December is the time of year of excess of food and booze! January is traditionally time of diets and exercise. When out for a local run, I meet more runners, in the first two weeks of January, than any other time of year! Quite  a few years ago I went swimming at lunchtime. In general there were less than 10 others in the pool. In the first week of January, there were that many, it was virtually impossible to swim. By the second week there were 30 others, The numbers had returned to normal by the first week of February.

In January more people sign up for Gym Membership than any other month. For flash gyms, people are committing themselves to the best part of £1000, as the minimum membership is for a year. Watch any TV shopping channel - they are flogging gym equipment for your home. It’s interesting how many second hand, running, cycling and rowing machines are advertised in the local free newspaper. The problem is people listen to good sales personnel  - who tell them what they want to hear! They only have one thing on their minds - commission! The majority of people fail with their new regime - the only pounds they lose are from their bank account!

Some succeed though! There are many reasons for success here are some of them -

1    Have a goal, It could be running a 10K or 1/2 marathon in the spring or summer. It may be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

2    Next is to have a plan. This should be realistic - if you haven’t run before don’t plan a 5 mile run at the end of week one. You should push yourself occasionally though.

3    Vary your training.. The route you the length and intensity of each session. For example if you run 3 times a week try one short fast run, one easy short run and one long run. Vary the route, vary the surface and even consider cross training. 

4    Consider exercising with others - they should be roughly the same standard as you though.  It works in at least two ways - If you feel like like giving training a miss you will be  someone else down and you can push each other harder.

5    If you join a gym you still need a plan and a goal. It’s probably best have started your plan before you join the gym.  When you have the induction session  discuss this with the person who induces you. It if worth leaving joining a gym until February especially If you want to go on Monday Nights.

6    Before buying any gym equipment work out exactly what you need it for. There is not one piece of equipment you won’t get bored with after a few weeks.

Just one final thought - in the past, when companies were allowed to advertise cigarettes on TV, they spent more on advertising in February than any other month of the year!