rrTr   the unofficial hull kingston rovers webzine           

FIT

FANS                                     with  Chris Whitehead
 

Chris@Fit-Fans

Hitting 45 with an expanding waistline is no fun especially when you accept the only way around the problem is to buy a bigger Rovers shirt to cover the bulge in the midriff. You sit back watching the Superleauge with another can to wash down the takeaway thinking where has it all gone wrong, I used to be so fit, it's simple you've just got to get off your arse and do something . That's exactly what I did and I joined Fit Fans, 9 months later I sit writing this for DK 10Kgs lighter, fitter and wearing the next size down shirt again. All I can say it's the best thing I have ever done and now have 20 or so new good friends, who share a common interest Rovers. The comradeship of all starting together has pulled us down this road of pain, has been the catalyst to bond us in to a tight group of the first Rovers Fit Fans.

I joined the first group in May 2009 after undergoing a pre check up at the Fit Fans office in the city centre. I turned up at Craven Park full of anticipation in my new Kooga training top looking the business, we sat in the Rover's board room overlooking the pitch all feeling rather apprehensive waiting to go on the scales for our starting weight. Rob Ward from the NHS and Rob Fuller from HKR ran the sessions which consisted of about an hour of talking on why fad-diets don't work and why quick fixes quickly fail, issues relating to food, and nutrition and our body, half an hour on the pitch circuit training which over the twelve weeks slowly shifted to the other way round a full hour with us charging round like ten year olds on that sacred pitch, sat in the dugouts and stood in the middle looking up into the stands thinking of all the great players who had stood in that spot before us and what abuse we would get, like who are yeh and you fat bastards well they would not be wrong would they.Running out of the tunnel was one of the best bits each week, ready for another session all fired up until the week of the council cup when we had to train on the car park. We still came out of the tunnel towards the dugouts and the well was full of fans, laughing we quickly walked along the well to the Car park I bet we surprised the fans when they were expecting a team of young players.

 

                          

The training session on the pitch consisted of walking (minimum of 100 steps a minute) or jogging around a section of the pitch from the goal to the 40 yard line and in the middle of that rectangle we did shuttle runs, core muscle exercises for the stomach/back and resistance band exercises for shoulders, arms and legs. Away from this training each week we were expected to set aside 30 minutes a day (10 for walking at 100 steps per min, 10 on the bands and 10 on the core exercises). Each week we were weighed against our target of 5% fat loss over 12 weeks, losing no more than 1 to 2 kilos each week. I hit my target of 5% by week 7 which the first real weight loss in a couple of years, progress at last and it's stayed off.

The last session was in August we had a photo shoot and a game of touch rugby, we even messed around kicking high bombs and catching them, I think Shaun's position is safe (for the time being anyway). 

 

We all enjoyed the training so we asked if we could carry on and we were given the chance of going to the Gemtec arena to train with Hull City Fit Fans follow on group on a Friday night, same format for an hour. It was a good laugh at first because there were quite a few dullers on it. We enjoyed winding them up about their season, running them into the ground if one got in our group by upping the pace a bit and of course wearing our colours. But we needed to get back to East Hull, so we pestered Rob Fuller about starting something at Craven Park.

At the Wigan playoff match we were all invited along with the lads that did their Fit Fans on Thursday for a presentation on the Pitch from Rovers/NHS and our story in the HDM. Rob Fuller had been talking to the NHS and they were prepared to fund a follow on group from the Rovers Tuesday/Thursday Fit Fans doing a boxercise type class with a Martial Arts instructor at Craven Park, which leads me into how we have ended up doing MMA (mixed martial arts; Kick boxing, Jiu-jitsu and Krav maga) but that's another tale.