After some time out of the gym, how long does it take to lose my fitness levels?

Well I'd say if you're a highly trained athlete then you can lose your top level of fitness quite quickly, say around two weeks, due to you're body conditioning to the training environment that you're in and that you get used to.

Not many people are training full time at the highest levels, so to maintain a level of fitness and stop for a while it all depends on your age and by "stopping" what you actually mean, if, for whatever reason, you have to stop totally and cannot move or exercise whatsoever then I'd say, again maybe 2/3 weeks you'll lose your fitness levels, but if you still keep reasonably active and raise your pulse rate a few times during the week I'd say it'd take a couple of months to totally lose all your fitness.

As with everything it's a little and often that always wins the race, take the hair and the tortoise example...

I am all for gym membership; people getting and keeping themselves fit, but if you're going to make it awkward for people then it's really not going to encourage people to join up. A prime example of this is the Esporta gyms, I was a member of Esporta for a good 3 years and at £60 a month (outside of London) it wasn't cheap.

I used all the facilities and found that it was really very good, it was nicely kept and always had a nice working out environment. When I got myself a job in London I moved down and gave in my months notice. After 3 years I assumed a month would suffice. Little did I know that they wanted 3 MONTHS NOTICE!.

This is a bit unrealistic due to me moving house and jobs, I thought who could never predict what may happen in three months time? Who knows whether they'd even get the job?!

Either way I had to pay the remaining fees as I was contracted to so and didn't want to go to court over something so trivial. I should have really known this from the start and I guess it's my fault, but either way I'd never use and Esporta again! I'd not want to be held to such a long contract, on top of this the London clubs were £5 entry EXTRA, on top of each gym session as well as £60+ a month!

Fortunately I found myself a gym that's pay monthly no lengthy contract and even better facilities than Esporta! Which made me very happy!

The moral, Read and fully understand any contract they are trying to get you to sign and shop around when looking for a good gym!

In the pursuit of new fitness equipment I'll be looking towards the new Westfield shopping centre that opens it's doors tomorrow in the west of London.

I know that the shopping centre is aimed towards the high end fashion & high street fashion market, but I'm sure there will be some good fitness equipment or gym clothes to invest in.

I need a good selection of gym clothes for the winter and am certainly going to head to this mall, it's also offering healthy shopping, with massage for weary shoppers! Sounds like the perfect place for my Christmas shopping! But this is another reason for me investing in some spanking new gym kit...

Yes that's right! The time has come that I am FINALLY joining a gym, it's been a while now but I have managed to maintain my fitness levels from working out, running, using my dumbbells from home, and general up keep with aerobic fitness all without using a gym, but as the nights are here now by 5pm it's time I joined a gym, fortunately for me I found a perfect place that's £40 a month but NO contract! Which is fantastic! It has everything I want from a gym and more, to cap it off it also has a selection of "Power Plate" machines so I can finally put these to full use and give you a full comprehensive review.

I will be tracking my new routine with a gym log / log book and keeping track of everything I do in my pursuit of ultimate fitness :)

Stay tuned!

What is my home gym fitness equipment arsenal now?

Well I’ve slowly been collecting bits and pieces over the time I’ve been writing this blog and I’ve been able to review many other items of home gym fitness equipment, along with test them out.

To date I own:

A Skipping rope – brilliant for cardio training and getting toned.

Hand Grippers – Great for forearm exercises and help grip on holding weights.

Dumbbells – I bought these a good few months ago now and have been an awesome investment.

Yoga Mat – Vital for my sit-ups routines as I’ve got a very bony back and cannot do sit-ups just on the floor.

All of this fitness equipment can be used from your bedroom or within the comfort of your own house. The skipping rope needs some space, but is one of the best pieces of cardio equipment you can have! Why not take it for a run with you and skip after your run!

A great way to get toned!

Well it may seem like an impossible task but to achieve a six pack isn’t out of anyone’s league, ok it’s going to be much harder for some people, but how bad do you want it?!

The secret to six-pack abs isn’t Abs, Abs, Abs. It’s actually a mixture of a healthy, balanced diet, a good strong fitness routine along with a good set of Ab exercises. It’s a long process and nothing you do is going to make you a super human “Ab monster” over night, the secret is consistency with all the things listed above.

A Balanced diet – healthy foods and cut out the junk.
Good fitness routine – at least 30 minutes of cardio working up good a sweat 3 times a week.
Good ab exercises – Not overkill though, you can over strain your abs just as easily as any other muscle.

Scooby over at www.scoobysworkshop.com has done a fantastic video on a good abs program and makes fun of these stupid "abs in 10 days" infomercials, but the video is also full of some fantastic information!