Liberte Fitness trainer Tony Germany - the man behind the head lamp!

Giving it heaps: Liberte instructor
Tony Germany

Something's happened to park sessions in Bury St Edmunds over the last couple of weeks - the arrival of the bundle of fun that is Kiwi king Tony Germany!
The man greedy enough to have a whole country as his surname has taken us all out of our comfort zones with his cracking sessions that seem to bring team play and bonding to the fore.
We've seen the arrival of Duck, Duck Goose, watched him try and work out the difference between a rank and a file and he's sent us all dizzy with his interestingly choreographed circular high-five routine that brings our hour of fun to a close.
But one thing's for sure, Tony's got the love of the whole park behind him and we're all thrilled to welcome him. 
But how did Tony end up in Nowton Park teaching us lot when he could have been, well, anywhere in the world? 
I bent down and held a perfect virtual squat with Tony G for the lowdown. 
Time to give him heaps!


Nick: Tell us about growing up in New Zealand - what sports did you do? 
Tony: Growing up in New Zealand was great! The diversity of sports is so wide with the outdoors having a huge impact on participation in sport I grew up at a beach so I tended to do a lot of swimming in the sea, surfing, body surfing and fishing. Rugby is huge in New Zealand, much like football is here. I played rugby at high school but football pre and post my high school years.

Nick: How did you got into the fitness industry? 
Tony: I started on a Level 3 Fitness course after 7th Form (Upper Sixth form to us Brits, Year 13 to Joe) because I was interested in sport but I wasn't sure where I would go with it. This then solidified my love and I went on to complete a degree in sports and recreation and haven't looked back

Nick: When did you decide to come to the UK and what do you love most about it? 
Tony: I lived in the UK, personal training for a few years in 2009 and 2010. I initially came over to gain some experience in the industry and travel (I managed 28 countries). I left my girlfriend and the UK behind to return back to New Zealand to complete my degree as I had another year to complete.

Nick: What do you miss about New Zealand? 
Tony: My friends and family and outdoor sports and activities

Nick: Papillon had the idea for Liberte after watching training on Bondi Beach - have you seen similar outdoor training in New Zealand and have you done any yourself? 
Tony: I have seen it before but it was generally facilitated by individual personal trainers and typically fizzled out over the length of a year. Last year I ran rolling 6-week challenges where most of the exercise was completed outside. I worked at a boxing facility so most of the exercises had the boxing theme.

Nick: What attracted you to want to join Liberte as an instructor and, so far, what's the best thing about it? 
Tony: I LOVE the outdoors and when I heard Liberte were looking for members I jumped at the chance to get involved. I believe I have a great positive energy and a fledgling business like this can benefit from this and my experiences from both here and abroad. The best thing about Liberte is the MEMBERS! All of you are lovely and have been very welcoming. Also I like the whole package (the branding, ethos and culture). 

Nick: Final question - which Liberte exercises do you personally love doing the most, and which do you hate? 
Tony: I LOVE the teamwork and games because we all have so much fun and we don't feel like we're working until we stop and have to have a few deep breathes and a drink. I hate press ups! They seem to suck the life out of me!


Tony, you're a star, thanks for your time and look forward to seeing you back in the park asap!

It's Alcohol-Free Week: How two Liberte members have handled going tea-total

Nick Richards and Stuart Haystead
who are both non-drinkers

National Alcohol-Free Week starts today with the aim of encouraging us all to be more aware of our drinking habits and to help you reduce the amount you drink if you are drinking too much. 

This is the sixth year in a row the spotlight has been given to alcohol in this way and the organisers hope to challenge everyone to give up booze for one day, a weekend or, if you're up to it, the whole week!

This will give you a chance to test how much of a role alcohol plays in your life and how easy it is, or not, to do without. The organisers are hoping that, whether you give up for a day, a weekend or a week, you'll use the opportunity to take stock of when you drink alcohol, why you drink, and how much you drink. 

Liberte's Papillon Luck and Gareth Thomas make no secret of how little alcohol they consume - they are professionals in the fitness industry after all. But what about the members who workout in the park? We're all striving to get fitter and faster, so are there any benefits to not drinking if you're serious about doing Liberte workouts? I've been alcohol-free for under two months, while Bury member Stuart Haystead has been alcohol-free for much longer.

Here's how two Liberte members have handled giving up drink and how the tea-total twosome have found positive effects on their health.

What did you use to drink and how often did you drink it?

