One of the problems Scotland is facing is the high proportion of the population suffering from poor health. For some it’s the long held tradition of drinking, for others it’s an inactive lifestyle. This has culminated in too many people being unfit and overweight (myself included) – a highly toxic combination. It’s said that those least active benefit most from a little exercise, so that got me thinking.

This year, back in January, I set myself a challenge to change all of that. I learned of a new type of fitness apparatus that mimics the activity usually reserved for rock climbers – the vertical climbing machine. Back then I found very little information on the web about them, but it seems that over the course of this year they’ve grown in popularity. As a result, there is a lot more information about them out there, including how effective they can be on vertical climber review sites.

My goals were threefold, firstly, I gave up drinking for three months at the start of the year – something that ended up being much easier than I expected. The first couple of weeks were tough, as the difficult bit is avoiding temptation in all of the places you’d normally have a drink. That soon faded though, and things got easier. The second goal was to lose some weight. I’ve been slowly growing for years, and it’s true what they say, slow growth goes unnoticed (aka weight creep). Finally I wanted to be fitter. My eldest daughter announced her first pregnancy before Christmas, so that was a great incentive to stick to the plan. Now little Dillan’s here, albeit only 4 months old, I know I’m on track to kick a ball about and take him swimming when he’s a bit older.

The secret of all of those goals being met was my climbing machine and fitness routine. I did just ten minutes in the morning to begin with, and while it nearly killed me to begin with it soon got much easier, just like packing in the booze. Now I’m not using it every day, more like three times a week for between twenty minutes and half an hour each time. It’s still hard work, but at three stone lighter, I feel so much better that the thought of going back to old ways is motivation enough!