Beach sessions charge batteries

I've been on the ropes lately, knocked to the canvas by an extreme version of swine flu – or possibly worse.

Or maybe it's that man flu I've heard of.

It lasted four weeks and during the last two I stopped training and competing, but I'm feeling better now.

On Tuesday, I went down to the Tahunanui Beach at 6.30am. Gaye Evans was there, together with fellow trainer Lana King and 14 members of Gaye's regular fitness training group.

I've been to lots of gym training programmes and circuit classes – even done group training sessions on that very beach – but I've never enjoyed a session as I did this one.

It was great to be moving again. Scuffing up sand on one of New Zealand's nicest beaches while the sun comes up and the waves gently murmur in the background is hard to beat as a precursor to the working day.

Gaye is a top athlete who's represented New Zealand in both triathlon and duathlon. Nowadays, competition is taking a bit of a back seat to the demands of her growing business.

The 6.30am sessions at the beach run every day, but that's just the beginning.

After a quick trip home for breakfast and to get the kids off to school, Gaye's back for a further session at 9am three days a week.

The workouts continue at 12.30pm and 4pm at the Botanics – each of these sessions twice a week.

At the session I attended, after a short warmup, we split into two groups.

I started with Gaye, who had devised five different activities, each marked out on the beach with small cones.

These were all active running (forward and backward shuttles), side shuffles and jumping activities that got your heart pumping and helped with balance. Maybe it was because I was the new boy, but Gaye's philosophy of as much one-on-one time as possible meant that I was never at a loss over how the activity worked or what its goals were.

After a couple of short sessions at each activity, it was time to swap trainers.

Lana had marked out activities more focused on static activity, although a shuttle course and some skipping meant there wasn't time to cool off too much.

Some core strength work, with bridges, pressups and a curious sit-up machine combined with a couple of bungy cord strength exercises, completed the lineup.

Once we'd all worked through that set, it was time for a quick pause, then a group stretch and exercise session, which Gaye led.

For this set, we all stuck to our own mat, following the instructions from out front. Exercises for the shoulders, abs, gluteals and whole lot of other body parts I don't know the names of added up to a pretty thorough workout, the whole thing lasting an hour.

At the conclusion, there were plenty of dedicated regulars keen to give me their version of the benefits of the sessions.

Several of the group were from law firm Duncan Cotterill. They'd gone looking for a fitness trainer to help put together a package that would benefit staff at the company, and they found Gaye's site online.

Their approach led to Gaye putting together an eight-week package of five sessions a week, solely for the company. Back in the office, staff received a star on a chart for each session they attended and competition became quite keen as enthusiasm levels rose.

Another convert is Kathryn Laurence, who was introduced to this form of training during last year's Women's Activator series. She's been coming ever since and has expanded her fitness horizons to the point where she's now completed the 100km Grape Ride and the Spring Challenge adventure race.

She's also enthusiastic over the boost the programme has given her husband, Phil, victim of a head injury 12 years ago and who struggled with balance – even finding prolonged walking difficult.

After some half-hour one-to-one sessions with Gaye, Phil began coming to regular sessions, improved his confidence and his balance and now completes full hour sessions, as well as a lot of tasks around the home that used to be beyond him.

Mary Coghlan, another non-athlete who's found new abilities through the programme, recently completed her first competitive event in the Run Mahana 5km.

• For more information, check out the website at fitnesstraining.co.nz.