices, I've made plenty bad choices along my way so far but taking that fight wasn't one of them.

In my eyes, challenges are there for accepting, to push us so far out of our comfort zone we question why the f*ck we said yes in the beginning! However, it's the journey these challenges take us on, the sacrifices we make, the ups, the downs, the tears and the laughter are all by far worth it when you look back and see how much you have grown, what you are capable of and you realise that there is still a whole load more to come.

Persevere, work hard and believe in yourself

I set off on foot to find Glendale Fighting Club home to UFC women’s bantamweight world champ, Ronda Rousey.

All I knew was that the 780 bus took me from Hollywood (where I was staying) to Glendale (where the gym was), I asked a lady on the bus who told me which stop I should get off at and then I asked a hotel receptionist where the street was that I needed to be on, I came to realise I should maybe research these things better rather than winging it all the time! Luckily it was easy enough to get to!

The door was locked when I arrived but I could see a bunch of Armenian guys hitting the bags so I just waved like a nervous geek and someone came to let me in, the guy was called Sevak, one of the coaches and professional MMA fighters there. I could feel myself going red as I was talking because I could feel everyone staring in my direction (for those who don’t know me I actually get pretty shy and stuttery when I talk in front of new people, but I’m working on it!) Anyway he was lovely and told me to come along to an evening session.  The classes were good, but I wanted to train with fighters. However I hadn’t been able to get in touch with anyone from the gym beforehand so to them I was just this random English girl who’s rocked up and asked to join the fighters! So I went to another session, this time Muay Thai and again gave 100% did all the drills and conditioning, tried to show I’m the real deal then when we all play sparred at the end, I let my technique flow and the coach that night (Alfred) came over and said I could join the fighter sessions...yay! Oh and this was the night I met Ronda, I introduced myself, we briefly spoke as she was leaving then I pretty much saw her every morning after that as she was training which was pretty cool. I waited about a week before I asked for the geeky fan photo though.

I was excited but also nervous, I made my way to GFC but when I arrived all the lights were still off, I entered and was greeted by the S&C coach, I said I was here to train then I went off to the toilet to get changed. When I came back I overheard him talking on the phone about me, he was asking Sevak who I was and was I in for a one to one with one of the coaches. It was another coach, Alfred who had said to come down so I was getting all a bit confused and lost by this point.

The S&C coach then started asking me questions about my background, training, record etc and I was starting to feel a little unwelcome, I felt really awkward and didn’t want to be there. I felt like an idiot that I hadn’t managed to get in contact with someone earlier so I wouldn’t have to keep explaining who I was once I was there, anyway he said he was about to run a conditioning session and that I could stay if I wanted too. I wanted to leave, I felt uncomfortable but I also knew in my head that I should stay, so I did. I hung around for the next 30 minutes saying hi to people who arrived whilst I anxiously just sat on the side of the ring picking my finger nails. Then in walks Edmond Tarverdyan. He came over to me, we exchanged pleasantries then he instructed me to get warmed up, skip, shadow box and hit the bags. Result.

This was the first time I’d ever met Edmond in person and I can honestly say, what a nice guy, we spoke and he said he’d pad me the following day.

Photo by @hansgutknecht

After this I think I gained a little more respect. Alfred was fighting at the end of the week and one of the girls I had met, Paola invited me to go to the show so I thought I’d go along to support. There was a real family feel to the gym, when I arrived at the show, Sevak sat me with the rest of the guys from Glendale and said if I needed anything just to ask, oh and the event food was a nacho buffet! This was 100 times better than the shitty burgers and sausage rolls we have back in the UK!!

My time was coming to an end in LA, I had my last session at Glendale on Monday morning, the day before I left and was a little sad to be leaving. I met Ronda’s two photographers, Eric Williams and Hans Gutknecht who were lovely. I told them they’d be photographing me one day. (They actually already have but I meant on the bigger stage!).

Photo by @ewillphoto Eric Williams

To everyone at Glendale I was just some random fighter chick from England, but to me I am the chick who has rediscovered my mojo, who continues to improve, who welcomes the uncomfortable, and who will succeed and show the world just how great I will be.

