Most of you will have heard of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) sessions and some of you may even have participated in such classes. These sessions are done with a hard level over a relatively short space of time. They give great returns in sense of improving overall fitness and increasing the calorie burn.

However, too many of these sessions can lead to fatigue, injury or even ‘burn-out’!

That isn’t to say that HIIT should be excluded from your training, it certainly has its place.

I am a great believer in training consistently, which means that hard sessions need to be interspersed with more moderate sessions and, also, recovery days.

Moderate sessions may include a steady run, bike, swim or a strength session in the gym/home. All done at a lower intensity than the hard days.

Recovery days (I prefer to call it ‘Active Recovery’) involves very light cardio such as walking, jogging etc., where you can still hold a conversation.

It would also incorporate SMR (Self Myofascial Release: AKA Foam Rolling) to relax tight muscles followed by a series of stretches to bring the muscles back into corrective alignment.

This routine of training will help you to keep consistent and injury/illness free thus allowing you to pursue (and surpass) your personal goals.