Steve Haywood is a qualified Personal Trainer (Member of the Register of Exercise Professionals No. R0035374) who took to personal training following a life-long love of walking and competitive running. Steve Haywood is a member of Ilkley Harriers and has run with Otley AC & Wakefield Harriers. Visit his website for nutrition, health and fitness tips or join his regular running sessions in Ilkley through Run in England. 
As more and more sports are implicated in using drugs to enhance performance, I have just read an article that takes the biscuit (or the pie). Some may think that pie eating will never become a sport. By the 2020 Olympics it will be included along with Marathon TV watching. Please read on:- A Wigan [...]
In this article H & S stands for Health and Safety (and related legislation). So what has this to do with my world of running some may ask. Well, the reason I have been prompted to put fingers to keyboard was because of a local race that has been cancelled. The race in question was [...]
Here are two simple tips to help with running relaxed, even when pushing the pace along. Keep you hands loose and relaxed, not flopping around but not clenched fists either. Once you screw your fingers into a ball it tenses up the rest of the body making your stride pattern shorter and generally tiring you [...]
My work brings me into contact with lots of runners so I get a good idea of what’s on the horizon regarding future races. A good proportion of the people I have talked to are working towards their first marathon next year with London, Edinburgh and Paris high on the agenda for April/May time. It [...]
The seasons are turning once more and it’s time to get the waterproof socks and high-vis tops out again. Here are some of the top selling Winter items among fitness fanatics this month: Inov8 Flyroc More and more people want off-road shoes for training in muddy conditions during the Winter – especially if they are [...]
My work takes me in to lots of different working environments eg schools, call centres, police forces. Talking with hundreds of staff on a personal level it is very evident that the single hardest thing to cope with is stress. Someone at one of these sessions joked that if you could hook up stress to [...]
The first things that need to be understood are the names used by instructors. One of any exercise eg one press up, is called a repetition. A multiple of an exercise eg 12 press ups, is called a set. So if you are instructed to do one set of 12 repetitions it would look like [...]
Walking is arguably the most natural thing we do, and we have been bipeds for tens of thousands of years. However, as most of us are aware, the modern world has gradually reduced the amount we walk. Transport, especially cars, mean that even on the shortest of journeys people have ceased to walk. Recognising this [...]
About a month ago I decided to enter this years Great North run and raise money for Candlelighters. This meant altering my mind set from leisurely jogging to a more constructive training programme, one that would get me round the half marathon in a reasonable time. I knew I would have to step up my [...]
I recently wrote an article about nature’s high. This was about how exercise can secrete feel-good chemistry in your body with even mild exercise. This is part of achieving what I have called “the positive cycle”. When training people and giving advice about exercise I believe it is a good method to give imagery to [...]
Races and Results