Fitness | Gyms in Solihull

Solihull (and the surrounding areas) and Birmingham have a number of gyms that cater for the varying needs of those looking to get fit. Whether you are looking for a big or small gym, franchise or one off – there is a gym to suit all requirements.

Over the last week and a half, as part of my quest to get fit and attain a six pack by summer, I have frequented a number of them by using free passes that most offer. In the coming days and weeks I will be reviewing them breaking down the good points, bad points and eventually joining one that I think fits my requirements.

Wish me luck!

Fitness | A Six Pack by Summer?

You have probably come across this blog hoping for some tips on how to attain a six-pack by summer and erase the memories of summers gone by where you have frolicked in the surf in you best ‘Lifeguard’ t-shirt.

In truth, my own search for such information is what has lead to me writing this blog. Over the next few months I am going to embark on a challenge to get myself a six pack or a close as I can by the beginning of June. Follow my progress and hopefully we can learn something together.

‘How am I going to do this’ you might ask?

Having only visited gyms infrequently over the last couple of years I know this is going to be tough. I’m going to use program of regular exercise, supplements and mild dietary changes (as I eat quite healthily already).

What I don’t want to do is sacrifice enjoying things like crisps and drinking, in the hope of proving that you can still achieve the results you want without having to make drastic changes. Hopefully, through hard work and commitment I can achieve what I want to but if things don’t seem to be working out I will re-evaluate my strategy mid stream - so wish me luck.

But first you need to know some things about me so that you can compare my results and how they might work for you!

I am 27 (28 in Feb), six foot tall and weigh 12 and a half stone (177.8 lbs). I work for a PR firm which means quite a lot od sitting down and meeting food which isn’t always the healthiest. But I eat fairly healthily, with fruit and veg factoring frequently in my diet but am prone to snacking and enjoy going for drinks on the weekend and the odd glass (or two) of red wine in the evenings. I have always had a fast metabolism but as people continually tell me it will slow down so, in a way, this may be my last chance to get a six-pack before it all goes pear shaped.

I play golf and touch rugby every week but apart from that don’t do much else physically. In order to achieve what I am setting out to achieve I am going to have to increase my activity. Therefore, I am going to join a gym, take up kickboxing again (I kick-boxed for two years between 19-21) and start skiing once a month on a dry slope for a more diverse plan which will hopefully keep my interest.

There are already a couple of key dates that I need to work towards. The first is the Birmingham Publicity Association HardCorps Ultimate Miltary Fitness Challenge – a mixed race taking place on the 19^th May and Water Wipeout – an extreme 10km water based obstacle course taking place in June.

That’s about it for the moment and as you can see I have my work cut out for me in terms of the events I am entered in and my ultimate goal to get a six-pack! I’ll keep posting blogs on my program and pictures to help evaluate my progress. My next post will be about the gyms I am trying and will review how good they are – eventually choosing one at the end of the month to join.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment, ask question or make any suggestions that may help me reach my goal (supplements, nutrition, programs…anything).

Review | New Ski Wear from Simply Piste

As the saying goes ‘better late than never’, and that certainly applies to this blog post, which was supposed to go up a short while ago but sadly the fates intervened with some interesting consequences…

Having had my laptop removed from my possession (stolen) my original blog post went along with it (I hope the thieves enjoyed reading it!) But what that allowed me to do was give my new ski suit a more rigorous test than I had previously intended.

Bought from Simply Piste, my Five ski suit arrived a little over three weeks ago and since then I have been putting it through its paces (mostly using it to combat the broken heating at home). The purchase process was simple enough with the site being easy to navigate and the suit was delivered within a couple of days.

A black and red suit, I had initially intended on spending a little more money as I have always labored under the illusion that the more you spend the better the product. However budgetary restraints meant that I needed to consider a cheaper option (which could easily have been at my peril) and with that in mind I purchased my £90 suit.

Having received it, I promptly went to my nearest dry slope to give it a try. The salopettes were very comfortable and durable, as having fallen a couple of times on the hard surface they only scuffed very slightly. They do have some braces on them that can be annoying. In the end, having adjusted them a couple of times I gave up and took them off which was much better. They fit very well and dealt with the cold excellently, meaning my legs were nice and toasty.

