building a BETTER BODY

as is usually the case when the new year rolls around, the resolutions to get fit are made, diets are started and gym memberships get signed up en-masse. But the goal of a truly healthy and fit body simply cannot be achieved by crash diets after the binging of Christmas.

At Christmastime, our social lives turn upside down and the expectation is to be out most evenings, drinking heavily and indulging in rich foods and sweet things with great enthusiasm. Inevitably, this causes chaos internally that puts us so far behind where we want to be by January that even a rigorous routine of starvation and intense exercise struggles to shift.

Even if we are able to commit to a new year health regime, this approach throws our body and mind into turmoil; a life of extremes rather than a consistent healthy pathway.

Arturas and Sandra who run the Muscle Factory in Bermondsey are living examples of how to develop a pattern of healthy eating, exercise and socialising that achieves and retains a fit body and balanced mind. What started out for both of them as a passionate hobby has become a shared philosophy, space and sociable gym where like-minded people go to support each other towards a common goal. That goal being good health, not just impressive muscles.

At around 3000 square foot and with over 60 pieces of equipment,, this space has plenty to keep you busy. Better still there is no joining fee so you can just pay as you go (£5 per session) to use it, staying as long as you like. But how many times have you been to the gym with the best intentions, only for the sheer variety and complexity of the equipment to intimidate you into sticking with the treadmill for an hour?

This is what makes the personal touch of Sandra and Arturas so helpful, both of whom are qualified Personal Trainers and Nutritional Advisors. They are both always on hand to offer expert advice and training tips to their visitors, an invaluable service for those less frequently in a gym.

“a truly healthy and fit body cannot be achieved by crash diets

Of course the Muscle Factory isn’t just for novices. The gym also has free weights of up to 80kg available, giving any experienced body builder a bigger challenge than the standard maximum 32kg weights available at most other gyms.

A wide range of sports supplements are also stocked (having already been hand-picked for their quality by the proprietors) so you can top up before hand on the foodstuffs you need to build muscle and be healthy and also help rebuild muscle tissue quickly so you can return to peak performance in good time.

This Christmas rather than spending it binging and then having a crisis of guilt and weight gain followed by a punishing regime that is next to impossible to keep up in January, it may be wise to allocate one ‘window’ a week to heading along to The Muscle Factory. Come January you will not be so big around the waist or bottom but big in the abs, pecs and glutes instead!

So it’s not really about new resolutions you have to make, but a positive, familiar habit of spending a few hours amongst friends doing something you enjoy and staying on top of yourself. The best road to a fabulous all round Christmas and a healthy start to the New Year is just along Southwark Park Road at the Muscle Factory.

MUSCLE FACTORY GYM
183-187 Southwark Park Road
SE16 3TX
t: 020 7394 8561
w. www.musclefactorygym.co.uk

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