REPs : Who, What and Why?

If you work in the Health and Fitness sector you're probably familiar with REPs but if you're a gym-goer or have a PT you may only have heard of it in passing. So what is it and why should you be bothered about it?

REPs is the Register of Exercise Professionals (not repetitions in this instance). It's been around since 2002 and is an independent, public register where you can find the details of exercise instructors in the UK and their qualifications.

What's the point of it? Well it provides a means of regulating instructors and trainers, to ensure that they hold the qualifications they say they do, and that those qualifications meet particular standards. As someone on the receiving end of these services it provides peace of mind that your PT or instructor:

• has met nationally agreed occupational standards
• holds recognised and approved qualifications
• is independently verified as being competent in the work place
• is committed to ongoing professional development, and
• is legally covered to practice by appropriate insurance

It also gives you a way to complain about the professional conduct of a member through the complaints form. Just as you might ensure your gas man is registered with CORGI, you might want to make sure that your PT or pilates instructor (for instance) is a member of REPs.

It's not compulsory for you to be a member of REPs as a fitness professional but it's an easy way to get your skills recognised and to ensure you have appropriate insurance (if you choose to take it out through REPs). It gives employers, whether that be an individual or a company, confidence that you are appropriately qualified and have the knowledge, competence and skills to perform your role effectively.

Via the REPS website you can also find details of training courses that you can use to build up your CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points. REPs members have to obtain 24 points every two years in order to remain members. This means that your knowledge is more likely to be current and you'll be able to offer more to your clients. 

So there we have it, a beginners guide to REPs. It's not sexy, but it is useful.

Cake, Concerns and Case Studies

It's less than a month to go until the Brighton Marathon and so last weekend I did my longest run to date in this set of training; 3 hour run at marathon pace. I wasn't looking forward to it and although I managed to keep the average pace I had aimed for I'm still nervous that my longest run has only been 16 miles and that I have to maintain that for another 10 miles. If I'd designed my own training programme I'd have run further. My longest runs were 18 and 20 miles respectively in my previous marathon training. But I'm trying to keep the faith.

As if 3 hours of running wasn't enough I also took Jasper The Dog for an hours walk that day. Dogs don't care that you've run 16 miles. They tend to want to bound around for as long as you'll let them. I've grown very fond of Jasper very quickly and might try a bit of a jog with him next time.

The highlight of the weekend though was joining my friend Debbie for her 100th park run. As is customary there was cake. A huge Victoria sponge that was demolished in the cafe over talk of the Barcelona marathon and lashings of tea. Perfect.

I started the week feeling rather fatigued and ended up skipping my workout on Monday. I could feel that I needed the down time and so after PTing a friend and staying a while for dinner and a much-needed chat I ended up in bed around 9:30pm, falling asleep to an episode of Breaking Bad. I had the best nights sleep in around two weeks. I did Monday's workout on Tuesday after RunFit but still struggled. Despite feeling as though I was working hard I couldn't get my heart rate into the zone I was meant to. But I moved my body and slept well again. I developed a streaming nose on Thursday for no apparent reason and started to fret about my training again. Twitter gave me all the advice about rest that I'd have given others which I tried to take. I've done what I can and am trying not to worry about what I couldn't. Sum total of this week's training amounts to one strength session including a 200kg prowler pull (which I'm pretty pleased with - so sue me), one swimming lesson and 27.5 miles run.

Lunch in the garden, topping up the iron and vitamin D levels

I had a blood test to check that my vitamins and minerals were all in balance as although I've not changed the supplements I'm taking, my lifestyle has changed a bit and I'd been feeling more up-and-down. Glad to report that all levels are normal apart from my cholesterol which has apparently gone up since my last test in September but as I wasn't told whether my HDL or LDL was high it's not a very helpful reading. So sleep, good food, rest and less worry is the order of the day I think.

This weekend I've got to get my head back into the books one more time to finish off my case study and draw up some session plans. I'll also be helping out at Cholsey Chase and walking Jasper again. All this productivity is nicely book-ended by extra fun in the form of a gig and an evening of The Walking Dead viewing, both of which I'm looking forward to A LOT.

Papers, papers everywhere

Have you managed to get out in the sunshine this week? Just why is it that running and cake seem to go hand in hand?

Swimathon : Attempting My First Mile of Front Crawl

During one of my more recent swimming lessons, after a bit of chat about whether I race, my instructor drew my attention to a large banner at the side of the pool. "Are you entered?" Um, no, what is it?

