HEALTH & FITNESS with Patrick Harris of Les Mills

If you’re wanting to keep your waistline in check, the animal kingdom presents some great examples of how we shouldn’t live our life. Picture a bear. A bear loves to eat… and eat… and eat…he meanders around seeking food then heads off for a sleep. The moral of the story is: live like a bear, you’ll look like a bear. Now picture a horse, a horse will continually graze throughout the day and remains fairly active. Have you ever seen a fat horse?

The basic principle of “Energy In verses Energy Out” is quite evident here. So it should be with you to avoid “up sizing” over the winter months. Although most people’s weak links relate more to behaviours, not activities, it is the activity or “energy out” aspect where the most significant change occurs over winter, compared to the more active summer months. The following exercise method can be applied at home or the gym to expend energy (calories) in only 20 to 30 minutes.

Deal 3 cards then perform in a circuit the number of repetitions the card shows of the allocated exercise. For example, you have dealt the 10 of spades, 7 of hearts and the 3 of clubs – that would translate to 10 squats followed immediately by 7 burpees, followed immediately by 3 crunches. Keep dealing until you have gone through the whole deck. That will equal 18 rounds in total. Numbered cards are as they present. All face cards are worth 10 except the Ace which is worth 15. The 2 jokers are 25 each of your own choice.