We left it too late.  We had no idea it was going to last this long…

I have always enjoyed the outdoors, sports and particularly individual competitive sports – golf, tennis, swimming, squash.  My wife too is very competitive, but as a kid her sport due to financial constraints was running.  ‘Now’ she enjoys tennis, paddel as well as other going to the gym.

Over the years, our priorities change – we focus on what we perceive to be important at the time.  For me since being in Spain I have enjoyed playing golf, although not as frequently as I would like, nor enough to maintain a consistent level of play. Put simply - I am getting worse by the day!  My focus has been on work, business and income to ensure our family unit and lifestyle works.

Three years ago due to my increasing body mass - Hessia coerced me into attending boot camp sessions with her at a local gym!  The first visits almost killed me!  But with each evening session, the exercises started to get more manageable and I was almost looking forward to attending. I then switched to the morning class at 0700.  The work out was done before I realised and it was a great start to the day.  I was starting to feel fit (or at least fitter that I had been for a while)!

As long as I can remember, I have suffered from periodic back pain – I mean the excruciating sort where you can hardly get out of bed and need to lay on the floor for a few hours to realign.  I always used this as an excuse to not go to the gym.  But with my new found fitness, I took the next step and hit the gym with a personal trainer.  Over a three months period I had 2-3 sessions a week.  Initially after each session it felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my body – so much for feeling fit!

I always have eaten pretty well – or at least I thought as much!  He changed my diet and made me monitor my calorie intake (a new concept for me). With the new diet and workouts the results started to show.  I must have lost 8 kg over the 3 months period.  It became part of me and I continued going to the gym religiously each morning for some 24 months.

Then we went away for a couple of weeks, then I got increasingly busy work, then I had to go to UK, then I injured myself, then my back started to hurt, the story goes on… So the long and the short of it is for the last 12 months my gym visits have been sporadic at best.  I started going to the local pool at the beginning of the year each morning, as I decided this was better for me than lifting. For the past month of course that has not been possible.

About 18 months ago Jonah and Noah started getting into working out. As twins, they had always been smaller than many of their mates.  But going to the gym, along with consuming unimaginable quantities of food has filled them out – lean but strong. It’s done wonders for their self-confidence too.