Good morning SMASH crew and welcome to day 3 of our 7 days of kindness challenge. Sam here! 

Welcome to Day 2 of our 7 Days of Kindness challenge

Welcome to the 7 Days of Kindness challenge - SMASH style

As usual, with a new month comes a new focus, so today will be your introduction to... KINDNESS.

Think for a second now, what does the word kindness mean to you? 

January 31st, one month of the year already completed and the foundations for a successful 2018 have been set!

Haven't they?...

I guess all of us are on our own amazing journey, and each of us will have had a different kind of January, so what could you do if the foundations you need aren't as strong as you would like?

This time of year, in the gym especially, is always very full on – lots of people with new year resolutions, whether it is fitness related or general work/life goals. Even if you try to avoid it, you are likely to get caught up in a flurry of extra motivated and potentially extra stressed people which can affect how you feel.

As always, I will be honest... The first week of January was not the best. My mood was low, I felt exhausted and there were many maintenance issues at work that were completely out of my control, but for which I felt entirely responsible for. I also think that following such an amazing end to 2017 I was on a bit of a  'comedown'...

My fitness foundations were built when I attended gyms and classes, getting myself fit and interested in exercise… I dropped from a size 20 to a size 8 in the space of a year, however my training was unsustainable

As part of foundation building, we wanted to take the opportunity in this week's email to discuss the importance of doing a proper warm up and cool down, as well as trying to include general stretching in to your daily routine

Today I wanted to talk a little more about our focus of “foundations” from the angle of training. Purely by chance, on Monday we did the pyramid style training class (90 second run, 60 second with a sandbag, 45 second HIIT and 30 second plank) and during it I thought that the Pyramid is a great example of what it means to have solid foundations!

We are really impressed with the dedication and motivation we have seen from everyone and we hope that SMASH has helped improve your mental and physical health in some way, or another! 

On Monday it will be 20 weeks until the Vitality 10k run so if you have signed up please let us know! If you haven't go to www.vitalitylondon10000.co.uk  

2018 has arrived and all around us we are hearing 'new year, new you' messages... Whilst we don't disagree with this message, we talked about what we felt should be the SMASH focus for January and decided to shy away from the common January marketing blurb. Our focus for January is....

This is the final SMASH email of 2017 and, in keeping with the focus for December, today I will be reflecting on my own 2017...

For both of us, this is our favourite time of year; it makes people happy and excited and everything smells amazing! – however both myself and Ash agree that once it comes to Christmas day it feels a bit “meh” – like it’s all over already.

Did any of you do the exercise Ash suggested on Wednesday? We asked each other for our successes and areas to work on, and getting an honest opinion was a really interesting experience! 

With that in mind; I wanted to reflect a little on the past year from my point of view! 

The lead up to Christmas always seems a bit manic so don't forget to take a moment to stop, breathe and reflect. If you haven't already, why not download the Calm app? An easy 10 minute mindfulness meditation could be just what you need to start the day, and this festive period, in the best possible mindset

Reflection is our focus for December so I wanted to talk about the physical reflection we see every day. Having worked in the fitness industry for 12 years now I am well aware that the reason for most people coming to the gym in general is because they want to look fit and healthy - they want to look their best

Reflections is our focus for December and this week I have taken the time to reflect on what was the most amazing day of my life last week! This will be a slightly longer email so maybe make a cuppa before you start...

I arrived home from holiday yesterday with minimal delays and Ash and his new husband got home today. New York was amazing all in all; so big, bright and full of things to do