The jacket, which is very bright ensuring there would be no visibility problems on the slopes, was a little more difficult to get used to. When walking around with it done up like in the pictures, it is stiff and unforgiving in the neck. Luckily once the top button was undone it was a lot more free flowing and came into its own on the slopes.

It moves very well with the contours of your body especially while you are skiing. There are numerous pockets for storage including on the arms and whilst you wouldn’t put anything too heavy in them, they are great for carrying bank cards and notes (just don’t expect to empty your penny jars into them and be able to move your arms). There is also a glove pocket and detachable hood which is great as the hood can be quite annoying.

The one thing that had me concerned was that the cold still penetrated it somewhat and I was worried that if this were the case how would it hold up to snow and/or rain. The answer I was soon to find out…

Due to the laptop debacle, the delay in re-writing my post allowed me to test the suit out in Ireland (the home of rain). Throughout the weekend it rained cats and dogs and the jacket kept me both warm and dry, whilst the oversized hood that really annoyed me when skiing came into its own, keeping kept my head nice and dry.

All in all, for £90 an excellent suit that is good quality and will come in handy when I go skiing next year.

A snow angel rating of * * * * out of 5

If you have any questions about the suit, this blog or any comments you would like to leave please feel free to do so. I hope you enjoyed it and I will blog about my other ski related purchases shortly.

The Devil wears a ski suit!

What do you do after you have booked your ski trip – you buy your ski wear! Having booked my trip for next year my attention has turned this weekend to what I will be wearing when I carve up the slopes of Bansko, Bulgaria.

Having missed the previous year, the equipment I had may have been sufficient for another season. Sadly though, having lent it to my sister’s boyfriend, a travelling Australian whose lack of consideration for his own clothing is matched only by that for someone else’s, I was none too surprised when he returned minus a few items.

When I say a few I mean he brought back one glove, a broken pair of goggles (how he broke them I have no idea), no jacket and the wrong pair of salopettes. Fortunately, I didn’t borrow him my long john’s (for hygiene reasons) but having searched the garage I have found my long johns are long gone - basically rendering me totally ski wear-less.

But every cloud has a silver lining and I now have the pleasure of being able to purchase a whole new wardrobe funded by some Australian dollars – sweet! With this in mind I have made my first purchase (a ski suit) and will be reviewing it this week and giving it my Snow Angel rating – stay tuned!

If you have comments on this post, my blog in general, how I should test my new equipment or on skiing in Bansko I would love to hear your thoughts! Please use the comment box below...

The 5 Golden Rules of a successful media tour

The media tour is a vital tool in the arsenal of any PR practitioner; helping to develop relationships with journalists and putting a face to the email signature. Whilst a good media tour can secure coverage a bad one can be professionally fatal for you and your client.

With this in mind I have come up with a list of 5 Golden Rules for surviving a media tour unscathed:

1. Don’t pre-book appointments longer than a week in advance. It’s difficult tying an editor down and booking a meeting more than a week in advance leaves you open to schedule changes and cancellations. By booking it within a week the editors schedule is more defined and it also keeps it fresh in an editor’s mind.

2. Always check when an editor is on deadline and never try to book a meeting around this. If they get the slightest hint that the magazine may be delayed hitting the press, then your meeting will be the first thing to go out the window. By checking little details like this you’re showing an appreciation for their timetable, which will curry favour with the editor.

3. Ensure you take a note pad and pen. It sounds simple but often the little details are overlooked. Failure to have such basic tools will reflect badly on you and your abilities.

4. Put all relevant material on a USB stick for the editor. The average editor’s desk is often awash with pieces of paper and by taking printed releases you will only add to the pile. Not only can you include all press releases but you can also add all relevant high res images, which can often be crucial to the success of a release. Make sure you use a client or own company branded stick, as each time they use it they will think of you.

5. Bribe editors with coffee and/or pastries. Shameless as it may seem this is possibly the most important rule of media tour club and will immediately soften an editor to your cause. Make sure you find out what they like in advance though - give a latte to a cappuccino drinker and you’re on the back foot from the off.

Ultimately, the media tour is a great way to meet an editor face to face and let them get to know you and, more importantly, know your client. Good relationships built on the back of these meetings could mean it’s plain sailing for the coming year but bad ones could leave you up a certain PR creek without a paddle.

