"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."

I'd purposely not weighed myself in over a year because I'm disappointed with myself for letting my exercise come to a stand still. I still get out walking with the boys and play a lot of Hockey with them but I used to go out walking and sometimes running and it was part of the reason I lost over 3st a couple of years back. It's so easy to let things slide and although I've said in the past 'I don't have time'  and 'I just want to relax of an evening ', I am the only one to blame for the weight that I have put back on.

When I received a surprise package just before Christmas and was also told that one of the main aims for micro scooters during 2017 was fitness, I knew it was time to make a change. It's no shock to anyone that I love scooting, if you are local to us you probably see me and the boys whizzing about the streets and we can regularly be seen adventuring around the streets of London, museum hopping. I've never really pushed myself on the scooter to use it for proper workouts, but 4 weeks ago that changed.

It all started one evening when I had nothing to do. It was dry outside and I'd picked up some lights so I thought 'what the heck I'll go for a scoot'. There is something so therapeutic about scooting, just me, the wheels and some great music to keep me motivated. I scooted 6 miles that night and although I tackled some pretty steep hills and had been out of breath a few times, the last leg back home had 10 minutes of flat, making it the perfect wind down, which meant that I was completely relaxed by the time I reached my front door.

It's safe to say that I was hooked from that moment and my evening scoots have become a regular thing. After arriving back home after the 6 miles I realised that I could have actually scooted a lot longer. So when I went out again I changed my route and added a little longer to the journey, coming in at just under 9 miles. This was then extended to a 10.7 miles route and then to 13 miles.

So this is what I've stuck with as it's the perfect route with a great variety of up hill, down hill and flat. Sometimes my route is a little shortened depending on how brave I am feeling as there is 0.5 miles of unlit road in a quiet area and sometimes I just don't feel like chancing it. Other times though I find myself with a little more time in the evening if I have started out early, so I scoot for longer. My top distance so far has been 15.3 miles and what is really interesting is that even after that I probably could have carried on, because scooting doesn't put the same strain on your legs as running.

 

This solo scooting fitness adventure started on the 5th of January. I weighed myself that morning and I was pretty disappointed by the fact that I had put on 2.2st over the last year or so. It was all the motivation I needed to make this change.

I weighed myself last week and was shocked to see that my evening scoots have taken 9lbs off of my weight which is a pretty amazing start I think. I cant wait to weigh myself in a few weeks to see if there is much change again. The great thing about this exercise is that I love scooting, so it's not a burden and I'm not having to force myself out of the house of an evening. Scooting with the boys on our home-schooling adventures has been a huge thing for us over the last few years and now these solo evenings are something to look forward to with a weight loss goal that is getting closer with each evening scoot.

"Gotta Catch 'Em All!"

I'm not usually one to get caught up in the latest craze so when the boys started talking about Pokemon GO they didn't really sell the whole concept. But being the kind of dad that I am I knew I had to get involved or I wouldn't hear the end of it as I had an excited Pokemon fan who wanted to play. After some reading and writing today I figured I should take him out hunting, so we headed out looking for Pikachu and his friends.

It didn't take long for my inner geek to come out when Opeie said 'Dad! I can't catch this Zubat!'. From the moment I flicked that first Pokeball I was hooked. I was a big Pokemon fan back in 1999 I even shamefully gave myself a Pokemon name and had it tattooed on the back of my neck (no I'm not adding a picture). We've just got back from an after tea Pokemon hunt and over the past 2 days Opeie and I have walked roughly 15km looking for these adorable little creatures, above everything else it is great exercise.

The reason for the post though was the raised concern of a 5 year old walking around with an expensive phone. We've already had to replace two laptops because of child related accidents and I didn't fancy being without a phone, so while I had a spare hour and the boys were playing with their friends, I turned to my old friend, (LEGO) and built a Pokemon case fit for outdoor Pokemon fuelled adventures.

The boys, as expected loved it and while we've been searching we've had some interest from other Pokemon hunters out and about. As happy as the boys were with the case, Opeie had his own idea and informed me that it needed the word 'GO' on the back in blue. I love the extra little ideas the boys come up with so I was happily oblige.

