Another independent Exmouth business has joined the ‘shop local’ gift voucher scheme introduced by Hands-on Health before Christmas.

Florist Daff-o-Dil’s in Church Street has got together with the Victoria Road clinic to offer a hand-tied bouquet plus a voucher for a half-hour neck and shoulder massage at a special price – and will [...]]]>

Another independent Exmouth business has joined the ‘shop local’ gift voucher scheme introduced by Hands-on Health before Christmas.

Florist Daff-o-Dil’s in Church Street has got together with the Victoria Road clinic to offer a hand-tied bouquet plus a voucher for a half-hour neck and shoulder massage at a special price – and will be including a single red rose too for Valentine’s Day.

“People have been asking if the ‘shop local’ vouchers scheme is going to continue into the new year, and we’re pleased to announce that Daff-o-Dil’s will be joining the existing businesses – Deli on the Strand, Stuart Line and Exmouth Cycles – in offering special packages for 2013. 

“In the same week as the first lucky recipient of a Chocolate Truffles and Massage Hamper from the Deli came in for his massage, we are delighted to welcome Daff-o-Dil’s to the scheme,” said Hands-on Health partner Albie McMahon.”

Hands-on Health has got together with Stuart Line Cruises, the Deli on the Strand and Exmouth Cycles to make sure residents can buy [...]]]> To help people ‘shop local’ for their Christmas presents this year, four independent Exmouth businesses have linked up to offer gift vouchers with a difference.

Hands-on Health has got together with Stuart Line Cruises, the Deli on the Strand and Exmouth Cycles to make sure residents can buy their gifts right here in Exmouth.

They can choose from a River Exe Relaxer, which includes a river cruise and a seated neck and shoulder massage, or a box of luxurious chocolate truffles and a relaxing seated massage, or, a special extra gift for those buying someone a new bike for Christmas, a full leg massage after that first ride!

Albie McMahon, partner at Hands-on Health, says: “We wanted to highlight that Exmouth is full of great independent businesses, so you don’t need to go anywhere else to do your Christmas shopping. The vouchers are inexpensive, they have a real local character and you won’t find them anywhere else!”

Pop into any of the four businesses, or see www.hands-onhealth.co.uk/shop-local-vouchers for more information.

At our Exmouth eco-clinic, we offer a multi-disciplinary team approach offering massage therapies, myofascial release, nutrition, reflexology, personal fitness training, Tai Chi, TRX training, five types of yoga and more.

A wealth of art and craft items produced by the Stallcombe residents, as well as Stallcombe’s eggs and other farm [...]]]>

Christmas Cracker massage poster

Hands-on Health will again be fundraising alongside its adopted charity, Stallcombe House, the residential community for adults with learning disabilities at Woodbury when the medieval-themed Christmas Cracker event hits Exmouth on Saturday, 1 December.

A wealth of art and craft items produced by the Stallcombe residents, as well as Stallcombe’s eggs and other farm produce, will be on sale to provide unique and eye-catching Christmas gifts.

Raffle prizes will include Stallcombe produce and Hands-on Health  vouchers, and the medieval theme will not be forgotten – if you are tortured by backache or plagued by injury, surrender your cash to Stallcombe and the Hands-on Health team will execute their skills on the massage chair to get you feeling good!

At our Exmouth eco-clinic, we offer a multi-disciplinary team approach involving acupuncture, massage therapies, myofascial release, nutrition, reflexology, personal fitness training, Pilates, Tai Chi, TRX training, five types of yoga and more.

Hi there blog fans – it’s been a while, and although I am a very busy man trying to conquer the world (or Exmouth at least) with my musical activities, there’s really no excuse for keeping you all in the [...]]]> Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and TRX fitness programme at Hands-on Health.

Hi there blog fans – it’s been a while, and although I am a very busy man trying to conquer the world (or Exmouth at least) with my musical activities, there’s really no excuse for keeping you all in the dark for so long about how things are progressing in my fitness quest with Hands-on Health. I can only apologise, but I write this from a position of feeling really good about where we are at.

So what’s new? Well, a lot of positive things. My body is really starting to change shape now, with ever-improving muscle definition, particularly in my arms and legs, as you would expect with TRX, and significant loss of inches in all of the right places becoming apparent as clothes are starting to look as if some of them will be consigned to charity shops or recycling in the near future. I’ve now lost two inches off my neck, three off my chest, and three off my waist.

