GET NEW YEAR FIT
Providing you don’t live too far from work, walk, run or cycle there to make the most of your free time.

Try a new form of exercise Variety is important, both physically and psychologically. If you don’t usually swim, then head to the nearest pool. If you always run, try cycling. However you change your routine, your body will have to work harder to adapt and, as it does, it will become fitter, leaner and more toned.

Enter an event Without direction an exercise programme may flounder. Sign up for a walk, run, swim or bike ride. A little nervous apprehension about a public physical performance produces a real sense of urgency and commitment to exercising that simply going to the gym to get fit won’t. The 48-hour rule Exercise at least every 48 hours. This means you’re regularly boosting the metabolism and therefore maximising calorie-burning potential.

Get a workout partner The fact that you will be letting someone else down if you skip a session is a great motivator. Find a friend with similar goals and make a plan to exercise at set-in-stone times every week.

Northern Spa
Tre-Ysgawan Hall Country House Hotel & Spa, Anglesey
Signature treatment: Tre-Ysgawan offers treatments that specifically target those pesky signs of ageing, which is not only handy for the turn-back-time theme of this page but unusual for even a high-end spa. Usually they’re designed to be Zenful oases where real-world concerns like wrinkle-age are left in the locker room. If you want more drastic anti-ageing intervention, they also hold a monthly Botox clinic.

Prices: The Day Spa Packages are best value. They include full use of the facilities, treatments as well as a two-course meal in their plaudit-harvesting restaurant, which comes with a complimentary bevvie of your choice so you could indulge in an alcoholic retox if you’re feeling too virtuous. Packages start at an impressive 30 quid. Service: Friendly, relaxed with all the attention to detail you’d expect from such a ritzy joint but, crucially, with no Downton Abbey-style stiffness.

The X Factor: Without doubt, the setting. Perfect for long, rambling winter walks as well as putting your feet up in front of a roaring fire with a hot toddy in hand.

Score: A very solid 8 out of 10.
www.treysgawan-hall.co.uk

Looking fit at forty: that’s Jason Jones