If you've not played Pokemon GO yet, get it downloaded to your phone. Its very addictive, its great exercise and overall it gets you out with the children, fun, FREE, outdoor family bonding! Perfect for the summer holdiays.

"Confidence comes from discipline and training."

With the new series of Ninja Warrior UK starting recently we have been catching up on Youtube while eating our tea. We're all big fans of people falling over and landing on their faces so the show has been an excellent source of meal time entertainment. Although people flying off things and shattering their ego's is great its also interesting to watch the extremely fit people tackle the crazy course with what sometimes seems like little effort. I doubt id even get past the first obstacle (I'd love to have a go though).

The boys have become miniature Ninja warriors, creating their own assault courses and setting each other tasks to complete, its very entertaining to watch. As Opeie's climbing class wasn't on today we ventured over to the town park as i had some shopping to do and i wanted to make sure he wasn't to bored. Whenever we go there we always stay on the play area suitable for his age group but as there was no one about today (no loud over excited older children) Opeie decided he wanted to put his Ninja training to the test.

 And when we got to the end Opeie excitedly hit the imaginary big red button. He hadn't had his fill of the course though and we had to go round it another few times. Its amazing how much stronger he has become over the last few months with the climbing, scooting and his new love of running wherever we go, hes turning into a proper little beefcake.

So we'll continue our training in hope that kids Ninja warrior becomes a thing Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ya!

"It' easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top."

I lived in Birmingham for most of my life but for many years prior to moving to Shropshire I just didn't feel comfortable there. With many family issues outside of Mrs M and the boys I just didn't really want to be in that city and environment anymore. When I moved to Shropshire I felt like a weight had been lifted and it was when my life really began moving forward, so it will always be a special place to me and in many ways this is the only time I've felt at home and part of something special.

I feel so lucky being here, since my life changed and I became a parent there's no need for the busyness of the big city, that side of socialising has become obsolete and I've traded all that in for beautiful scenery and people that I adore. For just getting out and about, Shropshire is perfect for long walks, It's full of greener attractions and has a really interesting history surrounding it, especially in and around the Ironbridge area.

Last weekend was odd, the weather was all over the place. Lots of rain and bleak looking skies but by Saturday afternoon although it was still very cold, the sun had come out and it gave us the motivation we needed to get out for a spot of exercise after a large but incredibly tasty lunch. We had planned to head over to our favourite farm for a wander but it was too wet and there is lots of long grass there so we found ourselves making our way towards the Wrekin.

The Wrekin is a fair and steep walk especially if you have children. Try multiplying that considerably if you are also carrying a tired and semi grumpy 3 year old (who is at the moment refusing to take naps) on your shoulders. Saying that though, I love him perched up there so although it was a slight struggle, it's always a pleasure being the 'daddy horse' as Opeie calls it. The further up the Wrekin you climb the more you are rewarded with beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. 

Mrs M told me how much it had changed since she was a little girl and how much of a shame it was to see the local area so built up and with even more building sites popping up.

While on our up hill climb Opeie spotted some giant footprints along the hill so he followed the trail to see where they would take him.

When I was a child I was fascinated by clouds and the top of the Wrekin was a great spot for cloud spotting, yes I guess that makes me a bit of a nerd.

As idilic as the Wrekin is, When you reach the top you are unfortunately greeted by this monstrosity which is a real shame as its not really in keeping with the aesthetics of the surrounding area...

...but you soon forget about that when you take in all the beautiful views around you. It was so windy at the top and I don't think Opeie was really enjoying it, luckily mommy had her ear muffs with her though which soon cheered him up.

After a little time taking in the view it was time for us to make our way back down the hill. It was a lot easier carrying Opeie back down to the car and we had loads of fun counting and messing around. It was great exercise and it really helped with that stir crazy feeling from being stuck in the house.

Shropshire is a beautiful place to live, made even better by the beautiful people I surround myself with.