I can honestly say that I haven’t felt so fit in years, and this has been highlighted in two recent public appearances alongside the Hands-on Health team. Firstly, I was able to demonstrate to people a lot fitter than me (a rugby team no less) in an exhibition as part of the Jubilee celebrations in Exmouth’s Strand Gardens, that whilst they were clearly in better physical shape,  TRX requires more than just muscle mass – it’s all about technique and engaging the core muscles to work. It was a very pleasant surprise to find myself more than a match for these guys in our demonstration.

But what really brought it home to me that we were really progressing with this whole thing was during a wonderful day at Stallcombe House’s annual fayre in July, where we were involved in another TRX demonstration.  I was actually confident enough to engage with members of the public and able to explain to and show them how the TRX training programme worked with a degree of knowledge that I didn’t realise that I had. It was commented upon by people who knew the old me that my body shape was in fact changing, and how impressed they were with how comfortable I looked carrying out the various routines.

Apparently, if my fitness guru is to be believed, I have fans of my blogs out there, and some of them have been asking where on earth I’ve been …

Well folks, there are a couple of [...]]]> Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and fitness programme at Hands-on Health.

Apparently, if my fitness guru is to be believed, I have fans of my blogs out there, and some of them have been asking where on earth I’ve been …

Well folks, there are a couple of reasons for the gap between last blog and this one. Firstly, when we first decided to go on this journey together, it was felt that after the initial burst, a weekly blog might bore people. However, we didn’t reckon on my ability to communicate by blog being far more intelligible than my never-to-change accent (for the uninitiated, I have lived in Devon for 12 years and I still sound like a cartoon Scotsman when I speak) and secondly,  domestic circumstances meant that for the past month or so, my progress has been slightly truncated .

If I fondly imagined that Albie would take it easy with me upon my return, then I was being a fool to myself. We have significantly increased the range of exercises in my repertoire, much of which was  photographed and (horrifyingly) filmed at my last session and will in all probability accompany this blog.

Oh yes – here’s a video -  Richie does TRX press ups!

However, despite this realisation, I am not remotely embarrassed, and here’s why. For the first time in many years, I have developed self-confidence about the way I’m starting to look and feel, and although I shouldn’t deny myself some credit for this, without Albie McMahon mentoring me, I wouldn’t even have reached this stage. With that in mind, I steeled myself to face the possibility of my first real failure on this quest, when Albie suggested that our post-TRX and kettlebells ritual of a power walk for half an hour become a semi-jog of reasonable proportion.

Amazingly, I wasn’t a breathless wreck and felt happy enough to do it again today, unaccompanied, and again (although my wee legs might beg to differ) I didn’t buckle under the pressure. Still a long way to go before I’m doing the marathon though …

I’ll close with this little gem for now. Initially, when I was trying to rid myself of well-documented demons such as dreadful eating habits and a very disturbing addiction to Scotland’s ‘other national drink’, I was losing weight at a slow rate and was becoming very despondent. Cravings like this are long gone, and I am certain that this area will start to develop positively at a far more rapid rate of knots. There is a first target number well in my sights now (and bear in mind that I am probably eating more, albeit far healthier, than I was before I started this). That number  is 119.64, and it’s not a million miles away …

You can sponsor Richie, in aid of our adopted charity, Stallcombe House, at www.justgiving.com/richie-evans

And so, after last week was wasted because I was suffering from an appalling virus, this has been the best week yet at Hands-on Health. Laid low, but bizarrely still keen [...]]]> Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and fitness programme at Hands-on Health.

And so, after last week was wasted because I was suffering from an appalling virus, this has been the best week yet at Hands-on Health. Laid low, but bizarrely still keen to come in to the clinic for my sessions (Albie very wisely put his foot down on this ludicrous suggestion), last week was nothing more than a single trip in to take some more photos of me and give me the briefest introduction to the magic of kettlebells.

The last two sessions, however, have been nothing short of inspirational. Albie and John really put me through my paces on Tuesday with a solid session on kettlebells and much increased activity on TRX. Despite the shock to my system, I found myself starting to feel that this is what it’s all about – doing something that will give me visible results in a controlled environment and realising that this long journey will be worth every step.

Following our now customary power walk out in the streets of Exmouth after each indoor session,  I left Hands-on Health on Tuesday feeling a lot stiffer than I previously had, but filled with the pleasure of having just been doing something very positive.

Thursday was more of the same, and in between my regular circuit, it was both interesting and I’m not going to deny it, alarming, when Albie asked me to try a couple of little exercises that will be factored in as time goes on. This, quite frankly, gave me an insight into how fit these people are compared to those of us out there who fondly imagine that they are! As always, though, he is very diligent in his approach, and after each brief demonstration of these new exercises, followed by my comedy attempts at doing them, he would reassure me with ‘but that’s for later on’.