STUART: If we went to a pub it would normally be Guinness that I would drink, maybe two or three pints twice a week. I wouldn't drink beer at home, maybe the odd glass of wine with a meal. Never been a great drinker

NICK: Beer, vodka and wine. Not in any great quantity, but probably used to have a beer or vodka five or six days a week. I certainly didn't drink more than the average of 21-28 units a week for a man.

When did you last have a drink and why did you give it up?

STUART: I gave up alcohol about six years ago, It was making me feel really ill and causing stomach problems, I found out that I was actually allergic to it, but I went to a wedding four years ago and had three pints of Guinness. I felt so ill and toxic the next day. That was the last time I drank.

NICK: New Year's Eve 2011. I hadn't planned to give up but found I was driving a lot of Christmas and had cut down for that reason. I'd hardly had a drink for a couple of weeks and found that when I did, I was just going through the motions as it was Christmas. I also started to get bored and uninspired in the alcohol aisles of supermarkets and started to feel I was only drinking because it was the either the weekend or as a post Liberte session reward. The subject of New Year's resolutions came up as the clock raced towards 2012 and on the spur-of-the-moment I decided to banish the booze.

How hard was it for you to stop drinking and what benefits have you felt so far?

STUART: I found giving up alcohol very easy as it made me feel so much cleaner and healthier, my stomach problems went within a few days.

NICK: Much easier than I thought, even though it has only been 53 days so far. Someone asked me the other day if giving up drink was hard and I likened it to giving up going to China on holiday. If you don't book a ticket or go to an airport, you wont find yourself eating noodles in Beijing! You know what I mean. I've hidden all the alcohol in the house and told friends and family I don't drink. They haven't offered me a drop and I haven't had any desire to seek out what I know is there at the back of my cupboard.

What do you drink instead and do you miss it?

STUART: I normally drink orange juice and lemonade when we go out, At home I drink water, black decaffeinated tea, green tea or the newly discovered Matcha. I don't miss it one bit

NICK: I've got a new-found love of green tea and drink decaffeinated tea too, plus water, orange juice and milk and the odd hot chocolate if I am feeling naughty.

What health benefits have you found from not drinking alcohol?

STUART: I started cycling three years ago and my fitness started to come back and I am able to train better now without drinking I know if I was to drink now I wouldn't be able to train as hard as I do now because of the way it would make me feel.

NICK: I feel much less sluggish, especially in the park and generally better. Best of all it's nice to be able to drive everywhere without worrying if I've had a drink, nice to not wake up with a slight hangover and nice not to have to bother with buying drink in a supermarket. It may be a current novelty, but I am proud to say I don't drink and I know this alcohol-free spell, however long it lasts, will change my attitude to drink.

So that's the story with Stuart and me - we're not saying you have to stop altogether, but with plenty of other people giving up drink for a period over the next week, now could be a good time to lay off the booze, if nothing more than to see how it makes you feel. You can get more information by clicking here

Snow what? One of my best ever Liberte sessions

Fun in the snow at the end of the session

So it's February, the snow is covering Nowton Park and this morning was one of the best ever sessions!

Jumping around in beautiful Nowton Park 

It's been pretty muddy for the last couple of weeks but now everywhere you turn it's just one big carpet of thick white snow (except for the yellow bits!)
I was up all night watching the Super Bowl but was genuinely so excited to be able to take part in this morning session as I'd taken the day off work.
I may have only had three hours sleep but I had to get int he park and I wore all white so I could blend into the background and that meant a chance to launch snowballs at, among others, Stuart and Emma!
Any thoughts of it being cold were soon over once we got on the floor and never has a game of Minefield been so well enjoyed!
Paps didn't escape a good snowballing too but got her own back on me, let's just say my butt cheeks were a little chilly!
Training in the snow is awesome fun and anyone in two minds on whether to come tonight - come along, but be ready to get snowballed!

