THEGAYUK

Tag: Fitness

All the latest breaking news on the Fitness. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of features and commentary on Fitness.

  • OPINION | Big Boy, Flash That Flesh

    I am currently living next to a building site. A pub has been demolished and in its place will be some affordable family homes. How wonderful.

    Part of me mourns the loss of the pub, but another part of me welcomes the gaggle of hot builders that have begun to frequent the site. As the weather has been rather nice recently, the hot builders have been working topless. Obviously, I approve of such behaviour. Then on a hot, sunny afternoon one of the builders made a huge error. He took his top off and revealed his flabby physique to the world!

     

    As I casually stood in my kitchen with a friend looking out of the window at the talent on display, my friend became disgusted when the larger guy took his top off. I also noticed the other builders winding him up about having his man boobs on display. Personally, I applauded him.

    I have found that in general we are fine with people showing a bit of skin during summer unless they are overweight. I have heard some quite nasty comments about larger people who have dared to wear shorts or take their top off. My opinion is quite the opposite. Why should people have to hide their bodies because they don’t adhere to maintaining an aesthetically pleasing physique?

    The answer is that they shouldn’t.

    Whilst I am all for people having a type that they find attractive, I don’t believe that anybody has the right to criticise or judge someone for being overweight and taking off some items of clothing.

    But then it’s not just about being overweight either. What if somebody who is quite hirsute too decides to take their top off? I’ve witnessed people pretend to vomit when a big hairy guy has taken their top off. Does it really matter? If someone has the confidence to take their top off in public, I say more power to them. I haven’t got that confidence. But then that stems from the kinds of reactions I have just covered.

    Recently I went to Ibiza and for the first time in my life I took off my top and got into the hotel pool. Nobody cared that a big hairy guy had jumped into the water. They just carried on about their business. Perhaps they were just used to tourists like me getting it all out.

    Back in Blighty I have started to go swimming at a local health club. This is after not going swimming in a public pool for ten years due to negative reactions and criticism of my body. It has been a big step for me to take and I was apprehensive about getting undressed in the changing rooms and walking around in just my swimming shorts. With a bit of support and encouragement from my partner I have managed it.

    I am beginning to gain some of the confidence that has become lost over the years. I shouldn’t have to hide away because my body does not appeal to some people. If I was to go topless it would be for me rather than other people, and that is the way to look at it.

    So, big guys, hairy guys and big hairy guys, be proud of what you have. Flash the flesh if you want to and truffle shuffle in the face of anyone who doesn’t like it. You have the power.

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • OPINION | Fat?

    Recently, myself and a friend had a photo taken with a celebrity; he was a reality TV star, porn performer and current member of the dream boys.

    He was sunbathing when we met him and was wearing only a pair of shorts. I was wearing an open shirt and a t-shirt underneath. Of course, he was really charming and looked great and I joked with him and my friends that this would be great for my self-esteem. This would prove worryingly accurate.

    Let me just explain, I’ve always been confident in my own body, I’m not chubby I’m not big boned. I’m fat. I’ve always been overweight since being a teenager and it had been a journey to become comfortable in my own skin. I’ve not exactly led a lazy lifestyle; I didn’t have a car so I walked everywhere. I previously enjoyed hiking and would often walk 10 miles without breaking a sweat. I’m a bigger guy but I’m healthy. I had tried joining gyms and different exercise classes. I even experimented on every fad diet over the years and my body has altered but I’ve accepted that whatever I try I will always be a little bit fat. This can put me at odds within the gay community as I don’t exactly fit into any category, I’m never going to be wearing skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt but apparently I’m not big enough to be a chub.

    Since I stopped fighting this and accepting this I’ve become more confident as a person, like my sexuality; it’s who I am. When I first met my boyfriend and began dating I asked if he was a chubby chaser in a jokey manner. He responded that he thought this was an offensive term and that I wasn’t fat. He said that he loved my body and would hate for me to lose weight. I obviously love him.