Strangely, though, I find myself desperately keen to reach that ‘later on’ stage, despite having the knowledge that I will be required to put my body through a lot to get there. It is going to be worth every bit of effort, and I am supremely confident that I am doing so with the right people.

One final thought for this week. Quite a few people have started to see Albie and me out and about on our warm-down walk after each session and are generally very encouraging. However – if over the next few weeks, I have a slight stagger to my walking, you’ll realise that the ante is being upped by my mentor, so keep encouraging me – one day I’ll be able to do that famous hand-waving Rocky Balboa run around town … one day.

You can sponsor Richie at www.justgiving.com/richie-evans

One of the most interesting facets of going on any sort of public health kick, particularly in these boom days of social networking, is that it can be a lot more public than you realise, and in [...]]]> Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and fitness programme at Hands-on Health.

One of the most interesting facets of going on any sort of public health kick, particularly in these boom days of social networking, is that it can be a lot more public than you realise, and in my case, due to my multiple musical activities in and around Exmouth, this can be very public indeed. There scarcely seems to be a day now where I am not wished ‘good luck’ or I am stopped in the street by people that I didn’t realise were aware of what I was involved in with Hands-on Health to have a chat about how it is all progressing.

All of this, is of course, really kind and supportive, and really does help to drive me on, although I often have to explain to people (especially the surprising number I meet whilst shopping , and who feel compelled to, in a kind way, monitor what I am buying, which DOES make me smile indulgently) that I am not on some sort of crash diet, but I am, in fact, gradually changing my entire lifestyle to include regular, productive exercise, aligned with healthy, balanced eating.

Which brings me on nicely onto the subject of nutrition. Way before embarking on this mighty quest, I would often be advised on what was best for me to eat, and how to live my life, by people who were either (a) unbelievably preachy and sanctimonious, or (b) scarcely credible adverts for what they were trying to tell me to do. NOT so in the case of every single person I have had the pleasure of dealing with at Hands-on Health so far. They inspire confidence in what they are trying to achieve, not just with me, but, I’d imagine, with everyone that they work with. From the unbelievably fit and diligent Albie taking me through the TRX, to the muscle-bound John (I’m secretly very impressed with his fitness, but sssshh, don’t tell him) with the kettlebells, and to the vastly knowledgeable, realistic and very supportive Lesley with her nutritional advice, I find myself believing 100% in their guidance, because these people are quite brilliant examples  in practising what they preach.

Increasingly, I find that nutrition is going to be a massive factor in determining how I progress with Hands-on Health. By that, I mean that I could exercise all I wanted, but without making some (surprising and embarrassingly obvious) changes to the way I perceive eating and basic nutrition, I may as well not bother. With Lesley, she will attempt to ascertain the things that I do like eating and work them into the balance of my diet, because it is clear that if a person is eating things that they do not enjoy, there is every probability that they will slide back into the unhealthy pattern that they had before.

In the last two weeks, I have developed more awareness of balancing protein, appropriate carbs, sugars and fats in my diet than I had for my entire adult life before, and having established that I find wholemeal pitta, eggs, crunchy delicious vegetables such as peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and cauliflower, fish and chicken to be delicious parts of my diet, added to oatcakes, hummus, cottage cheese, tasty fruit and nuts, I am finding it so much easier to distance myself from my previous staples of bulky, sauce and red meat-laden pasta, milk and cheese (masses of it, I may add), quick microwaveable options, and the most terrible of all, IRN-BRU!

And all of this simply by taking on board advice from three very convincing and clearly very professional people … who knew?

You can sponsor Richie at www.justgiving.com/richie-evans

Week one

So finally, after a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, I’m committed to this grand task, but strangely I feel very relaxed about it all. This is in all probability because of the [...]]]> Richie Evans describes progress with his charity weight loss and fitness programme at Hands-on Health.

Week one

So finally, after a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, I’m committed to this grand task, but strangely I feel very relaxed about it all. This is in all probability because of the quality of advice and support thus far, particularly from Albie and Lesley Harper (nutritional therapist), who absolutely inspire confidence when sharing their expertise.

I really couldn’t have picked a more awkward time to kick-start my push towards being the fittest 44-year-old in the neighbourhood, being as it is that I am moving house the day before my first session, but I’m assured by Albie that he’ll break me in gently.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I’ve had from people all over town since we went live online and in the local press, with almost £200 raised in sponsorship for Stallcombe House in the first week alone, so I had better come across with the goods or else. Thanks so much to everyone who has pledged or donated money so far – it’ll really inspire me.

