Gary Dawkins Personal Conditioner and owner of Creative Conditioning regularly writes articles on health and fitness for the Body and Soul section of the Otago Daily Times.

Marathon: 11 weeks to prepare

It's that time of the year, the snow has hit the hills and the winter chills are a handy excuse to stay out of the elements. But it is important to keep a focus on your health and fitness over the winter months. Read more...

Five weeks to fitness programme

Here's a plan to help get you on the road to fitness. Join us on a five-week exercise programme and enjoy the benefits.

The first two weeks will focus on lower-level cardiovascular, strength and flexibility exercises, building up to incorporate higher-effort anaerobic cardiovascular and strength exercises with progressive flexibility. Read more...

How to break away from habits that drive decade of obesity

We could be facing a childhood obesity epidemic this decade unless we get children off the couches and doing exercise. Fitness expert and personal trainer Gary Dawkins has some tips. Read more...

Set goals before starting fitness plan

Do you want to get off the couch and into life? Well, we can help.

Fitness expert Gary Dawkins, of Dunedin's Creative Conditioning, has prepared the second of our 10-week 2009 fat loss and fitness programmes. Read more...

Go on, get on the ball

Swiss balls are one of the most common pieces of exercise equipment, but often they are found lying around in homes gathering dust.

The odd one may be used as a chair or a fun toy for the kids to push around, or even as a social signal; after all, they are a trendy piece of exercise equipment to own. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 10

Congratulations. We have nearly completed the last week of our first 10-week introduction fitness programme. One week to go, and what a journey it has been.

Where do we go from here? After this week's programme, we can look forward to four weeks of maintenance - this phase is important for both the body and mind. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 9

Week 9 of our fitness and fat loss programme

Friday: Interval day. Choose a flat terrain walk. Complete a five-minute warm-up at 5/10. Walk for a minute at your maximum pace at 10/10 effort level (by the end of this minute you should not be able to hold a conversation as you will not have the breath). Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 8

We are finally ready to incorporate higher-effort interval training exercises into our 2009 fitness and fat-loss programme.

We will be working at a much greater intensity for a shorter period of time. This will elevate our heart rate well beyond levels we could get it to when working aerobically (with oxygen). Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 7

This is our final week completing lower effort (aerobic) exercises only.

From next week onwards we're starting to incorporate higher effort (anaerobic) exercises. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 6

How did your muscles respond to the beach body weight exercises?

A little bit of delayed onset of muscle soreness is exactly what's intended when incorporating resistance exercises into our programme. It is this muscle soreness that indicates our muscles have been appropriately overloaded. Read more...

Halfway on road to fitness

We are halfway through our 2009 fitness plan and it is time to check on progress so far. Fitness expert Gary Dawkins explains how you can measure your success.

One of the most important principles of a fitness and fat loss programme is progressive overload. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 5

There are more exercises on the beach this week. If there are no beaches near by just do the same exercises on the park.

Friday: Beach day - complete a 20 minute fast walk in the hard sand first (8/10) on our effort scale. Now we complete the following body weight resistance exercises. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 4

Well done! The general rule of thumb is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Today is the 21st day. By now your mind and body should both be willing and keen to continue.

In fact, you may well feel guilty if you have missed a day or two. t's amazing how addictive healthy eating and exercise can be. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 3

At week three you should be feeling an improvement in your fitness.

Friday: Hill walk.

Find a moderately steep (about 30deg) hill of about 300m to 400m and power-walk up it five times, working at 8-10 on our scale of effort. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 2

For those who have completed the first week of our fitness programme, congratulations! For those who have started, paused and stopped, perseverance is needed.

For those who have decided to start this week (on the next fine day or whenever!), integrity is needed. Whatever your situation, don't worry! Today's a different day. Read more...

Planning to lose weight

Watch the fat fall off by utilising a combination of a sensible eating plan, our 2009 exercise programme and a generally active lifestyle. Fitness expert Gary Dawkins has got us up and running with his weekly series. Today, he looks at healthy eating habits. Read more...

Getting into stride

Get off the couch and into life with fitness expert Gary Dawkins.

Today, we introduce the first of an eight-part series focusing on an exercise programme aimed at fitness improvements and fat loss. Read more...

Your 2009 fitness programme: Week 1

Do you want to get fit this year? Well, we can help.

Dunedin fitness expert Gary Dawkins will write a regular series of articles for Body & Soul on the broad and fascinating subject of health and fitness. Read more...

Fitness regime life-changing

Six months ago, Tavita Nielsen-Mamea's diet and exercise regime consisted of sitting in front of the television with about 10,000 kilojoules of "chips, takeaways, lollies and more chips".

The 13-year-old weighed 106kg, his body was 48% fat, and alarm bells rang when he thought he was going to die doing simple activities. Read more...

Gym members running for research

Members of a Dunedin gym are set to run up a donation of about $1000 for diabetes research.

Creative Conditioning director Gary Dawkins, of Dunedin, said about 70 gym members had been gathering sponsorship from Dunedin businesses to participate in the Moro Marathon tomorrow. Read more...

97kg Dunedin boy saved by the gym

Eight weeks ago, Tavita Nielsen-Mamea weighed 97.3kg and his body was 46% fat.

Alarm bells rang when the 13-year-old said he thought he was going to die doing simple activities.

Tavita's deteriorating health was noted during a parent-teacher interview and, given his mother died of a heart attack five years ago, his father Tony Mamea decided to enrol Tavita in a new youth fitness programme. Read more...