    A few years ago I had joined a local gym to get in shape for a hike that I was doing for charity. I was offered a free session with a personal trainer to show me how to work out properly. During the session he made several remarks about how my self-confidence would increase as I lost weight. He also said if I was single, that if I was more toned than I would have no problems with the ladies, After one remark too many I told him I wasn’t that interested in what weight I was or how fat I am, I was there to get healthier for the task of raising money for cancer research, I stated to him that I probably had a better body image than most of his clients if his idea of coaching was to call them fat, I also told him I was gay, know your audience.

    Coming back to the here and now, I am still confident in myself and the body that I own, realistically I’m not a stripper or model, the only six pack I will ever own will be beer. I don’t train every day nor am I ever likely to. Of course I have had snide remarks from vicious queens over the years because of my size but they don’t live in the skin. The only opinion I truly care about is the person who stares back at me in the mirror, because I have to look him in the eye for the rest of my life.

    Confidence is not an absolute it is a state of mind. I had a wobble and momentarily compared myself against someone else and came up short in my own mind. So what did I do? A couple of days later I was supposed to go swimming before work but felt unmotivated to get up.

    I talked to myself sternly, it’s ok to feel unhappy with your body from time to time, but there is only you that have the power to make any change mentally and physically. I used the negative energy to drag my arse out of bed and into the pool.

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • How I Lost A Stone In 4 Weeks

    It sounds like one of those annoying adverts you see whilst perusing the net. You know the one, the jelly belly one… But, jelly bellies aside I lost the easiest stone my life the four weeks after my trip to Allen Carr’s UK clinic in London.

    May 5th 2013,
    Weight: 13 Stone 9,
    Mood: Miserable.

    My diary, if I was a Bridget Jones type of a guy.

    Okay, I’ll admit, I’m not the gym bunny I once was. As the editor and chief of TheGayUK my schedule doesn’t allow for anything but swift runs down to the kitchen for coffee and a sandwich. I know that I should be all Anna Wintour and get up at 6 for half an hour of tennis, showered and in the office by 8, but it’s not going to happen.

    Changes that massive don’t just happen.

    Or do they?

    As I took my seat on the top floor of the Allen Carr centre, I thought it strange,. This isn’t the room where miracles look like they may happen. Where were the candles, the dry ice, and the evangelical preacher? There were however, mumblings and hushed excitable claims; claims of salvation from smoking and drinking and deliverance from the jaws of addictions.

    The woman next to me, positively brimming with excitement, said that she had done the course years ago, and was, for years after, ‘too thin – and loved it.’

    My fellow weighty-warrior’s excitement reached a palpable levels of rapture.

    Something amazing would happen here today, people were sure of it. I, jaded about weight-loss was not so sure.

    I’ve always felt I was over-weight, although looking back on old photos; I was just a whippet of a person. I’ve tried every diet from Cabbage to Californian, from Atkins to Abstinence. When I was 21, I was bulimic for two years, and from my twenties onwards my life has been dogged with weight-worries and yo-yo dieting which leave most people spinning from the absurdity of it all. No calorie was left uncounted, no gram of fat ignored.

    So you understand my dulled view on the enraptured clientele dotted around the weighty warrior’s room.

    Chris our mentor for the day, formally an Allen Carr veteran having lost a nearly an entire man’s worth of weight, is a calm, softly spoken and considerate person.

    He asked us why were here and what diets we had done in the past. One by one each person recited a litany of failed diets and crushing stories of unsuccessful ‘get-thin-quick’ schemes. After each Chris genuinely reaffirmed:

    “You did not fail the diet, the diet failed you.”

    A number of my fellow would-be weighty warriors also recounted miraculous stories of renouncing their smoking habits. People who had formally been a 40-a-day chain smoker had walked away from the clinic, throwing their cigs into the bin as they walked out free, never to return to the habit again.

    These, I thought, are clearly paid actors, or zealots – fanaticals that should be ignored at all costs.

    After all, I’m here to prove that no weight loss claim is true – I have tried every single one.

    His soft tones and talk of a healthier, brighter, leaner me was ticking all the right boxes. Yes I did want to be healthier, eat healthy, be healthy, yes I do want to stand in front of a mirror naked and be happy! His well-trodden homily was enough to send me into some kind of blissful outer body experience. A bit like when Mr. Tumnus plays his magic flute to Lucy in Narnia. Yes I would be fitter, healthier and leaner, yes I would learn to love lettuce and radishes.

