If you are a parent and you have children at school it will soon be the summer holidays! Whether this is a good thing or bad most of us will need to be organised by juggling childcare, being your kid’s entertainment co coordinator, and continue to work. I have been a member of my gym for years and years. Using the gym is just the same as eating and showering, it really is part of my life. For the first time I am now considering putting my membership on hold over the summer holidays.

As the summer days hopefully are warmer, drier and longer and with the amazing equipment, especially functional training, exercising outside and at home seems such a convenient idea. I started to think about how I would like to train while the children are at home with me. The workouts need to be short, effective and with no fuss to allow me to get on, workout, then back to the kids! So, I will be using a TRX home system and a Ugi Ball. Two very versatile pieces of equipment easily stored in the house. The TRX home system in my opinion is great! There is a latch that hooks over any door to make the suspension cables secure. I can also pack this in to my suitcase and take on holiday as it is very light too! I plan to use my own body weight to maintain the strentgh and endurance I usually get from conditioning classes. The Ugi ball is fab, I love it!

I plan to use it in my Hiit training circuits incorporating burpees, mountain climbers, jump squats etc. The ball comes in different weights. I use the 8lb ball as each exercise I perform is in a circuit fashion for one minute. The Ugi ball may come in a friendly pink or purple but at the end of your session you won't think quite the same as you did at the beginning. T is harder than it looks! I can also incorporate the main compound exercises with the Ugi ball, so unlike other stability balls this has all the benefits as a traditional medicine ball but the squash of the ball is great for core, balance and stretch. This is why I am using the Ugi, I see it as a medicine ball combined with a stability ball which creates hundreds of exercises. So, my hit sessions are sorted, I can use the TRX and the Ugi ball together as part of my strength and functional training. Hopefully I can take the kids out on their bikes while I jog beside them…oh yeah, not forgetting the dogs as well! This is the plan, lets hope I can put it into practice!