Pinchbeck personal trainer shares five exercises to help you get your mojo back after the festive fun

With the festive period coming to a close, attention turns to getting back into shape after over-indulging on turkey and treats.

Many of us make fitness and the body beautiful our top new year’s resolution - and for good reason after party season.

But for many of us, joining a gym can feel like a daunting prospect, starting youir fitness journey surrounded by chiseled supermen and women.

Thankfully, award-winning personal trainer Kieran James has put together a simple-but-effective training routine that you can complete in just minutes a day from home to help you set off on the path to making big changes.

“It’s good to start in January as there are so many people also starting their goals at the same time,” said Kieran, who says we should feel full of positivity rather than disappointment after a fun-packed December.

“There is so much around being hard on yourself this time of year around. If you don’t want to be a bodybuilder don’t be hard on yourself, because they have very different goals and objectives.

“Instead of saying ‘this year was rubbish’ say ‘this is where I am now and this is where I want to be in the future’.

“You can’t change what you’ve done, it’s written.

“Set your goals. You’re at A, now do what you need to do to get to B.”

Here are Kieran’s top five exercises to help kickstart your fitness quest.

1 Push-Ups

HOW? Place yourself on all fours with your hands underneath your shoulders. Push your legs and back so your body is in a straight line. Lower yourself to the ground so that your elbows are bent at 90 degrees before pushing yourself back up until your arms are straight and try to do as many reps with good form as you can.

KIERAN SAYS: Push-ups are brilliant because they’re a bodyweight movement and it creates that natural strength that you can gain. It does the upper body, the chest, the triceps, shoulders.

2 Squats

HOW? Stand with your feet hip-width apart while . Keep your back straight, chest open and your head up. Push your hips backwards like you are trying to sit in a chair. Bend your knees as low down as possible but keep your chest up. Push yourself back up using your heels. Make sure your heels stay on the ground at all times.

KIERAN SAYS: You can never so enough squats. They’re the fundamental of legs. A lot of people purposely avoid squats because they’re weary of how the knees feel, but the knees need to bend. Our bodies are meant to work our joints.

3 Lunges

HOW? Stand with your feet apart, the width of your hips. Step forward with one leg and bend both knees, until your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Push yourself back into position and repeat with the opposite leg.

KIERAN SAYS: Another fundamental movement and a good way of learning how to distribute your body in more than just a vertical plane. You’re literally going forward.

4 Abdominal Crunches

HOW? Lay on your back, keeping your knees apart. Fold your arms on your chest and raise your head and shoulders off the floor. Hold, then return to starting position.

KIERAN SAYS: I’m a big advocate of crunches more than sit-ups. It’s a good way to get the upper torso nice and tight and then it’s easier to work down to things like leg raises, knee tucks. If I was getting someone doing lower abdominals and they’ve got a bit of a dome stomach, we’d be working a long time before you feel a form of dopamine from seeing results. Especially fellas, it’s a nice way to get them on that and nicely formed.

5 Tricep Extensions

HOW? Stand with your feet in a split stance, or sit. Cup a weighted object in both hands so your palms face the ceiling. Lift the object directly overhead by extending both arms fully before returning to position, ensuring the rest of your body remains still.

KIERAN SAYS: You can just use a shopping bag, a weighted broom, tins of beans, anything that’s a little bit of weight. Doing that just helps to tighten up the triceps. This time of year you get a lot of ladies who go ‘look at my bingo wings, I want them tighter’. Tricep extensions can be one for the ladies, but in terms of the blokes two-thirds of your arm is made up of your triceps and fellas can train their bicep too much. Your tricep is the one that creates the shape if you want a naturally big looking arm.

Kieran James works out of Spalding’s Snap Fitness gym.

Anyone interested in booking sessions with Kieran can contact him by emailing kieranjamesptfitness@gmail.com or via his social media pages.