The banner in question was advertising Swimathon, a nationwide swimming event that encourages people to challenge themselves whilst also raising funds for Marie Curie. You can choose to take part as an individual over distances of 1.5k, 2.5km or 5k challenges or as part of a team for 1.5k and 5k distances.

I was interested. I picked up a leaflet. I found I was free on the weekend in question (mostly). I wasn't able to take part in the Great London Swim this year. This felt like a Good Thing To Do. The difficult part was choosing the distance. I can happily swim a mile of breaststroke so maybe the 2.5k would be a good step up. Or perhaps use this as an opportunity to see if I can swim more than 6 lengths of front crawl? Utterly paralyzed by indecision I had Rach basically decide for me. Which is how come I'm entered into the 1.5k distance under instruction that it's to be all front crawl, with breaks if necessary. 

Frankly what ever I'd chosen to do would have been good practice for later in the year when I tackle my first aquathlon and Standard distance triathlon but here we are. I've no idea how I'm going to manage it but I will, somehow.

The event is incredibly reasonably priced, just £12 for an individual, which includes a medal if you complete your distance and I've heard that it's usually very well organised. I'm a bit excited and have extra incentive to get to the pool between lessons!

Teaching at BoxBellFit

I've been a bit of a secret squirrel about something lately but it's now time to come clean and make it official.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for the past year or so will likely have encountered reference to BoxBellFit, a training facility in Wokingham that I've been frequenting for kettlebell, metafit, HIIT and turbo box sessions. Anna, the owner, is super lovely and I got chatting to her when I first blogged about the facility and classes. As such she knew I was a (then) trainee PT and even read my blog on occasion.

So when I was asked to cover some classes at BoxBellFit I was both honoured and delighted. I was then equal parts thrilled and terrified about the prospect of actually standing in front of a class of people and teaching. I coach my RunFitUK group every week, which I adore, but that was a group I started fresh. No one came with any expectations of my teaching style or the intensity of the sessions. By contrast at BoxBellFit I'm teaching people who have been taking these classes for months. They know what they like, are used to a couple of instructors and don't know me from Eve.

Everyone will know my name's not Eve

After the initial chat with Anna about what I might be able to take on I started trying to get to more classes myself. I started brushing up on my kettle bell moves and techniques at home, took the metafit instructor course and generally tried to prepare myself as best I could. When the timetable dropped into my inbox for real my heart started doing funny things. It suddenly became a Real Thing. I had a responsibility to Anna and the members. I had to step up!

BoxBellFit dog, Coco. Gonna miss her.

The first thing I needed to get over my nerves about was teaching one of each class with Anna's supervision. Absolutely right and proper that this should be done but I worried about making an complete mess of it. Would I forget what a kettle bell snatch was? What's a "get up" in metafit again? I know from experience that the nerves will fade with time and the anticipation is far worse than the event. No one wants you to fail and a sense of humour gets you a long way.

Anna gave me such a lovely introduction in those first few classes and as predicted I felt perfectly fine once I got going. The first HIIT class I designed, the only class that I'll be drawing up myself each week, didn't (quite) break anyone and people haven't run out the door on seeing me at the next class so I'm counting that a success.

I've done my first week of solo teaching now and it's going well. I instruct metafit, HIIT and kettlebells on Wednesday night then kettlebells again early on a Thursday morning. Despite the early start I feel so buzzy afterwards. It's a real joy to teach, to get people moving, to help them push their limits. I never thought, given the effort I used to put into avoiding presentations in my office job, that I'd ever find myself in this position but here I am! Long may it continue.

With sunrises like this it makes the early mornings a little less painful.

Have you got any secret projects on the go? Have you found yourself in a situation you never thought you'd be in, and loving it?

Sheep, Storms and Soppy Dogs

Life is still mainly eat, work, train, sleep, repeat but I have managed to have a bit of life outside of that. Saturday was a happy mix of a speedier-than-planned parkrun, the arrival of some proper vinyl to listen to (music is right up there alongside food and running in terms of things I love) and a marvellous dinner with some family. I sort of bounced from one thing to another on Sunday; from Kent to Berkshire to dog-walking to cinema to run to zombie-watching to conversation with a far-flung friend. It was mostly ace.

The ace parts were taking my godson to see Shaun the Sheep (which I probably enjoyed more than he did) and getting to walk a beautiful soppy black lab called Jasper for a couple in my capacity as volunteer for the Cinnamon Trust. We took a walk across some local heathland in the sunshine, getting vaguely lost. I think he might be game for a bit of jogging!

