I have been roused to move from the to-ings and fro-ings of my email inbox to blog.

And I’m going to sound like one of those personal trainers who bangs on (from the comfort of their own size 8 body) about how you should train hard, eat lean, jump high, squat low, drink water, never look a piece of chocolate in the face, have to look up BLT-with-mayo-and-chips-on-the-side because you’ve never heard of it, have no friends, friends entice you away from your spirulina protein shake to drink something called a ‘shot’, always train in front of mirrors so you can check technique (or that your bottom is still looking as gorgeous as it was ten minutes ago); wear (very tiny, cropped) clothes from Sweaty Betty not Aldi; upload pictures of your torso on Instagram; bore the world with your gym progress on Facebook; and get eights hours sleep every night.

Well firstly, spirulina is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. And secondly, I so ain’t a size 8. And I don’t like gyms. Or mirrors. But I am partial to a chip dunked in mayo. And I am absolutely passionate about people getting results which is why I am going to echo the words above and say… TRAIN HARD… STEP OUT OF YOUR RUT.

Yes you! That rut you’ve been in for six months. You know… working with the same output each time you train. Thinking you can’t possibly do a full press-up (or a full press-up with one leg up) because, well, you’ve never done it before.

When the instructor bellows “10 squat jumps”… you do the first 2 with gusto, and then… ooh, it hurts… and the remaining 8 are half-cocked.

But, Annie, why would I want to do that? Like, put myself out? Be in pain… discomfort?

Because that’s where the results are. The higher calorie burn, the firmer thighs, the soaring metabolic rate, the quicker your progress, the bigger your endorphin rush.

We all want muscle not fat. Yes, muscle. It leaves a nasty taste in your mouth, that word, doesn’t it? Blokes love it, girls are slightly frightened by it. To get your rock hard and smaller legs, you need muscle to get firmer and your fat to get lost. The only way your muscle can get firmer is by a stimulus and that stimulus is taking it out of its area of ‘do-ability’. Struggle, struggle, struggle.

If your children’s life depended on it, you’d do it, no trouble.

Then hold that ever so slightly bad taste thought. And tomorrow at circuits, you will surprise yourself by how much you can do.

Have a happy, happy day. Annie x