By: Blonde Two

I think I have only known one person who has employed the services of a personal trainer. She arrived at work one day drinking strange green stuff out of a bottle and looking half the woman that she had the day before.

It would be great, wouldn’t it, if you simply had to pay the chap (I presume they are all chaps) the money to become svelte and fit. You could miss out the bit at the gym, the bit pounding the pavements and the strange food stuffs. You would only have to listen to him to feel the pounds lifting off you and your muscles toning.

Because I was pondering the subject, I looked up the price of personal training in my locality. The one that I found offered ‘consultation’ (that I could cope with), ‘nutritional coaching’ (not so much fun) and ‘photographic evidence’ (presumably of your blood, sweat and tears). It cost £300 for 12 weeks which seemed like a lot of money when you actually have to do most of the hard work yourself.

Blonde One and I have (obviously) found the perfect solution to our unwillingness to pay for personal training. All you need to do is trail around after three fit and healthy Young Leaders for a few days. You can be guaranteed that they will make you walk faster, over more bumpy ground and up more hills than you might have otherwise chosen to.

This week, we have had a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award group out on Dartmoor. They have had quite a challenging route, which has meant that we have been doing a fair bit of walking out to meet them at checkpoints and campsites. Whilst Blonde One does a good job of keeping up with our Young Leaders up most hills, I have had to work very hard to do so, but am now feeling the benefit of my personal training.

They are quite good company too!