Springing forward into a fit and healthy 2012

The familiar start to a Liberte Fitness session in
Nowton Park in winter

Well that's it - that's January out of the way and I, like most Libeterians are surely getting excited about the coming spring.
January is traditionally the toughest month of the year to get back in the swing of things after the excesses of Christmas, but I think you'll all agree we went for it big time this month!
From that glorious first session of the year on January 2, which I and a dozen others took part in on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday morning, we dug deep in and exercised hard in cold wet weather.
Bury's Nowton Park has become a right old mud bath in the last week or so and I seem to take half of it home with me on the bottom of my trainers after every work out!
Despite that I managed 14 sessions for the month, a nice average of three-and-a-half mud-covered sessions a week. I, for one, am looking forward to a change in weather conditions in the park.
The new Nowton Park café/showers are due to open soon and that could mean something great to do after each session but one thing I won't be doing after each session is drinking alcohol.
That first Liberte session of 2012 came just 33 hours after I stopped drinking - and 31 days later I don't miss it one bit. I've been in a pub once and out for two meals and on each occasion alcohol was offered to me but I turned it down.
I've never been a massive drinker but often used to reward myself post session with a beer ot two. I've replaced green bottles of lager for green tea and now drink matcha while Match of the Day is on!
I didn't think what I was doing was that amazing until I overheard a conversation at work. A photographer was talking to a colleague saying that he'd given up drinking. 'Wow', I thought. A comrade to spur me on in my year-long quest. We could chat every day and compare our year-long campaigns against alcohol.
Only then he told his mate that he was giving up drink for January and that, although he'd slipped a couple of times and had a few beers the other night, he was confident he would be able to get through to the end of the month alcohol-free!
I'm one twelfth of my way through my year without alcohol and feeling much better for it - who's up for joining me in February?

My second year of Liberte - and I'm really stepping it up!

IT'S 2012 and the blog is back for the new year. This is my second year of Liberte and it's time to get tough!
Yes one year ago today on a Monday night in early January I turned up in too many clothes, grabbed my inhaler and got ready for an unforgettable hour.
I stopped every ten minutes, thought I was going to pass out and drove home feeling slightly unsure of whether I would ever go back.
To read my initial thoughts of Liberte, click here.
I stepped up my training and got fitter and fitter - click here to read how I felt after six months:

A slightly larger version of myself working out in Nowton Park last  May

But for 2012 I'm stepping up the challenge. Towards the end of 2011 I think I found my comfort zone, I relished certain exercises and couldn't wait to stop doing others. But that's all changing now. I don't see the point of doing Liberte for a year and then having exactly the same experience all over again.
I don’t want to come over all Carol Vorderman but let me dazzle with you with some basic maths: everyone who went to their first Liberte session last year will at some stage this year have their first anniversary.
And I'm sure you'll feel the same as how I do today.
I feel proud that I went to something like 130 sessions in 12 months and have trained in all the parks and taken part in a beach weekend, and when I look around from the people I saw in Bury at my first session I'm amazed at how much it's changed.
From one session on a Monday night to sessions in Norwich and Newmarket too all over the week.
I've changed too. I've started to eat much healthier, I can't wait to train, I want to train when it's miserable weather and even when I've got a cold like tonight, I know I'll feel better sweating it out in the park than feeling sorry for myself with a Lemsip and a blanket.
This year I'm keen to step it up. I stopped drinking alcohol on New Year's Eve at 10 seconds to midnight and have vowed not to touch a drop for the rest of the year.
I feel I would be kidding myself if I didn't do something different in year two - and I can't wait to see what happens to the rest of you when you hit your special anniversary later this year!

Liberte members reach new heights

Just goes to prove that Liberte are an independent lot... a few decided to get together and climb a mountain - just for fun!

It was the brainchild of PT GT, formed from a backhanded joke about the 3 peak challenge, which started a few members to think it would indeed be ‘fun’ to climb a mountain.

So on a bright and surprisingly warm November morning, following a bacon butty extravaganza cooked by PT turned Personal Chef, GT, an intrepid 11 set out at the base of the Pyg Track, to return on the miners trail. An ascent of 3,560 feet (1085 metres).

Storming up in front was Papillon Luck and Dan Claxton who got to the top in 1 hours and 40 minutes, closely following by Gareth Thomas, Liz Best, Emma Hunter and Claire Francis.

Tara Cross, Lucy Carter and Helen Kroon followed, with Alison Hall and Andrew Foulger chasing their heels.

Not an official ‘Liberte’ outing (can anyone else think of anything more hellish than writing a risk assessment on mountain climbing..??!!) but goes to show what liberte members can do, after attending a few sessions, and some encouragement from their instructors.

An added huge bonus to the weekend was that new cross-park friendships have been formed, and visits to different park sessions have been planned to see ‘what the other lot’ get up to (with a dash of who is tougher thrown in for good measure).

So – have YOU ever done it on a mountain?.....

