Hi. My name is Jimmy Heaton and I run Isotone Health and Fitness, a Personal training business that services Bolton and the surrounding areas.

Over the coming weeks, I am going to be writing a regular column for the Bolton News which will encompass and consider all aspects of health and fitness.

Follow the advice here, and you could be well on your way to reaching your weight and fitness goals!

If you have a suggestion for an area that you would like to know more about, please contact me (info@isotone.net) and I will try to incorporate it into the column.

Thank You.

Where to Start? So you’ve thought about it, made the New Year’s Resolution and even perhaps bought some new training shoes.

You’re all set and ready to get out there, work off that Christmas pudding and get into shape. But where do you start?

A good starting point is whatever exercise you feel comfortable with; if you enjoy walking then start walking, or if you enjoy cycling then start cycling.

The exercise doesn’t even have to be purely ‘exercise’; it could be playing football with mates or going to dance classes.

Try to do whatever exercise you decide on at least twice a week. Through starting at a point where you feel comfortable, you can establish a routine of regularly exercising. This helps you to create an exercise ‘habit’, and also helps to increase your confidence around sport and exercise.

With this new routine and increasing confidence, you can then start to push yourself a little.

This doesn’t have to be a massive push in the form of an extra five hours exercise per week – it could simply be that you are going to work a little harder in the sessions you have already started doing.

It could be, for example, walking faster or walking for longer. This again builds your confidence further and helps to create an exercise ‘habit’.

So, up to now you’ve thought about it, made the New Year’s Resolution, bought the new training shoes and started to establish a routine.

You’ve even started to push yourself a little.

Where do you go from here? That’s next week’s column.