3 Great Exercises for Big Traps

When we think about traps and training traps usually it's shrugs that pops right into your head. While shrugs are a great trap-builder and should be done there are some other exercises which are also great at targeting traps. Here are 3 great exercises for big traps.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are such a great mass-builder for your entire posterior chain. Part of that chain being your traps. Traps should be trained through different planes of movement and deadlifts do just that. Imagine all the angles of strain your traps are put under throughout the entire movement of a deadlift. From the bent over position all the way through to the upright position.

Cleans

Cleans are definitely an underestimated movement for training traps. It's a powerful movement and involves your entire upper body but especially the traps. I feel the best pump in my traps after a good clean session. The hang, training the traps, the shrugging part of the movent, traps again. The nature of the clean means using momentum as well as strength and power to clean that bar up and as so you can move some heavy weight.

Facepulls

People tend to forget that the traps aren't just the chunky parts at the top, they also connect much lower down the back. They need training on a horizontal plane as well as through the vertical. With the facepulls you should really focus on squeezing at the end of the concentric phase and this will help build thickness in your traps.

I really hope this post has helped you out and given you some tips and idea's to improve your workouts. Please do subscribe to the blog and follow me on social media: Instagram and Twitter.

Most viewed post: Misconceptions of Women Weightlifting

First Impressions: Training at Colchester RFC

I've always loved Rugby, played at school, watch it on TV, go to matches. So the next step for me really was to play again! I started back up a couple of weeks ago now, the beginning of pre-season. We train twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm.

Everyone there is really friendly, coaches and players. Everyone has great patience especially with newbies like me, which I really appreciate. There is a whole range of ages, abilities and fitness levels.

Every training session is different, but always starts off with a good warm up and some dynamic stretching. Usually there's a little bit of fitness work first or some skills drills.

Sometimes we split into forwards and backs for some more targeted skill training, running lines and passing skills for backs, line-outs etc for forwards. I've been training with the backs, because honestly I don't think I'm big enough to be a forward, although it's also a shame I'm not really quick enough to be a good back haha.

We've done awesome fitness circuits with lifting, sprinting, jumping, weighted sleds (awesome), battle ropes and carrying team mates on your back and running. Definitely adds a new dimension to my fitness regime and gives me some fresh idea's for what I can offer clients of my own as well.

So, first impressions? I'm bruised all over and bust my lip up already, but... I'm LOVING it! The people are great, the fitness is great, the rugby... fantastic!

I'd definitely recommend joining your local rugby club, have a google, there must be one near you. If you're in Colchester pop along to Colchester RFC and join in.

Thanks for reading! More to come.

Most viewed post: Misconceptions of Women Weightlifting

Footwear for Fitness

We should really have different footwear for different types of training and I'll go through what's best for different activities.

Weightlifting

For weightlifting we want to be as stable as possible. Stability comes through the ground, our feet, ankles and all the way up through our body. If the ground we're on is unstable we wobble, we fall and lifting weight is dangerous. So the next link up, our feet, also follows the same rules. If what we wear on our feet is unstable... we wobble, we fall and lifting weight is dangerous.

So bearing this in mind, what kind of shoes are the best to lift in?

Flat and firm soled shoes are best suited to weightlifting. We want to have an unbroken surface area, flat and firm soles, something to feel strong against the ground with.

I wear Lonsdale Leyton shoes. They're nothing special, cheap and cheerful. Comfortable? Yes. Flat and firm soles? Yes.

There's loads of great shoes out there, I'd get some awesome Nike ones but I'm a cheapskate. There are also some great specialized weightlifting shoes coming out, Romeleos and adipowers. These are specifically designed for weightlifting and even give a solid higher heel for those of us with poor ankle mobility. 

Some people like to lift barefooted which I also do enjoy sometimes, but you must put safety first in a gym environment, lots of heavy things being thrown about means please do protect yourself as much as you can.

Running

There are different thoughts on footwear for running. Some people believe a minimal shoe which basically gives the soles of your feet protection and that's it is the best. However, I personally believe that with the impact of running; your feet, ankle joints and knee joints all need a bit more protection. Always go with a proper running shoe, breathable material on top with a 'spongy' heel and sole. It's definitely worth spending a little more money on running shoes, you can't really put a price on healthy joints. 

The running shoes I have are Nike Pegasus 32's, they're really comfortable to run in and give me all the proper protection.

