Forget about fancy equipment, the right gym clothes and endless hours slogging on the treadmill. All you need is music, your body and the energy to have fun. Dance is one of the most athletic workouts, whether taking an aerobic class, ballroom lessons or just putting music full blast in your lounge and jamming while you clean.

The most amazing bodies belong to dancers. They are slim, athletic and have strong cores to help hold themselves in positions that most of us cringe at. But you can achieve this body too, if you are willing to work. Dancing, whether tap, Latin, modern, ballet or being out on a dance floor, is not a walk in the park. However, it is convenient and anyone at any age can take part.

A 20-30 min dance session will increase your heart rate and you will enjoy it and have fun at the same time. Any level of dance can get you fit if you maintain the workout. Most dancers work for hours everyday, but you can start slow, depending on your age, weight and eagerness.

You may not be able to do the splits, spin around a pole or win ’so you think you can dance’ right away, but depending on your goals, dancing will increase your endorphins, make you sweat and allow you to socialise, have fun and let loose.

Tempo…it’s how we run our daily lives. We start and stop, we increase the pace and reduce our speed on a minute to minute basis. It’s why so many people train with music in their ears. It helps us push ourselves to other level or tempo than we are used to during the day.

Everyone runs at a different tempo. Music allows us to focus on one thing only and that is our pace. It allows us to push up those hills when running long distance, burst through our sprints our of the starting blocks, quicken our strokes on the ergo machine or push that weight a little higher in the gym.

Be honest, if you’re at the gym and a high tempo, fast rhythm song comes on your body consumes the beat and uses it to workout. If you have your ipod on while you’re training and a slow chilled out song come on you either change it or you slow your pace down a little bit.

Why does the tempo of music dictate the way we move, train or prepare for an event? It’s all in the rhythm, momentum and your breathing. We begin to stride to the beat, gain momentum and set the tone of our workout to the music we listen to.

That’s why people listen to psych up songs before competing. It gets us visualising goals, and sets our frame of mind. We need to be switched on and aware and often it starts with our tempo, attitude and rhythm.

So find your song, your beat and ultimately your rhythm that will set the tone of your workout or competition.

There are many reasons why one stops exercising. Injury, time off, holiday, rest weeks, there are so many explanations. But what if you just don’t have the will or determination anymore, what if we just don’t want to carry on?

We often look at sport with something to aim towards, something to achieve at the end of the training programme, like a championship, a big race or game, but what if there is no programme to work from, no game to look forward to or no will to push yourself to achieve what you used to kill yourself for?

You need to find yourself something to get your adrenaline pumping again, something to send your heart rate up, take a risk and try something new so that you can get excited about doing something energetic and healthy again.

Think creatively and just do it! Go for a horse ride, jump off a cliff into water, try body surfing or a family bike ride. We are so used to being drilled and we often get into a monotonous routine. Shake that routine and change it up. I’m about to go run underneath a landing strip of an airfield (within boundaries of course) to feel the rush of being outdoors and alive! Go on, go out and try something new too!

Is it the lack of training and preparation, is it the lack of encouragement from the sidelines, or is it all just in our minds? We all feel our legs burning or our lungs slowly giving in, we all feel tired uphill and out of breath as we finish an exercise programme for the day, but what can we do to train our minds to be stronger? How can we build up our inner mental cheerleaders to get us across the finish line, to finish a competition or a match?

We train physically to achieve something, whether it is gold on a podium, lose 5 kg’s or to be a part of a solid, unbeatable team. We do it for ourselves, we need to finish that race, score that goal, stretch further, climb higher, run faster, but how do we align our bodies with our minds?

Jim Donovan author of ‘Handbook to a Happier Life’, believes that through using various affirmations we can achieve mind strength - training our minds to think the way are bodies do.

He also believes that we must develop one or two affirmations that express our desire or goal. They must be in present tense and positive, like I am, I have, I will, I can, and so on.  The more you repeat these affirmations to yourself, whether in diary entries, thought or saying them out loud, the more your mind will begin to naturally think these things and make you stronger and fitter.

So, I will win my race, I can get higher, I am the best and I have the ability to beat my record, will start to become a reality. So start thinking and training your mind so that you become a well-rounded, positive athlete with a strong body and mind.

But for now, I can, I have and I will continue to be the person/athlete/friend who brings you updates right here Keep in touch for more!

Bored of the treadmill? Sick of the chlorinated indoor pool? Or are you just tired of seeing other fitter, healthier and skinnier women strutting their stuff around in the gym confined within four walls. It is time to move outdoors and begin cross training.

Find a dirt track, an open field or a sheltered forest to run in. Walk up a mountain path once a week. Hit the golf course with a group of friends or do your lengths in a tidal pool near the sea. There are many options to choose from. A gym is just an indoor substitute, which replaces a world of possibility outdoors. We have become lazy and our workouts have become a chore that we merely have to get over and done with.

There are many reasons why we exercise: to stay healthy, to lose weight, for the competition, to train for an important event or to just have a break from our busy lives. It doesn’t matter what we do it for, we should first and foremost, enjoy doing it. Sure, it may be difficult and tiring, but running through a forest with the sun above you, hiking up to a viewpoint, swimming without lanes and playing sport with fresh air all around you is far more stimulating than running at a flat screen television or inhaling the sweaty fumes of fellow gym members. So get out of your house or your office and explore what the outdoors can offer.

The sun rises, its time, the day has begun. You eat your bowl of cereal, brush your teeth, and find your keys in the chaos of your room and head out at an extra-ordinary pace. Lectures consume your day, practical to tutorial, from one department to the next, picking up a sweat as you hand in papers, grab lunch and prepare for crits with your supervisors. This is multitasking at its best. Being a professional student was supposed to be easier.

There is no time to stop, relax or have the day off. But the thing that gets me through the day awaits me, my medicine, my cure, my therapy. When I’m finally on the water, out in the open rowing on the dam, cooling off my frustrations of the day, I can breathe a sigh of relief. No one can find me, no one can bother me, its ‘me’ time at its best.  The pristine setting of my wake cuts through the water in front of me as I pick up my heart rate. I begin to sweat out all the pressure, the stress and tension the day has inflicted on me. This is my sport, my therapy, what’s yours?