So, we can now safely say goodbye to the 2019 Christmas season and New Year celebrations. It’s back to the day to day routine that is often further depressed by the short, dark and cold days of January.

The Christmas advert silly season is upon us, and with it, the usual suspects are vying for our attention and applause at their nativity creativity.

The clock change at the end of October heralds the start of the silly season of events which include Halloween & Trick or Treat, Guy Fawkes night, festive parties, and the increasingly lengthy lead up to Christmas itself and then New Year.

Most of us who attend a gym and exercise regularly are fully aware of the importance of staying hydrated. Fluid loss during and after exercise needs to be replenished, and hence intake before, during and after a workout is an important part of any training regime.

Those of you who go to the gym in the early evening will currently be experiencing that confusing scenario of arriving during daylight and leaving in the dark. (And let us not discriminate against those who prefer early morning sessions and will obviously encounter the same phenomenon, just in reverse!).

In our articles to date we have mainly focused on the physical benefits of an active lifestyle and regular gym regime. But it has also been proven that the benefits to your mental health and wellbeing are just as strong. And possibly more importantly, they are immediate too.

It won’t be long before the tell-tale signs of summers’ end are upon us. Schools re-open, sunny summer evenings slowly subside, and media channels turn their attention to Halloween, bonfire night, and, most worryingly, Christmas.

So, schools out for summer and the holiday season has finally arrived. Usual routines must change slightly to accommodate kids at home, family visits and BBQ’s, festivals, days and weekends out and about, and hopefully a week or two away on holiday.

In our last article, we looked at the benefits of classes and group-based exercise on both body and mind. And integral to all successful gym and health club class programs is getting the right blend of classes. As well as the traditional high-intensity CV classes, members expect a healthy offering of other sessions such as yoga, pilates and balance/stretch classes.

There has been a huge increase in both the range and frequency of classes offered by gyms in recent years. It is now very unusual to find a gym that doesn’t have at least one studio and program of group classes available to members.

Let’s start this feature with a quiz question. Which two months of the year are traditionally the highest for health club and gym recruitment? (And a clue is that these same two months are also the highest for the onset of divorce proceedings.)

There is a perception that you can’t become a professional athlete or perform in sporting events to a high standard if you follow a vegetarian diet. Hundreds of vegetarian athletes across the globe have proven this is nothing but a myth; with a well-balanced diet and a smart training plan, you can achieve great results in any sport.