I’m loving my new cycling turbo, a Wahoo Kickr, and have been using it in the caravan as I’m at Ardingly for the Eden Crafts Christmas show. I have never been one for morning exercise but have been reading about the advantages of raising your heart rate at the start of the day.

With this in mind, I have been training on the turbo twice per day, once in the evening before bed, where I complete a hard session designed to increase my fitness. I then leave the turbo set up and get on it as soon as I wake up in the morning. This early session is gentle and lasts about 30 minutes.

Long enough to get my heart rate up and my blood pumping, but with a low intensity that won’t impact my day by taking too much energy.

I have just completed my third day of this regime. Not long enough to cement a proper habit, but enough to be feeling the benefits. My mind and body feel alive and alert. How stupid I have been to forget the positive effects of exercise on my mood and wellbeing.

I listen to different things in these two exercise sessions. In the evening, when I’m training hard, it’s pumping dance music that increases my energy and encourages me to concentrate on the exercise and the feelings in my body.

The gentle morning session is entirely different. I’m not training hard, and so I choose motivational videos from Youtube. I have a premium account, so they don’t get interrupted by adverts.

This quite morning time allows me to meditate as I exercise listening to the voices of those who have gone before, those who have lived their dreams and can guide our pathway to fulfilment.

I urge you to give it try tomorrow morning. Get up thirty minutes earlier, put your headphones on, press play on a Youtube video that you find inspiring and do some exercise. You might be walking, jogging, yoga, cycling like me or whatever comes to mind, but, please don’t watch the video’s, listen to them.

Don’t exercise hard; don’t overdo it. Make it gently and reflective. Raise your heart rate a bit, but not too much. This session needs to be relatively easy so that your mind is free to wander. Listen to the motivational words and imagine the joy of fulfilling your dreams. Picture them in your head and decide on what you are going to do today to bring them one step closer.

Together, we climb the mountain, not in giant leaps but one small step at a time.