My new class. Fusion of pad work and HiiT (High Intensity Interval training) - women only. Fantastic effort from everyone last week. Loved it (enjoy your resting metabolic rate for a while!!)

Exercising intensely and depriving yourself so that one day soon, you can stop disliking your body so much?
Sometimes, how we look at something makes the difference, so can we start again?..

If you want to make changes to improve your health, then think about starting by making a deal with your own body.
1 Exercise because you love your body and you want to make it as healthy, strong and fit as it can be. 
2 Stop being horrible to yourself when you look in the mirror. Your health is not always reflected by your size. Think about how much that body of yours has been through and give yourself a pat on the back for those things before you try to make changes for better health.
3 Don’t dwell on numbers on scales. You are worth much more than that. Start to track your journey to better health by how you are feeling, your energy levels, your nutrition, your exercise routine. If you are trying to lose weight then judge how your clothes feel rather than watch the scales constantly.
4 Find exercise that you enjoy and that makes you feel good about yourself. Set yourself a challenge or try something new. Be honest with yourself if you try something and don’t enjoy it. Give new things a fair trial but if you aren't feeling it, then move on and try something else.
5 Eat foods that make you strong and that your body understands. Take overly processed food out of your diet where possible and stop confusing your digestive system.
6 Take your time. You are making positive changes to better health and if you didn't the time would just pass anyway so take your time – there is no mad rush to get there. Better health is a long journey – you’ll learn new things along the way. 
7 Treat your body well – listen to it, fuel it, challenge it, rest it and repeat.

If you want to make some changes, believe that you can, get started and the changes will slowly start to happen.

Warm up - dynamically in the right movement patterns for the exercises that you intend to do. Not warming up can not only increases your chance of injury, it can make your work periods less effective.

Fuel - whilst certain fasted exercise can have some benefits, in general exercising whilst light headed and on an empty tummy doesn't work for most. To build muscle, take in fuel. To lose weight, you need to take in fuel too so that your body isn't looking for it in the wrong places, such as muscle protein. You won't be able to work hard for long without it, so work out which nutrition works for you pre-workout.

All over body movements - don't just concentrate on one muscle group. Go for a balanced approach - if you love to run or cycle, think about cross training to prevent overuse.

Progress - increase your work periods as you become fitter and stronger, decrease your rest. Introduce intervals into endurance work.

Don't over-train - this can lead to adrenal fatigue and decreased performance in the long run. It won't help you to reach your goals. Rest days have their place and you need them to allow adaptation of the muscles. You need to let your body recover and return to homoeostasis - only then can it efficiently build the muscle you want or burn the fat that you don’t.

Sleep - there are hormones that are active whilst you sleep and not active whilst you are awake. These can help us to burn fat and to build muscle. So, when you've worked hard, your sleep allows your body to adapt to that workout. So get an early night and get stronger for it.

Being outdoors during the darker, chillier seasons of the year in the UK is great for your health and well-being.

While walking in general is a great way to keep toned and fit (and in my opinion is very underrated), it is also brilliant at boosting your feel-good hormones.

Did you know that walking increases serotonin levels, which can help to prevent depression and the traditional autumn and winter blues?

Misty mornings, kicking leaves around, peaceful and beautiful scenery...walking is good for you and it's great head space.

Over the ten years or so, I have walked some beautiful and interesting routes mostly in Yorkshire (some real hidden gems), my home county but also in many other places. I'll be posting them (both easier and more challenging routes), amongst other autumn ideas to keep active over the next few weeks.

Get your boots back out, elevate your heart rate and let's embrace autumn. I have to say its my favourite season for outdoor exercise