Most specialist running shops, or even some mainstream sport shops, now have treadmills in which measure various things about your gait and running style. They can match you up with the best shoe possible for you.

Thanks for reading! I hope this post has been helpful for you, if it has please do subscribe to the blog and follow me on all the social media stuff. Instagram @neverforgottenfitness & Twitter @NF_Fitness. 

Previous Post: Skydiving: May Mayhem

Most Popular Post: Misconceptions of Women Weightlifting

Skydiving: May Mayhem

Left (Me), Middle (Chloe), Right (Chloe's Dad). Before the jump.

So for my girlfriend's fathers' 50th birthday we went for a spot of afternoon skydiving. It was just a jokey suggestion at first, but then it actually turned into reality. It is also my partners 21st birthday this year so it was a joint venture.

The nearest jump site to us is in Beccles with UK parachuting, it's a great place and the people there are all super friendly; it really makes the jump a whole lot less intimidating. I can't recommend the people or the place enough, so if you're around the Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk area or even further afield definitely pop along to Beccles if you're interested in doing a jump.

After signing the waiver and all that stuff, we made our way round to the hangar area. We got our briefing about what to expect and what position to be in when we jump. We then hopped on over to grab our awesome jump suits and even more dashing head wear and goggles. A guy came over to help get us into our harnesses correctly. (Side note: guys, I'd recommend wearing boxers/underpants that holds everything together, the harnesses can be a bit uncomfortable in that 'area'...).

We had just a little time to wait before it was our turn. My tandem buddy was a guy called Steve, really awesome chap. We got over to the plane and he checked over all my harnesses and everything (quite a comfort). The plane had no seats or anything, just a carpeted floor. We all shuffled in on our butts and sat between the legs of the person behind you, in my case it was Steve. The plane starts going and your tandem partner starts clipping you onto themselves with various clips etc and passes you straps to tighten.

The view was really great from the plane, really helps take your mind off the jumping out business. Your tandem buddy has a nice chat with you as well which also helps.

In our jump group there were 4 tandems, 2 solo jumpers, a cameraman and a guy doing an exam with an instructor. Steve filled my in on the order on the way up, the two solo guys, then me. We got up to the right height, then lifted the shutter up. As soon as the shutter went up the solo guys just catapulted themselves out, and before you know it we're shuffling to the opening and I'm hanging out over the edge. Get into position. Head back. What seems a millisecond passes. Falling...

Such a rush! Just falling, it's so loud! We get stable and your tandem partner taps you on the shoulders and you can put your hands out. It really felt like we were falling for a long time, air rushing around you and pummelling your face. Then, a jolt, the parachute opens and the deafening loudness, the rushing, it stops. All goes quiet. So peaceful. We circle about, dip and float down to our landing zone.

Landing safely (whew).

It was such a fantastic experience, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Like I said before, the place and the people were just amazing and I'd definitely do it again in the future.

If you're interested in doing a skydive pop on over to the UK Parachuting site.

If you've got any questions related to anything in this blog please do ask, comment below, message me on Twitter (@NF_Fitness) or Instragram (@neverforgottenfitness).

Thanks for reading!

Karl

Previous post: Nuclear Race

Most viewed: Muscle Mousse Cheesecake Recipe

Nuclear Race: May Mayhem

I've been trying to find the time and the place for an obstacle course type race for ages now, ever since my buddy did a Tough Mudder like a couple of years ago. I work a lot and most weekends as well so it can be quite hard to find time for stuff like this, but mid-May we found the perfect one on a free Sunday.

Pre-Race (Clean)

There are quite a lot of these obstacle course races now, the most popular being:

• Tough Mudder (www.toughmudder.co.uk)
• Spartan Race (www.spartan.com)
• Nuclear Race (www.nuclear-races.co.uk)

Of course there are many others, but these three are the most heard of. Recently, through Reebok sponsorship etc the Spartan Races have got quite a lot more publicity, on the back of the publicity going up it also seems the prices have as well.

Being popular in Essex but not quite as well known as the other races, the Nuclear Race was so much more reasonable than other races I'd looked into. There were two options for the race, a 6km or a 12km. Being someone who seems to enjoy punishment (take that how you will) I opted for the 12km, which was around £60. One of the great things about this race in particular was that it was is Brentwood, Essex which is only like an hour away from me.

On the 12km race there's about 85 or so obstacles and these range from muddy ditches, to 10m high walls, to death slides! I'll pop in a few photos for you guys to see below.

