I'm sat in a trekking lodge following our second day on our journey to Everest base camp.  Every now and again there is a black out when the power goes down.

Kathmandu is an amazing and frenzied place.  I managed to pick up everything I needed for the trek.  

There are lots of shops that sell 'genuine fakes', our guide told me that they use the same designs and materials as the legit brands; they're just made in Nepal.

I've tried them out over the past couple of days and they seem that be holding up as well as my proper stuff at home.

Walking through the streets of Kathmandu is an adventure in its own right.  There are people everywhere and they share the same road space as taxis, motorbikes and bikes.  How more people don't get injured I really don't know.

The journey from Kathmandu to Lukla is by plane, the airport at Lukla is always featured on the worlds scariest airports and I'm not the most confident of flyers.

Our guide assured me that it was a new plane and the pilots were really skilled and that I'd be alright.  That made me smile, I sat that to our members when I set them challenges that they don't think they could ever achieve.

As I said yesterday I'm always right :)

Nima our guide was too, the flight was alright.  I was a bit twitchy with the turbulence flying through the mountains and I can't say I enjoyed the landing but it was a necessary evil to get to my goal of trekking to base camp.

Another thing I wasn't looking forward to were the bridges I saw on the Everest Movie.  I can't say I'm looking forward to them now but over the past couple of days we have traversed a few lower level versions.

Dill, our assistant guide, has been really good at letting me know exactly when they would be and distracting me from the height etc.

I'm feeling confident that I'll be ok tomorrow but we Trekker up the a viewing point where we could see the bridges from the mountain.  Tomorrow I will be taking a massive step and lots of small steady twitchy ones against my fear of heights.

My nephew finds it funny that I'm scared of heights but going on a mountain trek, I'm not scared of heights when my feet are on the earth, it's when I'm on a ladder or exposed bridge.  Before he would fit some cctv cameras to our house he made me go to the top of the ladder to build up my exposure.  

Exposure to your fears is one way of getting over them.

Some of our members were scared of joining Bootcamp.  Their fears were all different.  Some were worried that they wouldn't be fit enough, others that they'd be the fattest or the biggest there. 

They confronted their fears and called us for advice, a big step in itself is admitting your fears to somebody else it makes us feel vulnerable.  We coached them through their fears and they joined.

Some found their fitness improved really quickly and by the time they reached the end of their first block they were fitter than they had been in 20 years.

Some were the biggest, it didn't matter.  We tailored their sessions to meet them and everyone we work with is supportive and doesn't ever judge.  We've all been in that same position of not knowing what to expect.

It's ok to be scared, it's part of human nature.  But don't let your fears rule you.  

Speak to somebody about them, if you're scared of anything health or fitness related give us a call.

Our online nutrition plan will be starting on Monday 4th January 2016 with the fitness side starting Monday 11th January 2016.

You can call Fran on 07771722175 to discuss what we do or coach you through your fears.

Darren 'bridge conqueror' Checkley