"Know your limitations & then defy them"

Over the last few weeks, since Seth has been back at school there has been a lot more chats about what Seth 'can't do'.  Now that may seem blunt, but that's not me saying that, it is what Seth says when he is discussing what's been going on at school. 

It seems that many times throughout the week the other children at school are making comments that are knocking Seth's confidence and teachers are unknowingly doing the same treating Seth slightly different than the other children. Seth is different than everyone else but that's the broad 'everyone else' and not the collective. What two people are the same? But getting this across to Seth can be difficult at times. Because of Seth's muscle condition i think it has become second nature to the teachers to try and make things easier for Seth, and the other children? Well they are just kids and will always pick out differences in other children no matter what.

Although Seth has these moments of self doubt, he is mostly a very confident child and we are so proud of how he deals with everything that goes on in his life. When he has these 'i can't do that' moments we think it is important to remind Seth of what he can do. We do this every day by embracing his intellectual and creative side with Science, Craft, building and reading etc but sometimes we really need to help him get his confidence back about his physical ability.

This weekend as something a little different we organised a family gym session with Gareth at Purity health and fitness. We thought that aside from building his confidence we could help Seth to realise just how strong he actually is plus we knew that Opeie would really be in his element playing fitness games and having an excuse to put on a pair of boxing gloves. 

The studio was packed full of fun equipment and I could see the boys faces light up as soon as we walked in. The boys didn't waste any time, taking full advantage of the time that we had there.
 
Because of Seth's muscles he can be quite uneasy on his feet at times, but thanks to Gareth with some short balancing games Seth's confidence was soon slowly creeping back. He still needed help to sturdy himself but he could see that we were also having to concentrate to stay balanced.

 Seth was eager to show of his manly strength with a bit of weight lifting and was confident lifting some of the smaller weights. Gareth explained the importance of not pushing yourself to much and taking care of your body to avoid injury, Gareth then showed Seth some of the larger weights, one was the same weight as a canon ball, and Seth said when he's older he will do these, bless him!

Opeie was just happy playing with balls. You cant beat the good old fashioned exercise equipment.

There was some agility training and games to test the boys hand eye co-ordination which they both had a lot of fun taking part with. It was good to see them both having fun in that kind of environment, they were both very confident talking to Gareth and were taking in everything that he said.

What i loved was there was no 'i can't do that' during our session, each game/activity started with Gareth explaining a technique, positions and benefits from the exercise and Seth and Opeie showing us what they could do. It was a great confidence boost for Seth. Mrs M being the pro that she is has trained with Gareth many times,  so she showed us how to do many of the exercises and Seth couldn't wait to give each activity a try.

And then it was time for a game Gareth called 'lets see how strong Daddy is'. The boys excitedly filled the bars up with weights to test me, I think they were impressed by my butchness and Mrs M swooned in the corner as I did my bit (i wish) haha.

We explained to Gareth that there are no need for weights and we showed him how we do bench presses at home.

 As i said there was no shortage of equipment and definitely no shortage of motivation from Seth, he took on every activity like a pro and was genuinely excited about getting involved.

 And then it was time to do the thing the boys had been itching to do since entering the studio. It gave us the chance to take our own gloves, Opeie doesn't have any boxing gloves at the moment so he decided to take his incredible Hulk gloves which was really cute. It was boxing time and by this point in the session Seth's confidence about his physical abilities was through the roof and it was great to watch.

Seth was feeling pumped by this point and asked if he could try the treadmill, we had one at home till a few months back and Seth loved using it even if it was for only short times. Walking is very difficult for Seth but is something he desperately wants to feel more comfortable doing and something he does try to push. A few minutes on the treadmill and Seth was feeling really good about what he had achieved.

 Opeie? well he was still happy kicking and throwing various shaped balls around the studio.

The session turned out to be one of the best things we have done as a family and was something that Seth really needed. I don't expect that it is going to make things easier in Seth's life but I hope that these confidence boosts make him realise just how strong he really is.

Thank you Gareth the Session really helped Seth appreciate a little more what he is capable of physically.

To find out more about personal training or to talk to professionals about activities suitable for you or your families needs contact the trainers at www.purityhealthandfitness.co.uk