Welcome back! And I hope 2026 has started as you meant it to. If not, don’t panic. Just try to get back on track as soon as possible, as a new year tends to bring with it a sense of promise, of hope (maybe over experience!), and of new beginnings. This year may be the year you try new things. And, is often the way, it is pretty likely that those new things will cause some discomfort to begin with. But as Tony Robbins so aptly sums up what many other “Gooroos” have said over the years, “All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone”. So what discomfort are you prepared to face and, hopefully, overcome this year to achieve growth?

For me – and I am putting this out there for you guys to act as my accountability partners – the discomfort will come through writing. 

Wait! What? But you already write this newsletter each week. How is writing going to cause you discomfort?

Well, the writing will have a different purpose. It will be to produce a book. A book aimed at busy professionals who might think that they don’t have enough time, experience, wherewithal or any other reason to be as fit and healthy as possible. 

Granted, this newsletter used to bring me discomfort. But, like anything that you practise enough things get easier with time, and now jotting down my musings each and every week is just something that I do. Of course, like doing a well known exercise in the gym, thought and effort goes into it, but it doesn’t feel particularly challenging any more. Hence the desire to find a bigger challenge.

And that’s where the longer form writing will come in. It will challenge me to do something I have not done before; to organise my thoughts into a useful, informative and enjoyable read that will be of benefit to those who are kind enough to pick up a copy. 

And while there will be some out there who will tell me that I have already written a book, it was a pretty short read. Hopefully those that read “An Introduction to Strength Training for Runners” found it useful, informative and an enjoyable read. If you haven’t read it yet and would like to, please email me back for your free copy.

The new book aims to be a far longer effort with problems – when it comes to health and fitness – of a busy life identified, the costs of neglecting health examined, a framework to hang solutions from, a system for improving health as well as a roadmap for doing so and finally a way to inculcate the system into daily life (even when on holiday or on work trips). 

It certainly will be a big challenge to sort all that out. But after almost eleven years as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, and having been that busy professional myself in a previous life, as well as being (ahem…) “more advanced in years” than many in the health and fitness industry, one could say that I am well placed to try and produce something that will help people be fitter, stronger and healthier as they approach, enter or are even mid-way through what we as society calls middle age.

So that’s my challenge for 2026. What will you challenge yourself with outside of the usual work, family and life circle? If you would like to challenge yourself to be fitter or stronger or healthier (or all three), and are not sure where to start or what to do, and don’t want to wait for me to get the aforementioned book written and published, then please click the gold button below ⬇️ for a chat about how we could work together to get you being as fit and healthy as you want to be. I’d love to help you achieve those goals. 😊