The kick in the head and the point of this blog post is ...

When I do the long distance stuff, I never really feel that fit.  I obviously am from a cardiovascular point of view.  It's just that the purpose of those events is to become efficient, I'm not at the level to be competitive so I use them as personal challenges and to enjoy the event.

But I don't feel that 'fit'.

I'm from a competitive martial arts background, the training we used to do to prepare for competition was brutal.  When I was regularly completing those sessions, I felt fit.  It helps that I was 20 years younger then :)

I still compare feeling fit to how I felt then though.

Since completing the triathlon at the start of July, I have been back in the gym strength training and doing some sprint sessions.  This phase of training ends this weekend. 

Now that I have built my strength back up, something that I neglected during the triathlon training, I feel ready to really hit the conditioning again.  By the end of August I will be starting to feel properly 'fit' again.

Being 'fit' is an individual thing and feeling.  Knowing you have the ability to do something that you want to do without feeling like your going to hurl or pass out.

Reaching for something out of the cupboard requires fitness, without mobility and strength simple tasks become harder.  It is something we work on with all Team Achieve members, our boot campers and particularly our injury therapy clients.

We treat people who have had restricted movement due to pain for years and help them become pain-free and give them their movement back.  The first part of them regaining fitness.

Lots of people use running as a measure of their fitness, most weeks we speak to someone who tells us that they would love to be able to run but they are just too unfit.  They find it hard to breath or their legs give up.

They resign themselves to being non-runners.

When in reality they have never really been shown how to do it properly.

If running is something you want to give a try, we have a run coaching session next week.  You won't be doing lots of miles, just focusing on the technique of running and tips on how to be more efficient.  You can book on here - http://www.achievebootcamp.co.uk/running-coaching-coventry/

Not everybody should run, I have a friend whose hips mean that the benefits of running will not be worth the damage to her knees.  It's a structural thing.  She is still 'fit', she chooses options that work for her and rocks them.

However, if you want to then learn to do it correctly.

Darren 'getting fit' Checkley