So, all in all, I’m feeling very good about it all, but one thing DOES annoy me – why, oh why is it impossible to find jogging bottoms for the shorter-legged gentleman? It would appear that wearing fitness gear has a direct correlation with being a giant. However, I’ve had to make the best that I can and go all Simon Cowell (thank goodness for long t-shirts and elasticated waistbands) as they are not prepared for me to show off my wee legs … yet.

So it’s onwards we go, all systems go on Friday 2 March  - wish me luck!

Week two

Well – we are three sessions in, and I’m still with you all. Thankfully, Albie was true to his word and very kindly took into consideration that I’d been lugging boxes and furniture the whole of the day before my first session. Much hilarity ensued as it appeared that I didn’t have a pulse for quite some time when we were collating my initial statistics.

The first session was a gentle introduction to the world of TRX and thankfully the only really embarrassing moment for me was when I was doing some step-ups on the step of the rear door to Hands-on Health to increase my heart rate, and it seemed that every single white van man in Exmouth chose that moment to drive past.

Sessions two and three saw a gradual upping of the ante by Albie, with a few photographs being taken, to demonstrate how I was progressing on the TRX as time goes on.

Speaking of TRX – by the end of session three, I am completely sold on it as a concept. It is a remarkable piece of equipment, and having been worked that bit harder and developed better ‘form’ (a good thing in TRX-speak, it seems) I can totally see how it works every part of the body without causing any impact stress  and find myself looking forward to the point when I start to really feel results.

More next week …

You can sponsor Richie at www.justgiving.com/richie-evans

Richie Evans, 44, will begin a programme of TRX training and healthy eating, guided by members of the team at Hands-on Health, at the beginning of [...]]]> A local man is going public with his weight loss and fitness programme by collecting charity sponsorship and issuing social media updates on his progress at Hands-on Health.

Richie Evans, 44, will begin a programme of TRX training and healthy eating, guided by members of the team at Hands-on Health, at the beginning of March. He plans to lose around 25% of his current 19½ stone, and is inviting people to sponsor him by the stone, to keep him motivated. All his sponsorship will go to Woodbury’s Stallcombe House, a residential community for adults with learning disabilities – Hands-on Health’s adopted charity.

“There’s a cut-off point for everyone, and 2012 is the year for me, while I’m still a relatively young man, to sort out my weight and fitness before they spiral out of control. I want to be fit enough to do stuff with my kids, and continue with that as they, and I, get older. I’m also a huge supporter of those who help the local community, and this is a good way to raise Stallcombe House’s profile locally.”

From early in March, Richie will be issuing regular updates on Facebook, Twitter and this blog page, as well as keeping a video diary: “With these incentives, I’ll work that bit harder,” he says.

Albie McMahon, partner at Hands-on Health, will be taking Richie through his TRX training, and nutritional therapist Lesley Harper will be advising him on his diet. Other members of the clinic’s team will assist with therapies and classes as he progresses. In addition, the Stallcombe House farm will provide him with some of its fresh produce as a contribution to his healthy eating regime.

Richie’s sponsorship forms are now available at Hands-on Health, Stallcombe House, The Grapevine and other local outlets as well as on a JustGiving page – http://www.justgiving.com/Richie-Evans. Call us on 01395 224207 for more information.

Even if [...]]]> In the positive days after Christmas, everyone resolves to be fitter and healthier. But now, by the beginning of February, things have often gone a bit pear-shaped. Miserable winter days can make it difficult to keep up a fitness routine or healthy eating programme when all you want to do is hibernate.

Even if you started this year in an enthusiastic flurry of activity, you may now be using the resulting aches, pains and injuries as a reason, or excuse, for going back to the sofa.

Here at our eco-friendly clinic , we have a more sustainable approach that could keep you on the right track long after others have fallen by the wayside, and help you to a healthier and happier way of life.

Starting off with acupuncture, chiropractic, nutritional advice and a range of massage therapies, the Hands-on Health team will help you get your body ready for safe and enjoyable exercise before letting you loose on your chosen activity – which may include yoga, pilates and tai chi classes, or personal training sessions involving the amazingly effective TRX method. They’ll be with you every step of the way!

“Ensuring your joints and muscles are in good condition before starting a new exercise regime can help you avoid injury and boost performance,” says partner Albie McMahon.

The team’s nutritional therapist Lesley Harper adds: “Small but effective dietary changes can help you feel healthier, more energised, and have more vitality – all helping to make your exercise practice easier to maintain.”

The last word goes to Phil Yolland of Urban Earth, a regular Hands-on Health client: “As a landscape gardener, I have to stay injury-free in order to keep working. Massage, reflexology and ashtanga yoga at the clinic have been very good for me, so this spring I’m recommending my staff see the team there too.”