BOXING FITNESS NEWSLETTER

1. Accept who you are

The key to getting over the concept of "a perfect body" is to accept what you have. If you accept your body - and even learn to like it - you can achieve peace with your diet and exercise plan.

2. Work your stretch

Some stretches may feel uncomfortable initially but try to stay in them, even if only for a short while. As long as you feel no pain, you should not be in danger of injuring yourself. Don't bounce your stretch. Breathe calmly and regularly through your nose.

3. Reward yourself with a massage

Cool-downs are your first line of defence against lactic acid build up and muscle soreness. Massage is a great way of helping your metabolism recover from the effort and trauma of your training sessions. A good massage also helps reinforce the sense of reward.

4. Stay off the scales

The scale is not always a true measure of what is going on with the body.

If exercise levels are adequate (5-7 days a week), you may be putting on muscle but losing fat, thus losing inches even if you are not losing pounds. It's always a good idea to do several body measurements to have a second objective way to monitor progress.

5. Less is more

Frequency is almost always more beneficial than duration when working out. For example, although theoretically you are burning the same amount of calories, five 30-minute workouts are going to be more beneficial to your health than two 75-minute sessions.

6. Take the half hour challenge

Exercise burns calories. A daily 30-minute brisk walk will burn around 1,500 calories every week. Over six months this totals a staggering 39,000 calories - the equivalent to over 11lb of fat.

7. The great outdoors

Central heating, open fires, poor ventilation and stress all cause