Kim Kardashian wedding: brilliant PR stunt or career killer?

Kim Kardashian is/was a star on the rise following the success of the television show ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ and various spin-off shows, which have launched her into stratospheric heights of stardom.

Being all too aware of this she may have thought she was untouchable, made of Teflon perhaps, but the recent backlash against the most prominent Kardashian over her divorce announcement has left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths, and the lingering question - was this all just a PR stunt?

Far be it from me to cast aspersions on her marriage but having lasted a mere 72 days, one can rightly speculate that the decision to marry was career and not love driven. While her manager (and mother) defends her client stating she ‘didn’t earn a dime’ from the wedding, reports in the New York Post speculate that she, and the Kardashian clan, stood to make nearly $18 million dollars, which over 72 days equates to about $250,000 a day, from the marriage and ensuing promotion and television deals.

News of the divorce was met with an outpouring of contempt from fans towards Kim, with most taking to Twitter to air their views. A trending topic on the subject listing things that have lasted longer than Kardashian’s marriage became an overnight sensation, with some of the best tweets captured in a recent Yahoo! article. If you want to have a look type #thingsthatlastedlongerthankimkardashiansmarriage into Twitter.

Numerous comments have been posted on articles written about the divorce showing a turn in the tide of support for the Kardashians and anger that it was assumed the public would not see what the marriage inherently was – a PR stunt. So much so, that E! is looking to suspend re-runs of the four hour wedding special and debating the release of the latest series of ‘Kim and Kourtney take New york’, in which Kim and Kris talk about having a break (an obviously outdated decision at this point).

Whilst the normally infallible Kardashian clan has rallied around their sister in her time of need, and Kris Kardashian has appeared on a bevy of shows refuting rumours of the wedding being a PR stunt, there is no argument that the Kardashian stock is in a recession of its own.

Whatever your opinion of the wedding, there is no denying that the Kardashians made money from the affair but at what cost in the long run? In time, the loss of scores of fans and vicious tirade against the Kardashians could far outweigh their payoff. Worse still, this story contradicts the findings of my last blog surrounding Guy Fawkes and how there is no such thing as bad PR. Apparently there is….

Guy Fawkes: No such thing as bad PR

The yearly burning of Guy Fawkes effigies is a testament to the power of a well developed reputation, seeing as 400 years after his death the person most synonymous with the failed plot to revolutionise parliament, a disillusioned soldier and a pawn in a greater man’s plot, is celebrated with a firework extravaganza worthy of a hero’s homecoming. Despite the fact he was caught, tortured and executed, in the years following his death Fawkes’ reputation has seen a transition from villain to hero – ah the power of PR.

Fawkes’ perceived failure was successful in bringing to the forefront of the political sphere, the issue of Catholic oppression and whilst following his death Catholics were persecuted more than ever, within Catholic circles the legend of Guy Fawkes was being built.

Vilified in public but exulted in private, the years since that fateful day in 1605 has seen his overall status as villain supplanted. Modern times have seen Fawkes’ transformation to hero solidified via his home town, York, running a PR campaign in 2005 to challenge perceptions of Fawkes as a traitor. Couple that with the 2006 film V for Vendetta in which the protagonist is a revolutionary attempting to incite change within a dystopian society while dressed as Guy Fawkes, and it shows how opinion of Fawkes has changed over time.

Even today, there are protestors occupying various sites across the country sporting Guy Fawkes masks (both here and across the pond where Fawkes’ legend has little weight), in a homage to a man willing to use any means necessary to disrupt an oppressive regime and who has been considered “the only man to enter parliament with honest intentions”.

The Catholic PR machine of the 1600’s (underground as it was) turned Fawkes from hero to villain following his death by detailing his heroic exploits as a soldier in Spain and over-emphasising his part in the overall plot. Popular culture and a disillusioned section of society in turn, have taken Fawkes to their breast and subsequently moulded him once more into an agent of revolutionary change.

His legacy clearly lives on today and where original views of the gunpowder plot were that it was an unqualified failure, the result it seems, is that it was an unparalleled success for Guy Fawkes (putting aside his torture and execution), developing him a reputation that money can’t buy.