As if that wasn’t enough for Paps, rumour has it she’s trying to drum up interest for the Snowdonia Marathon www.snowdoniamarathon.co.uk or the Snowdonia Slateman Triathlon www.snowdoniaslateman.com. Anyone fancy it?

From little acorns grow Liber-trees!

It all started one fresh spring evening when an NHS worker was in Nowton Park and came across a strange circle of people standing on one leg, with a finger in their ear....

Six months later Papillon Luck from Liberté Fitness, and Claire Webb, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust’s ‘Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator’, got together to begin planning free trials specifically for Hospital staff.

The Trust’s idea was to find a convenient, fun and sociable fitness workout, which would motivate the Hospital’s staff enough so they would not give up and allow them to see real results. Liberté felt up to the challenge and two initial trials were planned. They were well attended, not only by West Suffolk Hospital staff but from other NHS organisations, such as the local Primary Care Trust.

As one of those initial NHS ‘trialists’ I can remember the first few sessions of Liberté. Even the warm up was exhausting, but I was thrilled that the pattern of the sessions meant that just as I reached my limit running, the trainer would change the type of exercise to a toning one, so I was still working out, even though it felt like a rest! It was also nice that some of the exercises were done in a couple, and some individually or as a team.

So, 8 weeks on from the beginning of the NHS sessions, how is it really going?

Within this short period of time, the ‘NHSers’ have a team spirit which is unique. Even though we all work for the same organisation, many of us had not met before and new friendships have emerged which cross the old boundaries of age, departments and grades. The NHS sessions are frequently of a ‘noisy’ nature, with much laughter being heard when trying to avoid (or not!) perilous rabbit holes, as well as groans in response to the cry of ‘tabatta’ and ‘burpees’.

Rebecca in Healthroster commented: “The support from our trainer, GT, is fantastic; he manages to make everyone feel valued and motivated to do the best they can. Perhaps most importantly the support and encouragement from your fellow colleagues is what makes the session so enjoyable, there is such a strong feeling of team spirit.”

8 weeks ago many could only manage a few low level press ups, now for the first time GT had us all doing full press-ups, as part of a combination of bicycle crunches and squat thrusts. Recovery times have decreased significantly and fitness levels are markedly higher.

Individuals have taken on special characteristics of their own. Jane is frequently chatting, even when running;along with Bex and myself, who are all often chastised for not listening; Dan is the model ‘demonstrator’ of the pack; Andrew is a silent whippet on the sprints; to name but a few. New NHS staff have joined since the beginning and have been welcomed in by this ground-breaking, revolutionary team of ordinary health workers! Even the odd Bury member has come along. Possibly to see who’s making all the noise!

Comments from NHSers include: Lorraine in Rheumatology “What I love about Liberté night is that even though we are all working so hard, we still have time to laugh, and because of this it makes it such an enjoyable to workout, and to keep coming back for more!!” Alison in Respiratory Medicine “I could still feel my stomach muscles hurting Saturday and that was without the use of any weights! Liberté are obviously providing you with an excellent workout!!” and Katrina in Breast Care Services said “It was so much more interesting than the Gym”.

The sessions are constantly changing to encompass our increasing fitness levels, but also allow for the levels of new members to join in.

The general consensus from us is come and give it a go, what do you have to lose??? Liberté still offer the first free trial session to NHS staff, and it is hoped that our numbers will continue to grow. We’d love to welcome some new NHSers! To book or discuss a free trial, e-mail Papillon Luck at Info@libertefitness.com.

Papillon is thrilled with how the first wave of NHS Staff had reacted to Liberté. “...out of all our park launches, the NHS one has been the one which has had the most attendees sign up in one go combined with their regular attendance. In other parks people sign up and sometimes miss sessions but regular as clockwork the NHS (bar a couple) have never missed a session and it's that which means their fitness levels are improving so quickly in such a short period of time.”

Paps is also a welcome sight on the occasional Tuesday night, possibly there to help GT keep the rowdy bunch in line, but really to offer extra support and encouragement.

Be warned though!! Liberté is highly addictive, and a conversation overheard last night was as follows: “Personally I think they are brain washing us! There is no other explanation for why you spend an hour pushing yourself to your limit, making your body do the most bizarre things. Seriously, who thought up scorpion press ups, burpees and alternate squat thrusts, a normal squat thrust is bad enough! To then be driving home feeling full of energy and totally de-stressed and also a little smug….”

Helen Kroon, Medical Staffing, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust