Make the decision to get fit with The Great North Fitness Revolution
THE staff at Bodyguards Personal Fitness Service Ltd are not in major need of an overhaul in the healthy living stakes.
After all, it’s their job to provide a healthier guide to life for their customers, drawing up a personalised exercise plan and nutritional advice. Based in Jesmond, even on a sunny Monday morning there are a number of clients at work in the open-plan gym.
But what happens here, in spirit as well as action, is what The Journal’s Great North Fitness Revolution, run in conjunction with Nova International, is all about.
It’s about deciding to get fit, setting personal goals and achieving them. Age, size and shape does not come into it.
Tony Douglass, who runs it with business partner Duncan Edwards, said: “We’ve got a massive variety of clients. Schoolboys and girls who are interested in weight loss, elite athletes – one lad is a national swimmer – all the way through to people in their 70s.”
And the numbers reveal that getting fit isn’t a young person’s thing. “We’ve got 250 members, of whom about 20 are under 30,” Tony said. “That’s not through our choice, it’s just the way it is.”
Personal trainer Sam Barden explained: “Some people when they walk in the gym are terrified. But the gym isn’t an intimidating environment. It doesn’t have to be.”
Speaking about The Journal’s campaign, he said: “I think everyone should do it for their own personal goals. Obviously it benefits your health, it gives you a sense of personal achievement and boosts your confidence.”
Duncan added: “It boosts your energy levels, gives you a zest for life. We have clients who are rehabilitating from chronic illnesses. There are people who want to look better. It can be a vanity thing although we try not to emphasise that. People looking to improve their posture reduce the incidence of back pain.”
And, of course, getting fit doesn’t just improve your physical wellbeing – it eases mental stress as well, a reason why Bodyguards is popular with local employers. Exercise sharpens the mind as well as the body.
“Stress relief is a massive element,” said Duncan. “The physical stress of just sitting at a desk. The emotional stress of work and family life. Exercise is better than just sitting in front of the TV all day. It’s about embracing challenges.”
Challenges are what his colleague Tony knows all about. He’s currently training for the Alpe d’Huez triathlon in France which involves a 2km swim, a 120km cycle ride up the formidable Alpe d’Huez which features each year in the Tour de France, and finally a half-marathon run.
“About eight hours in all,” said Tony a little ruefully.
While a triathlon is a challenge for the super-fit, for the rest of us just getting started is the key.
“People should start slowly but it’s all about frequency. Not just once a week, do a little every day. It’s better to exercise 10 minutes every day rather than once a week for 70 minutes. You’re trying to increase the base metabolic rate. Overall activity levels throughout the week benefits this.”
We will be revisiting Tony, Duncan and his staff over the course of the North East Fitness Revolution, as well as talking to members there about how and why they are getting fit.
If there is one reason why Journal readers should join our Great North Fitness Revolution, Duncan gives the definitive answer: “At the end of the day you only get one life. By having more energy you can live your life to the fullest.”
Newt Gingrich: Campaign 'begins anew'
WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said his campaign "begins anew" in Los Angeles, despite the resignations en masse of nearly two-dozen top advisers.
But some strategists wondered if the campaign could withstand the defections at a time when it was struggling to raise money, recruit staff and be seen as a serious campaign.
The Wall Street Journal said the desertions "could prove fatal."
"I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring," Gingrich wrote on Facebook Thursday afternoon after his campaign manager, senior strategists and aides in early primary states -- including the top-to-bottom slate of aides in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Washington and Georgia -- quit.
"The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles," added Gingrich's Facebook post, which had about 500 "like" endorsements early Friday, a United Press International check indicated.
Gingrich is scheduled to deliver a foreign-policy speech in Los Angeles Sunday at an event sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition. He also intends to take part in a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire Monday night.
Gingrich's office had no further response to the resignations, which included national campaign co-chairman former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who joined the GOP presidential campaign of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Other top desertions included those by campaign manager Rob Johnson, strategists Sam Dawson and Dave Carney and South Carolina consultant Katon Dawson.
The shake-up was prompted, at least in part, by the decision by Gingrich and his wife, Callista, to take a two-week vacation that included a cruise to the Greek isles at a time when the presidential candidate was stumbling, aides who were part of the exodus -- Greek for "way out" or "mass departure" -- told several news organizations.
When the former House speaker's senior strategists confronted him Thursday, Gingrich defended his holiday as a chance to "get away and think," aides said.
The aides then chastised him for lacking the discipline to run a focused presidential campaign that could overcome rising doubts about his candidacy, they said.
Many Republicans had long seen Gingrich as something of a vanity candidate who didn't expect to win the party's nomination, but saw the race as an opportunity to draw attention to his policy ideas, books and documentaries, The New York Times said.
For instance, in New Hampshire Wednesday, Gingrich didn't introduce himself to voters as a candidate, but instead promoted a documentary on Pope John Paul II he'd made with his wife, the Times said.
The loss of virtually his entire team is certain to scare off donors, the Journal said. Some Gingrich advisers said campaign money was already tight.
Gingrich, 67, faces the daunting task of reassembling a campaign organization from scratch 30 days after announcing his candidacy, which got off to a rough start.
Shortly after his May 11 announcement, he faced a barrage of conservative criticism after calling the House Republican plan to overhaul Medicare "radical change" and a form of "social engineering."
He also raised hackles when a financial disclosure revealed he carried $250,000 to $500,000 in revolving debt at Tiffany & Co. to buy jewelry for his wife.