Para-Plunge (SO MUCH FUN)

Ebenezer (The most sticky, stinky and disgusting pool of mud ever...)

A group shot with some people we adopted getting through the trenches and rope nets.

Action shot! (Yes... I did fall in)

Sizing up the drop before sliding down.

A happy grimace of muddy goodness.

A 'we're alive!' photo at the end

Pre-Race

So first of all parking; parking was free and there was plenty! A short walk from the car park was the entry way, racers would go through one bit, non-racers another bit. Racers get a tag to attach to their shoe for the race for timing etc. 

Facilities at the track were great, loads of loos, tons of food and drink places and a couple of shops to get race supplies you may not have thought of or forgotten about, or for #LoveMud memorabilia. There was an announcer who actually sounded like Bradley Walsh (but wasn't...) and even a fun warm-up area which had a small climbing wall and monkey-bar type obstacles. 

Before the race proper all the racers go into a giant pen and the organisers take you through a warm-up which is led by a local fitness instructor, air squats and dynamic stretching galore. 

The Race and Obstacles

The actually running part of the race wasn't that bad at all, with the amount of people going through the obstacles you had plenty of time to rest if you needed it. 

The obstacles ranged from easy as pie to pretty testing, especially as the race wore on the obstacles got muddier and muddier, and slippier and slippier. Things like rope climbing, or swinging got really tough, there's just no way with that much mud caked on you and the ropes etc that some were possible later on in the race. Some, like the rope swing pictured above were designed so you couldn't get to the other side so you had to fall in the mud, which was cool 'cos it was fun. 

Most fun obstacles were definitely the Para-plunge and the Deathslide, I could just do those over and over again. 

Overall Opinion?

#LOVEMUD

Really, really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to anyone who fancies something a bit challenging, a bit fun and a bit messy. FIVE STARS. 

P.S. Bit obvious, but don't wear any clothes you're really fond of... 

BodypowerUK 2015: May Mayhem

Image above: Mattdoesfitness and I at the Machine booth.

Bodypower!!!!!!! As part of May Mayhem I hopped on over to Birmingham for Bodypower. I went the previous year as well so I will being comparing the two.

First of all I want to say Bodypower is a great event and I really enjoyed it. I'll go over some good points and bad points of the event but I do definitely recommend going because it is really good.

From Colchester to Birmingham it takes around 3 and half hours, I think we left around 9.30am, I think next year we'll leave a bit earlier or even stay over the night before because there's just so much to see and do that really you do need a whole day or even a couple.

So what is Bodypower? Here's me rambling on, Bodypower is a fitness expo for those of us in the UK. It has hundreds of stalls from food to clothes and of course supplements. There's also bodybuilding shows, talks from fitness superstars and demonstrations from chefs.

What do we all love? FOOD. So what was the food like? Let's just say that weirdly enough (at a fitness expo) it's probably not the most macro friendly day. Lots of burgers, sausages, sandwiches, protein icecream (oh yeh!). Yes, yes, meat is great for the ol' protein, and most was advertised as 'lean' meat etc, but it was all cooked in oil and wrapped in bread haha. Having said that, and again weirdly enough, let's just ignore macros for a sec, the food was damn tasty and let's face it we're there for an awesome day so let's enjoy some awesome food! The queue for Muscle Food was horrendous (well done them for being so popular, I'm a customer and a fan of 'The Diet Kitchen' Simon [who was at the stand] as well), but there was no way I was gonna queue for an hour to get some food. From other stalls I tried a lovely Wild Boar and apple sausage and a really fantastic Ostrich burger. I'd never tried Ostrich before but it was really, really good.

I'm a big fan of a few YouTube channels so I was really happy to meet a few, but I found that a lot of the people I wanted to meet were at the Gym Shark booth. Now, I'm all up for a decent queue, I am British after all, but 4+ hours in a queue to meet someone and have a picture? My god. I decided that I met a lot of them last year so I didn't really need to meet them all again, but we did queue for about half an hour or so so Chloe (my partner) could meet Nikki B.

So if you enjoy a good rant, here's my bad points, but please do bear in mind that I did really enjoy the day (just in case that doesn't come across much).