Silly soppy Jasper

The not so ace part was my run. The only time I had to fit my run in was in the only part of the day it was due to be wet. I was meant to be out for 2h15. this did not happen. I was prepared for the weather but even so the sheets of rain that I encountered after only 5 minutes and the subsequent drenching my a car provoked a few profanities. I found myself in a quickly darkening forest and with stomach cramps that reduced me to a walk. I got home as quickly as I could and counted myself lucky I rarely have sessions like that.

About to brave the storm

So including the aforementioned runs, the last seven days of training has consisted of a strength session, 15.75 miles on the bike, runs totalling 31.2 miles and my swim lesson which focused on crawl technique and breaststroke turns. Not too shabby!

Juggling teaching/coaching, work, training and downtime has been pretty tricky this week though. With regards to training it's not that I can't manage the sessions themselves, it's trying to physically fit them in that's proving tough. I'll be sending my coach a revised schedule of commitments to try and address that. What's becoming clear is that I'm going to have to make some fairly big decisions soon. probably sooner than I'd hoped.

Early morning sunrises 

Please tell me I wasn't the only one caught in a storm at the weekend? Anyone else secretly love kids films?

What I Have Learnt From My Swimming Lessons

I've been taking swimming lessons for a few weeks now and I thought it about time I reflected on how I have progressed and what I have learnt so far.

Over the course of six weeks I have built my confidence in the pool, made some small improvements to my stroke, learnt to tumble turn and have started to learn different starts. There's lots and lots I still want to work on but these are things I would never have learnt on my own or just with a written training plan. At just £3 for a half hour lesson, which I share with up to 5 other people (in reality we're rarely all there at once) it's been money well spent. I could spend more, and maybe I will further down the line, but it's been a great start.

As well as these skills I've learnt many other things. I'd like to share some of these with you now.

• It doesn't take many lessons to start to feel more confident
• It's well worth the effort of taking off make up before you swim
• It is nigh on impossible to practice tumble turns during a public session
• I should practice in between lessons. I will when I find that 25th hour in the day
• My nose streams for about 3 hours post swim
• From observation, men seem to equate splashing with skill
• Your instructor may be more than 10 years your junior, but lose the ego for he does actually know more than you.
• And be flattered when he suggests you're actually 5 or more years younger than you are, even if it's blatantly obvious that he's joking.
• It's pretty essential to remember your swimsuit. With the best will in the world a sports bra, cotton undies, 3 pairs of goggles and 2 caps will not equip you for a lesson
• Swimming pools often sell swimsuits. You will not want to buy any of them.
• Dolphin is hard. I can undulate on a dance floor but not in a pool
• A two hour treadmill session prior to your lesson is not a good "warm up". 
• Floating for half an hour is not a good use of your lesson (see above)

What "extra" things have you learnt from lessons, swimming or otherwise?

Six Weeks Until Brighton

All of a sudden it's six weeks until the Brighton Marathon. Usually I'd be fretting about my training, making travel plans and so on but actually I'd almost forgotten I was doing it at all! It's strange.

I've been running lots but without really thinking about the end goal. Having my coach planning my sessions means I have been just doing them without worrying about whether I'm where I ought to be. I'm paying him to ensure that I *am* where I need to be so it's one less worry. I can run comfortably for 2-2.5 hours which is great, if mildly boring. I've also had the distraction of teaching and studies.

But I'm starting to try and mentally prepare myself now. This is my "A" race for the year. This is the race I'm running to try and get a PB, in memory of my Aunt and in order to raise some money for the trust that helped us so much at the end. It will be one week before the first anniversary of my Aunt's death so it will be a very emotional day. One that I'll be sharing with family and friends.

My Aunt was there at my first marathon, on the sidelines, cheering me on. Occasionally my TimeHop app will show me tweets for my Aunt, from the time I was in training for my first marathon, full of support, amazement and humour. My running soundtrack will contain Quo, Pendulum and Pharrell Williams, because they were artists and she liked and I know I won't be able to stop when they're playing. The Team Bear motto, Suffer But NEVER Surrender, is hugely appropriate and will definitely be in my mind.

Brighton Marathon is the last in the series of events I chose to take part in to raise £1,000 for Hospiscare. At the time of writing I'm around £208 shy of my target so please do donate if you haven't already. My company will match every donation that's made up to the value of £350. Thank you so much.