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!