The results came in on Friday. Just over twelve months of working with my amazing trainer Dave Aston, or Super Dave  as he is known to my friends and family, has delivered some impressive results. Results that I simply could not have achieved on my own.

I have never been a couch potato although I can do a pretty good impression at times – trashy TV and a tub of ice cream are not really my style – I’m more likely to curl up with a Jane Austen and a glass of red if I really need some comfort. Over the years I have tried all the big name diets and all have worked to different extents for a while. I have also exercised pretty regularly with a mixture of  swimming, going to the gym and walking. Nothing has had a huge impact and nothing has lasted – until now.

I went to Dave because my dear friend Gill said he was good and so he has proved.  My friend Geraldine had been on at me for a while to get a trainer and as she is a source of great wisdom I really should have acted on that advice earlier. But, as Dave would say, that was then – let’s look forward and get on with it.

There is something about that combination of expertise and encouragement that makes personal training work so well. Like any good working relationship there has to be trust and respect on both sides. Add in a wicked sense of humour, an irrepressible appetite for life and a compassionate nature and the training becomes a joy. Of course I have worked hard – harder than I imagined possible. There have been moments when I have inwardly cursed that trainer’s sixth sense – the one that enables them to tell when you are ready for the next level even  though you had decided to keep quiet.

There have been days when my crazy busy job meant that I should have stayed at my desk and picked up a pen rather than drive to the gym and swing a kettle bell.  But I tend to keep appointments so I went and returned to that desk with a clearer head and a better focus.

And what were those results? I have lost 2 stone in weight, my BMI has dropped 6 places and I have lost 4% of my body fat. My blood pressure, which was not too bad to begin with, has significantly improved. I know from the last test with my GP that my peak flow is the best on record. Super Dave is very pleased, I think I might even be best in class at the moment. Imagine if a new diet or a new drug was able to deliver these sorts of improvements – it would be headline news around the world, learned commentators would be talking on television about the huge savings for the NHS and investors in the city would be scrambling for a piece of the action. But it’s not a diet and it’s not a drug. It’s personal training. And it works!