Gym Shark. Love the products, love the YouTube stars they've managed to attain. But! They have too many big stars at one booth, too many, it's really just greedy. It was a massive and really intelligent move from the Gym Shark owners to target popular YouTubers to rep their gear and to come to expos, but I feel like now there's just too many. People were queueing for hours, 4+ hours, some people were just queueing to meet one person but had to wait to get through everyone else. Stop being so greedy, drop some people and let them go to other stands so people can actually spend the day at different places and get to meet their fitness 'idols' in a normal amount of time. It was enough last year to have Ogus, Guzman and Furious Pete etc, but this year to add the Hodge Twins and Steve Cook? People already queue for hours to meet Steve Cook at the ON stand and the Hodge Twins could probably do with their own stand really.

Ok, so we workout and we wear clothes whilst we workout (most of us anyway), but seriously, anybody with a snazzy logo has decided to make a clothing brand. That's great if it's original, but a lot of the stuff was just copies of the more popular brands (like Gym Shark). I'd say at least 50% of the stands there were clothing brands, repetitive, unoriginal clothing brands (sorry guys), but it gets very, very boring after a while. The problem is if you pay enough you can have a stand and there doesn't seem to be any sort of weeding out process for the 'not so great' stands.

Food stands, I don't know what happened but we went on the 1st day and yet a couple of food stands had already run out of grub! "Hi, can I get a..." Sorry, out of this, that, this, oh oh and that, sorry. It's the first day guys, the first day. Get yourselves together.

Supplement stands. There was a lot of great supplement stands, but what constitutes a great stand for supplement company in the eyes of a consumer? Samples. Samples let us know that you trust your own product. It let's us taste it, see it, smell it. That's how you get us to buy your products. Why would you go up to a supplement company you've never seen and just randomly buy their products? You wouldn't. So I don't know why a few didn't do this simple thing. One stand I was hugely disappointed in was the iSatori stand, it was huge and took up a fair bit of floor space, but they had hardly anything on show, what was on show was so far away from the counter you couldn't see it and there were no samples. I really wanted to try and possibly buy their protein as I'd heard it was pretty good, but ended up walking away.

A great stand: Bulk Powders. Loads of things to try and taste, a vast array of products from protein to pre-workouts and even protein hot chocolate! Interesting products, flavours and you could TRY THEM. Awesome.

I was very unimpressed by the US supplement companies. As in there wasn't many. We live in Britain, we have easy access to all the UK based brands, PhD, USN etc, they're in supermarkets even. We want to buy the stuff we can't get usually, MTS, Cellucor etc. Last year Predator Nutrition had a stand and did have some great US products but I didn't see it this year. The Cellucor stand just had their pre-workout (in one flavour...) and their fat burner, that was it! They have so many products and their protein is AMAZING. Why the hell wasn't that represented? It's a huge event, thousands of people go, and you didn't bring any protein to sell? Bit weird.

I seem to remember last year receiving a 'map' on entry to Bodypower to help navigate around, but not this year, so I did find it difficult to find some stuff. There were some navigation points by a couple of the entrances but some stall weren't in their listed places, helpful. Also, there wasn't a lot of info about time and places for certain events being held, an announcement would've been great, "cooking demo to be held by the blahblah stand in 15 mins", that'd would've been super helpful!

Anyway, as I said earlier, don't let these bad points put you off, it was a really awesome day with much fun to be had! It's an amazing opportunity to meet anyone who you admire or respect in the fitness community, Kai Greene, Dana Linn Bailey, Christian Guzman etc. Branch Warren was just wandering around at one point! I will defo be going next year, I will see you there!

Be sure to go grab your tickets from BodypowerExpo site!

Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to follow on Twitter @NF_Fitness and on Instagram @neverforgottenfitness.

For training in Colchester or surrounding areas visit the Training Services info page above.

Karl

Previous Post - Army vs Navy: May Mayhem

Top Post - Misconceptions of Women Weightlifting

Army VS Navy Rugby: May Mayhem

It was a super busy month for NFF in May. At the start of May we went to the Army VS Navy Rugby at Twickenham, it was an amazing day. My father was in the Army (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers REME) for 22 years and thus for most of my school life I went to Army schools in various places. The Army Navy Rugby is a fantastic opportunity to meet up with old Army and School friends from back in the day, even if you have no ties with the Army or Navy it's still an awesome day out, great food, great company and obviously some great Rugby. We got up super early, takes about 2 hours or so to get to Twickenham from Colchester and of course it's good to see people and have a catch up before the game. This year we decided to get the Regiment Bar wrist bands so my father could see more of his old buddies, definitely worth it if you can, smaller queues at bars and virtually no queues for loos!