Never give in, believe in yourself and persevere for what you want in life.

Training at Wild Card Boxing Gym

Here's how my time at Wild Card went.

Wild Card gym was a mile away from the hostel I was staying at, which was brilliant and meant I could just walk there every day.

On my first day I was kind of just scoping the area out, finding out where I needed to be. I’d gotten some food shopping and realised I was pretty close to the gym so I should pop in, I had training gear with me anyway just in case I could train.

I could hear the repetitive thud of the speed balls going as I approached and my excitement grew, I was here, I was in LA and about to walk into Freddie Roach’s gym. I turned the corner and saw hand wraps and gloves hanging out to dry on the railing as I made my way up the stairs and through the door.  There were people everywhere, mostly training, some watching, I walked to the desk and started talking to a guy called Paulie who was great, I felt welcome and thought f*ck it lets train. I had my food shopping with me and asked him if he had a fridge I could put it in, he was like ‘er...not one that big I don’t think anyone’s going to steal your food so just put it in the changing room!’ I laughed and went to get changed.

I didn’t have any hand wraps to which he was really surprised at (I thought that if I punch without them my hands would strengthen!). I tried to find a space to warm up as it was so cramped but I loved that it was a fighter’s gym. There were sweaty people everywhere, posters and photos covered the walls, all equipment was getting used, everyone was just cracking on doing their own thing, there were also multiple pad men to which most approached me. I went with Paulie for that day as I got a cool vibe from him, but later in my trip I went with a coach named ‘Superman’ who trained mostly fighters.

Paulie...the guy with crazier hair than mine!

Feeling great after the session I left and went back the following day.

I walked in the second day and coaches were fist bumping me, I felt so welcome yet again, guys nodded, girls said hello then Superman came over and said ‘come on then, let’s see what you’re made of’.

I got warmed up then hit pads with Superman. He was great, within 5 minutes he’d referenced Bruce Lee, I knew he was the guy to train with and we spent the following week working on foot work, defence, head movement, pads and sparring.

With Kevin, one of the boxers who drilled with me and my coach 'Superman'.

When he first asked if I wanted to spar I was a little apprehensive, I saw how the guys sparred, they were going hard, real hard and I thought I haven’t come all the way over here to top up on brain damage but he seemed a good coach and I agreed to spar.

I was nervous as hell, my hands were shaking and my legs had turned to jelly I literally felt all the emotions I would do before a fight but it excited me! This is something I’d been working on with Rob from Mind Sport Consulting and I was glad to be putting it into practice.

I climbed in the ring and I noticed that my sparring partner was bigger than me, she noticed I wasn’t wearing a belly pad...this must of been her cue to body shot the life out of me. I got through the first round, I saw stars, I was winded, I was getting a little frustrated that I could only use my hands and getting annoyed that this bint was fucking going hard. I went into the second round and was proud that I was managing to circle off the ropes but that didn’t last long, she was good and kept cutting me off and raining down flurries of punches to my body and head that I felt I had no option but to go toe to toe with her...she got the better of me and Superman didn’t let me spar a third round. I was devastated, I held my tears in until I could get to the toilet, I was so upset that Superman had these high hopes of me and I wasn’t even good enough to go a third round. I went and practised on the speed ball until he came over and took me on the pads again, I had just had one of ‘those’ sessions, were you feel utter shit.

Anyway I got over it and returned the next day and a few guys were saying well done to me and to not feel bad as she was ranked No.2 in the U.S. 5 years ago, I guess she was the test to see how I faired up against her before he put me with anyone else! I later went on to spar the current national amateur champ who was a bit lighter than me and I did a lot better I managed to practice what we were working on and have a more technical scrap! I also sparred against a 14 year old girl but I just felt like I was hitting my little sister (if I had one) and another girl who just trains for fun.

Don't wear mascara to sparring!

All in all this place was well worth a visit, it seems anyone is welcome here whether you compete or not, its $5 a day to just go and train and if you want someone to pad you, you can arrange a price with them. Freddie wasn’t there every day but when he was he always said hi and had a bit of crack with me. I learned and I progressed in the short space of time I was here so I was very happy with that.

