It’s week two of our Love Yourself Healthy campaign.

So it is time to meet another of our voluntary gym instructors and personal trainer Kostas Viazis, 35, from Penistone.

He is a married father of two girls aged three and one. When he isn’t working out, he plays football, runs, cycles and climbs

“It was exciting to learn about training yourself while qualifying as a gym instructor and personal trainer. I like to help other people to understand that it’s easier than they think it is to get fit and I love to encourage them.

“Many people that come to the gym have previous experiences of going to a gym. However in many cases they don’t really understand why they are doing what they are doing, or exactly how they nee to do it. I like to help them understand this,” said Kostas.

“To keep fit, I do a mix of cardio and weights, but I concentrate on weights in the gym, as I do lots of cardio outside of the centre,” said Kostas.

“Most people that come to the gym have similar goals – get fitter, stronger and feel better. A steady weekly schedule will definitely get them there.”

Kostas looks to his legs for the first of his favourite exercises.

LEG PRESS

“I like the leg press. It works three or four groups of muscles. It uses the front and back of the leg. It’s working hard. It’s great for warming up, then you can move on to something like the leg extension or the leg curl and isolate specific muscles.

“For the start I like to concentrate on the big muscles. The bigger the muscles the more calories you burn,” said Kostas.

TOP TIP

“After a certain age people should really look after their muscles and I try to share that with them,” said Kostas.

He reminds people that muscle work is important – recent studies have referred to the importance of maintaining muscle strength in later life.

“Keeping your muscle tone and working on that has been shown to enhance the quality of life and enable people to keep doing more things into older age,” said Kostas.

Follow this link to find out more about later life muscle strength – this includes links to the NHS guides to physical activity in later life.

Also find out how exercise helps you live longer – according to the BBC here

Let the leisure centre help you Love Yourself Healthy. No contract, simply take an induction (followed by your first session for free) to be able to use the gym whenever it’s open – click for opening times.

Request an induction online today – click here.