Images above: Wrist band, view from Twickenham balcony.

Images above: Army pre-match warm-up, pre-match flags & National Anthem.

The Rugby was really good and the Army smashed the Navy (as usual, sorry guys). I really enjoy Rugby and will start pre-season training soon with Colchester RFC, and seeing the skills displayed in the match on this day has really spurred me on. What's evident with myself is my acceleration and getting up off the floor needs to improve so unfortunately for me many burpees and HIIT to be done. 

So if you fancy a really awesome day out in May next year go and get yourself a ticket to this event from http://www.navyrugbyunion.co.uk/tickets and enjoy!

Follow me on Twitter @NF_Fitness and on Instagram @neverforgottenfitness.

For at home or outdoor training please go to the training services info page above.

Thanks for reading,

Karl

The Misconceptions of Women Lifting Weights

So many women are missing out on the incredible health benefits that come with lifting weights due to misconceptions that come from friends, family and possibly most importantly the media. We are constantly bombarded with images of overly muscular women and so naturally I don’t blame women for thinking that if they lift weights they will turn into something resembling a she-hulk. However what some women don’t realise is that those images we see of women with incredible bums, lean arms and perfect stomachs that we all aspire to look like actually achieve their physics through weight lifting. Through this post I hope to squash some of the rumours surrounding female weight lifting and hopefully encourage some of you to incorporate weight training into your workouts.

Misconception # 1: If I lift weights I will get ‘bulky’

This is the most common misconception and I hear it all the time. Even my own family ask me; aren’t I scared of getting too big? The short answer, no, no, NO! As females we don’t have the levels of testosterone in our bodies that is needed to support a ‘bulky’ physique. The women we see who are incredibly muscular have either achieved that through years and years of targeted and controlled training or most likely through hormone supplementation. However if you go into the gym and pick up a dumbbell you’re not automatically going to develop huge muscles. Muscle growth is slow and achieved by specific training designed to increase muscle size, so if your not aiming to get ‘bulky’ then you won’t.

Misconception # 2: If I stop lifting weights my muscle will turn into fat

The second misconception that I hear on a regular basis is if I stop lifting weights my muscle will turn into fat. This could not be more wrong. Muscle and fat are two completely different tissues and cannot turn from one into the other. Most people if they stop lifting weights will also stop exercise altogether and so naturally will start to lose muscle and gain fat. This therefore leads to the assumption that it is the muscle turning into fat when in fact it isn’t.

So why should you lift weights?

Bone Health

Weight lifting is the best weight bearing activity you can do. Lifting weights over a sustained period of time increases bone density. This may not seem very important if your between 20-30 however as you age, increased bone density helps prevents conditions such as osteoporosis.

Fat Loss

Many women think that running for hours on a treadmill will burn calories far more effectively then lifting weights. This may be true in the short term while you running. However the minute you stop running you stop burning calories. With weight lifting you’re burning calories while you do it but also because lifting weights involves tearing muscle fibres you will still burn calories when you stop as your body repairs the muscle. As you develop more muscle you will also burn more calories at rest as sustaining muscle requires more energy then fat therefore increasing your metabolism.

Confidence

This isn’t strictly a health benefit however there is something about being able to open that jar by yourself or carry something heavy without having to call on your husband/boyfriend. You’ll also notice that as your physique improves your confidence will improve too, as you feel happier about the way you look.

I hope having read this that I have convinced some of you to start incorporating weight training into your workouts. If I have, make sure you subscribe for handy tips and workout programmes to help you get started. Good luck!

Chloe

That Sugar Book by Damon Gameau

I spotted this book a mile off in my local bookshop, the brightness and the 'fun-ness' of the cover just drew me in. There's so much anti-sugar stuff about at the minute I thought why not give it a go. What made it stand out more for me, than all the other anti-sugar books, was how down to earth and fun the book is, inside there's so many bright and interesting pictures and illustrations.

The book is split into 4 parts: Damon's 60 day experiment, sugar science, experiment fallout and turning things around and finally recipes.

The experiment part is a truly fascinating read. He [Damon] wanted to see what effect 60 days of sugar would have on his body. From going from a healthy male who ate no sugar to eating the average amount of sugar a normal Australian would eat on a daily basis. Damon shows us how his mood, his body and his overall health changes. It's just super interesting to see how high (or average really) sugar intake can affect a person, especially it's addictive qualities and effects on the brain.

