Jane Dougall's Sportswomen blog: The battle to get fit
Last Updated: 11/01/17 3:44pm
Sportswomen presenter Jane Dougall begins 2017 with the first of her new blogs, starting with the battle to get fit....
So, is everyone into their fitness regime for January? That macrobiotic diet you'd been promising yourself to start on the 1st well underway? No? Me neither.
It's the second week of January, it's cold and wet and I've probably eaten more comfort food in these last few days than I did during Christmas. The Sportswomen team figured it wasn't just me, so on the programme this week we had a panel of fitness experts to help motivate and inspire you to exercise throughout the whole of 2017!
It's often said that the hardest thing about exercise is the first step. If you're going for a run - actually, physically stepping outside the door is the most painful part of the process and one of the biggest issues that puts people off is the abuse you can get while running outside.
A survey by England Athletics found that a third of British women have received some form of harassment while running on their own. Being shouted at and subjected to car horns were said to be the most common forms of harassment... probably mostly from people who haven't had the guts to put on shorts etc and go out for a run themselves.
So how can you combat it? Well, Laura Fountain, who set up her own running group and blog called Lazy Girl Running, says running in a group always helps with confidence (safety in numbers).
She also says if she's approaching a group of men as she's running, she'll say 'hello' to them so that they see her as a person - not something to be objectified. She coaches, runs workshops and has a training plan to help you get started, beginning with just one minute of running! (www.lazygirlrunning.com)
And it's not just women who are subjected to abuse. Marvin Ambrosius, who's now a personal trainer, used to be 18 stone and very unfit.
He understands that many people worry what others think about them as they're running and can be put off for life if they're verbally abused.
The face of Sky's new Fit in Five series treated getting fit as a job. Now he's devised intensive five-minute long exercises which you can do at home if you don't want to brave the outside. You can watch Marvin's Fit in Five series available now On Demand.
He's also been helping us out with some fitness tips for our Sportswomen Facebook page - check them out.
So, it doesn't matter if you go slowly or if you only do it for a short time, as long as you do something physical. To quote the This Girl Can campaign, "you're lapping everyone on the couch!" Good luck!