    I don’t want to give too much away about the experience, because I want you to experience it for yourself, but something incredible happened when I left that day.

    For an entire month, I didn’t drink alcohol, I gave up my 7-to-10-a-day coffee habit, I gave up diary, bread and eggs – and I add, without pain or suffering, something truly miraculous had occurred.

    Within a week, I had lost 7lbs. Going from 13stone 9, to 13stone 2. I can’t remember when I was this light.

    Week two another 2lbs, week three another 3lbs. Within a month I had lost 1 Stone and 1 Lbs.

    Without trying.

    What’s more I had become an Allen Carr zealot – and with results like these why wouldn’t you. I relished the moment, when someone would say: ‘Have you lost weight?’ and I would proudly, say my scripted bit,

    ‘Yes I have! I went on Allen Carr’s Easyway,’ invariably the questioner would look at me with suspicion, and I would add,

    ‘Not Alan Carr – “Chatty Man” (always doing the voice), but Alleeeeen Carr, the guy who invented Easyway!’

    People began to think they were paying me – they aren’t.

    Even now I’m still loosing a pound a week – and I look set to be 12 stone by mid August – and I’m genuinely excited.

    Do I miss coffee, tea, bread, and eggs, cheese? No absolutely not. What I thought were my favourite foods were actually the ones making me most miserable.

    When I first contacted Allen Carr Easyway to book myself on the one day course, the head of marketing John, who presumed I was in the business of trying to sell advertising, very politely told me that Allen Carr never advertised, surviving on customer testimonials.

    Well Allen Carr has clinics in over 150 cities worldwide, they help tens of thousands of people every year and Allen Carr’s books have sold over 13 million copies.

    Clearly there are a lot of Allen Carr fans.

    Today, 15th July, marks the 30th anniversary, so to every Allen Carr Veteran, I applaud you and wish you a happy thinness.

    Buy the book from Amazon now

  • REVIEW | Supreme Rollerskates

    REVIEW | Supreme Rollerskates

    If you’re looking for a fun way to tone up this Summer then check out the Supreme Rollerskates. You too can live the Miami Beach life, just remember to keep your eyes on the road!

    ★★★★★

    Supreme Rollerskates

    I haven’t been this excited since my first pair of yellow plastic clip-on-shoe rollerskates. I think every child I knew had a pair or at least tried every conceivable way to get their “borrowing” hands onto a pair of the classic 80’s skates. Twenty years later not much has changed. The Supreme Skates arrived in the office and everyone wanted to play with them first. However like any cunning kid knows the first to have them on will be king for the day, and I already had my foot in one! It did feel a little odd though wearing them under the desk rolling my feet back and forth waiting for the end of day bell to sound.

    Finally the time came and I was off out the office and into our local park. There may have been a few Frank Spencer moments as I came to grips with my new toy, it had been a few years since my last skate after all. The sun was shining the ducks were lazily floating around the pond and I was flying around with the wind in my hair dreaming of a Miami beach front. Sadly our local park doesn’t seem to attract the well toned shirtless bronzed men but as I started to build up a sweat I though, yes, I could be the first, a few more sessions and I could be the king of this park.

    I’m told they ‘burn 480 calories an hour’, (which on calculation mean I can have 4 glasses of wine), and ‘gives the rider a full body workout which will tone the buttocks, thighs and hips’. What more could you ask for? A fun way to workout the body, get fit and still have enough banked up calories for at least 1 glass.

    Made from light weight playmaker plates with alloy trucks these skates are sturdy and offer great ankle support with a soft inner lining. They look great and made me feel very safe whilst skating. The only downside was the day after, when the muscles in the backs of my legs started to throb, though no pain, no gain. I look forward to becoming a regular skater down in the park, now where did I put my vest?

    If you’re looking to be King of your park this Spring and Summer then visit www.shinerskates.co.uk where you can pick up a pair of boots & wheels for £99. Just keep out of my park, I’ve already bagsied it!