Not only do you see the affects of sugar on Damon over his 60 day experiment, you see the affect of sugar on different populations, the Aboriginals who consume crazy amounts of fizzy drinks, and those in America who suffer from 'Mountain Dew Mouth'.

The science-y part of the book is also great, not at all 'dumbed-down' but very clear and definitely fun. Every piece of information is reinforced with funky illustrations and data. There's great information about the different forms sugar takes (glucose, sucrose etc), insulin and how sugar can give us non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among other things.

The author follows up his experiment with how he got healthy again, the things he ate, how long it took to get back to normal. His test results were definitely thought provoking, especially finding out that he ate the same amount of calories pre-experiment as he did in just sugar during the experiment and gained weight. I've always understood that sugar is bad for us, but this experiment does make you think a lot more about calories in versus calories out.

The recipes are great, hearty and filling and most of all... without sugar! I must say the stew recipe is amazing and a new favourite in my house.

The book is also twinned with 'That Sugar Film' which I would love to see but has yet to come to the UK, although I have been assured it is coming soon! If you're in Australia or New Zealand do pop over to the website thatsugarfilm.com to see the showing times near you and to watch the trailer.

And to Damon, thanks for this book and for putting your own body on the line for the experiment.

Thanks for reading! Please do subscribe, follow on twitter @NF_Fitness, comment and like this page I really appreciate it. Please do ask any questions, I'm more than happy to help anyone.


See my previous post here: Strength Training Anatomy Review

And read my journey up Kilimanjaro here: Reaching the Top

Strength Training Anatomy by Delavier Review

This book is fantastic and I recommend it highly to everyone. It's drawings, of which there are over 600, are highly accurate and highlight muscle groups that will be targeted from each exercise that the book contains. Highlighted muscle groups are really useful to plan routines, especially if you're new to the gym and not sure which exercises work which muscles. The book is also broken down into different muscle groups, back, legs, chest etc, another useful tool for planning routines.  Not only does this book contain free weight exercises, it also contains resistance machine exercises, so no matter what gym you go to, or even if you workout at home you'll always find exercises in this book to do.  It gives tips on form and safety for each exercise, and this third edition of the book has extra pages on stretching and injury prevention. At the back there are two awesome drawings of Hercules, anterior and posterior, which details muscle names. Extremely useful for any budding fitness enthusiasts, instructors and trainers. I hope you find this review to be of use, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, just comment below or tweet me @NF_Fitness.

Exodus and African Walking Company Review

http://www.exodus.co.uk/

Exodus 5/5

We did (and by 'we' I mean my partner) a huge amount of research into various different companies we could have booked our Kilimanjaro climb with. Out of them all Exodus just seemed the most professional and with fantastic reviews to boot.

Their website is hugely useful and easy to use. We actually used the website an awful lot in the run up to the trip, checking the route, looking at pictures etc. 

Customer care is amazing and answered any questions we had, either via phone or on online chat. We received a really clear and concise equipment tick list so we could tick off each item we had. This was really handy as it was our first adventure of this kind, so it really gave us a good idea of what we needed to get or what we might have already.

They have a really good set up with the African Walking Company, sending us the Exodus bags, which are the perfect size and shape for the AWC Porters to carry. 

The flights were fine (although I'd not like to venture on an Ethiopian Airlines flight again if I could help it), saying that they were on time and clean enough, and isn't really a reflection on Exodus. All our connections and transportation were on time, and all the stop over hotels and lodges were fantastic. 

Hiring equipment through exodus is super easy and the equipment is of a high quality and clean. It makes sense to hire the big awkward items like walking poles, sleeping bags and big arctic coats etc.

All in all I'd definitely recommend Exodus to go on any trip with, they do some amazing ones, just take your pick. And if you're planning on doing Mt. Kilimanjaro then please read on about the African Walking Company.

The African Walking Company 5/5

What can I say about the African Walking Company? Brilliant, fantastic, amazing. They are the most friendly, upbeat and professional people I've ever met. Each guide was fantastic in their own way, as well as each porter. Lead guide Abraham met us on our first night to go through the climb and hand out any hired equipment. All the guides and porters were all just so easy to talk to and would answer any questions you had about the climb, Africa, their homes, literally anything and would love to hear about England and your home. 

The food, oh the food. The food was incredible, and I was in constant disbelief that the cook could make these amazing meals all the way up a mountain. We had three courses for pretty much every meal, for snacks we had popcorn and fruit to keep our energy up. For really long days we'd have lunch boxes made up with fruit, chocolate and even savoury pancakes or boiled eggs.

