Champion Freerunner On How To Make The Gym Fun Not Boring

Every good intention can be knocked out by repetitive workouts and the onset of boredom.

Half an hour on the treadmill, or even the same round of weights and floor exercises can get seriously dull, so we spoke to freerunner Damien Walters to get some tips on making the gym a whole lot more fun, using some rather out-there moves from freerunning.

"Some people get on fine with really structured workouts but everything I do I want to be functional," Damien explains. "So even though I workout in a gym, I like to create problems that I have to solve with movement.

"It keeps it interesting and it makes sure your whole body is engaged in all sorts of different ways."

Damien has been working with Fitness First on its new Freestyle Group Training sessions to encourage gym-goers to mix up their workouts and keep them interested in coming back to the gym every week.

"The best thing about training in this way is that you keep coming back because it's fun, not because it's something you have to do to keep fit," he explains.

Ditch the machines

Key to the freestyle training is using the floor, your own body weight and props such as the monkey bars, soft pylo boxes, sandbell weights and medicine balls.

Damien casts his eye round the gym for useful things to make an assault course out of and begins to pile up the pylo boxes one in front of the other and one below the monkey bars.

The then dashes about, swinging from the bars, doing a few press ups, before leaping over one box and don't a couple of squats on the next before jumping onto a mat on the floor into a perfect forwards flip.

It's not your usual gym workout. And it's great fun.

"Turning your workout area into a bit of a playground means you can workout harder and longer without even realising it. And be just aiming to be active rather than trying to get a specific look, you'll end up with better results," insists Damien.

Stabiliy, core and strength

If you avoid the weights area in the gym because of the hulking body-building chaps flexing their ginormous muscles, the freestyle area is the perfect place to get on with your strength training - which is vital for weight loss as it speeds up your metabolism.

"If you're not sitting down pushing up a bar your whole body has to work," says Damien. Without having to do any separate training you're working on your core and your balance."

As an example he leaps onto on pylo box on one foot to do a one-legged squat before hopping back down again.

"That works your core and stability as well as the thigh muscles - so it's getting double the work done in one go."

If you like the sound of all this but don't fancy building an adventure playground in your gym, you can sign up to a class at Fitness First to get into the swing of things.

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