With the main man :-)

Stayed tuned for part 3!

Chase your dream

Here's how my trip to LA came about.

I had a slow start to 2015, coming off surgery I was limited to the training I could do, I certainly couldn’t prepare for any competitions and meanwhile everyone around me was. I was given the all clear to get back to it in April but my confidence was low, this had been the longest lay off I’d ever had with my last competition (grappling) being July 2014 and my last MMA fight February 2014.

As well as running the gym which was really picking up in the run up to Summer I’d waitress at a restaurant in Darlington, trying to work my training in around my clients, classes and shifts at the restaurant and spend time with those close to me I hate to admit but it was getting too much, I was feeling unorganised, getting easily annoyed by people and starting to feel lost, I needed something to focus on.

I made a decision to act on the things that make me happy, the things I live and breathe for; training, improving, learning and fighting.

I decided I needed a fresh challenge in a new environment bringing unique experiences such as; travelling alone, America had been on my ‘list’ since I was a kid.

I decided where I wanted to train; Glendale Fight Club in LA – the gym that is home to the most dominant and inspiring female athlete (to me) Ronda Rousey.

I made a decision to act with conviction and chase a dream, explore my passion in life and train to develop my skills, and when given the choice of any gym in the world, it had to be the home to the UFC women’s bantamweight champ. My journey, my destiny, no longer a dream was fast becoming a reality and I was ready.

I emailed the gym, but no one replied. I rang the gym, but no one answered.

I booked my plane tickets and accommodation anyway and checked out some other gyms in the area that I could train at. Wild Card boxing gym was a mile away from my digs...perfect.

I was excited again; I had focus, determination and drive. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I got there but I just knew I had to be on form, as fit as I could get in 6 weeks and just get up to speed with grappling, wrestling and striking again.

Enjoying experimenting and throwing Wil...

Hitting up one of my sessions with my strength coach Barry Gibson...

Was I a little nervous? Yep, I’m nervous whenever I set foot in a new gym, train/spar with new people but that’s also pretty exciting, new people, new ideas, new experiences I can’t stand plodding on doing the same thing day in day out, I crave happiness, excitement, positive energy and the emotional rollercoaster that comes with training/fighting, through its highs and lows you develop, grow and find out what you are truly capable of.

I guess I didn’t really know what was to come from my trip, but I knew there would be something...and I had to go venture and find out.

My Thai Boxing buddy Hayleigh dropping me off at Heathrow

With the help of so many people I was off and embarked on the trip of a lifetime.

Thank you to my sponsors:

Richard Gates at Ugly Duck Clothing

Tim Fong at XTAL

Samantha Leighton at SL Sports Massage

Steffan H. Abel Chiropractor in Chester-le-street

Paul Million at Brinkburn Apartments, Darlington

Rob Dawson at Mindsport Consulting who has had such a positive impact on my life.

My coaches Martin Wilby, Barry Gibson, my original coach Paul Hamilton who I wouldnt even be in martial arts if it weren't for him.

Everyone who donated raffle prizes, bought tickets, made donations and helped coach me and train with me in preparation for my trip...you are all amazing.

Stay tuned for part 2...

My Los Angeles training adventure

To be the best I believe you need to experience everything you can, soak up as much knowledge as possible and dedicate time, effort and passion to reach your goal.

One of my goals is to travel to Los Angeles to further my knowledge.

Whilst in LA I'll be visiting the Glendale Fighting Club home of Ronda Rousey, the current UFC Bantamweight Champion.  Im hoping to get to train under Edmond Tarverdyan. I'll also be heading to Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym and Rigan Machado's Academy.

My little Renault Clio (Trevor) has taken me all over the UK and I've never asked anyone to help support or fund me up until now.  Im not asking for money for nothing.

To help me fund this adventure I'm running a raffle with prizes donated by my generous friends. The prizes are currently worth over £700 in total. For only £5 you can buy entry into the raffle.

You can do this online through this page.