The tents and amenities were also great, especially the toilet tents as some of the long drops leave a lot to be desired. Plus the bright blue of the toilets tents were always easy to spot from a while away from camp so you had something to aim for on the last parts of the trek, weird but true.

The African Walking Company was just so friendly, professional and reliable. I can't recommend them highly enough, I would always choose The African Walking company for any trip that they do.

I hope this review helps you make a decision on choosing the companies you'll choose to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with, if you have any questions I am always more than happy to help, just leave a comment below or tweet me @NF_fitness.

Zanzibar

We landed on Zanzibar full of excitement. It was warm, sunny and we all felt so relaxed already. We hopped on the connection bus and made our way to our hotel. On the way the driver randomly stopped by the side of the road and after much deliberation on the price (we guess), handed us a bunch of tiny bananas, they were delicious, sweet and probably one of the best bananas I'd ever eaten. Great ploy by the driver to get a bigger tip, worked.

After a very bumpy ride we came upon the hotel. Wow, what a sight to behold. The hotel lobby is a huge wooden building, with a tall pointed roof, looking out to the sea. The bluest sea I'd ever seen, the beach the whitest beach, palm trees, everything you'd see on TV as the perfect place of paradise.

The 'rooms' were actually little lodges, each split into two sides. Petals laid out on the bed, it looked beautiful. On the porch was a lovely table and seat, and a hanging bed to lounge in.

We dropped off our stuff in the room, and headed straight to the beach to check out the views. The views were absolutely incredible and the hotel hugely comfortable, we felt so spoilt, especially after our gruelling climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This was pure luxury.

We spent a lot of the time relaxing on the beach, playing beach volleyball with the rest of the group and football on the sand. On one of the days we took a trip to Stone Town, as we'd heard much about it.

Stone Town was beautiful, fantastic architecture and winding streets. This was the perfect souvenir getting expedition, every shop had lovely trinkets, art, scarves and spices. I enjoyed the town but after a while I did find the constant badgering of the street sellers to be a bit of an annoyance. We visited a lovely little restaurant and got munched by mosquitos whilst we munched our food.

Whilst in Stone Town we visited a food market in one of the squares every smell and sight a real treat. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

The staff at the hotel were all really friendly too and would do anything for you. The cocktails at the bar were especially good, but my favourite drink was their ginger beer, Stoney Tangawizi. It's so weird going to other countries and yet the Coca Cola company is everywhere. There was even a hotel dog, a lovely old fella who slept mostly but enjoyed some cuddles every now and then.

In the evenings we'd have a lovely meal and all the group would chillout together playing cards, games and drinking. It was an amazing experience, one I'll never forget.

Exodus Travel Company and African Walking Company reviews coming soon!

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The Way Down #2

We awoke in a buzzing camp, feeling much warmer than the previous mornings. Following some great grub it was time for the tipping ceremony. It's customary at the end of each climb to tip the guides and porters for all their hard work. A member of the group is nominated to thank each party and give out the tips. Both before and after this all the guides and porters sing to all the climbers.

For the next hours of trekking downwards all that could be heard were the hums of joyous adventurers, humming the tune of their song.

We travelled back down through the forest, even spying a few cheeky monkeys along the way.

After many, many hours we reached a point in the path that was only metres away from the final gate. Some of our group were still a way behind us so the guide with us, Declan, took us on a little detour to a beautiful, dazzling waterfall. The rocks around it and the water itself seemed to shimmer with gold.

Once we'd taken in the awe of the waterfall we made our way back up to reunite with the others. Walking just a few metres around the corner was Marangu gate, the official end to our climb.

We waited at the shop for a while for the others and bought t-shirts and passion fruit fanta. It was incredible how much of a treat a fizzy drink was.

I gave Joseph, the guide who helped us on the final day up the mountain, my hat and buff as I noticed he didn't have either. I hope he still carries them with him. He's a true friend and we still exchange emails together.

A bus greeted us and off we went to a lodge to rest up in preparation for our flights to Zanzibar. Arusha airport is the smallest airport you'd ever see in your life. After being waved through 'security' we boarded our tiny 15 seater plane.

The pilot was a lovely chap and the tininess of the plane made us feel all the more adventurous, Indiana Jones style. After a really short flight we touched down in gorgeous Zanzibar.

To be continued...