You will be sent a photo of your ticket via email and will be notified once the prizes have been drawn.

Raffle prizes so far;

1 x Month's Membership to The Lab
2 x Made 4 the Cage Tickets
2 x Made 4 the Cage Tickets
2 x Made 4 the Cage Tickets
1 x Small XTAL Rash Guard
1 x Medium XTAL Rash Guard
1 x 10oz Toxic Boxing Gloves Pink (More toxic gear to come)
1 x Ladies Coast Dress Navy Blue
1 x Squier Strat by Fender Electric Guitar
1 x Disaronno
1 x Glenlivet Whiskey

Plan, Prep and Positivity!

This is a subject A LOT of people including myself at some point or another has suffered with - finishing at the gym, can't be bothered cooking, I’ll order take out… Am I right??!

Eating the right foods, fuelling your body and maximising recovery is just as important if not more important than working out. Making sure you eat energy filling foods for you to perform your best during your session and eating foods to help your body replenish and recover immediately after is crucial!

As well as REST! Good sleep will work wonders for recovery.

After an intense workout, such as a session at The Lab ;-), your working hard, pushing your body through gruelling exercises, your causing teeny tiny tears in your muscle cells that your body will repair to help your muscles regenerate and grow stronger. Giving your body the best chance of recovery by following the steps below could have huge benefits such as injury reduction, not being fatigued for your next workout, reduction in muscle soreness and keeping your energy levels at tip top highs!

Will power alone isn’t always going to work out, we’re all guilty of dipping in the biscuit tin whilst we decide what to make for tea, or making a couple of slices of toast whilst waiting for food to cook, my 3 P’s below should help eliminate all these snacking and binging habits!

Plan, Prep and Positivity

Plan - planning your meals can mean the world of difference between having a list of ingredients ready to cook as soon as you get home and eating a hearty nutritious meal OR swinging by McDonalds on the way home sitting in the drive through queue placing your order, driving off and realising they f*cked your order up, never mind your so hungry you ram it down your neck feel bloated and fat, then hungry again 45 minutes later!

Planning can be a day to day thing or if your really organised get a weekly food plan already sorted, food shopping already done so all that’s left to do is cook. This is the part some people hate as they associate it with boredom, waiting for food to cook and thinking that cooking takes up hours of your time! There’s other things you can be getting on with whilst food is cooking (quick workout perhaps ;p) and a lot of the recipes I have on offer can range from 10 minutes to 45 minutes tops!

Preparation - preparing meals to take to work, gym etc with you means your getting good nutritious food the instant you need it as opposed to having to eat whatever is on offer at the canteen or fatso’s down the road! Wake up 15 minutes earlier and prepare a salad and I don’t mean some iceberg lettuce and cucumber. I mean, leafy dark greens like spinach, rocket, chard, kale, colourful variety like peppers, red cabbage, avocado, carrot, celery, tomatoes, add some cheese, cold meats, tuna, quinoa, nuts, seeds, sliced apple, grapes be as inventive as you like! Take handfuls of fruits like blueberries, strawberries, bananas. Pre boil some eggs and take these with you to snack on - perhaps not at your desk or you may stink the office out! Slice some carrot into sticks and take with a small pot of houmous or goats cheese to dip. Blend a smoothie to take with you. Just that extra 10 minutes a morning can benefit your waistline and your wallet! OK, so I think that’s a line from somewhere else but it still works!

Positivity - be positive and be around positive people, there’s nothing worse than sitting at your desk and your work colleague is offering you biscuits and chocolate whilst saying ‘what are you going on a diet for’, ‘your mental for going to the gym all the time’, ‘just have some chocolate’ - these people will bring you down because they are unhappy in their own lives and jealous that YOU are doing something about yours, oh and it’s not a ‘diet’ it is a whole change into a healthier, happier lifestyle which should be enjoyed not resented. If you have to be around these people just remind yourself every so often of your goals, of a happier lifestyle and what a positive influence you can have on your loved ones.

So there was my 3 P’s, make small adjustments to your day, make time for planning and preparation, be positive and see what a difference it can make to your training!