WIN: Change your life with health and fitness prize worth £400

We’ve teamed up with Tim Ford of Live Well Training to give away a health and fitness prize worth around £400.

The winner will receive 12 weeks of one-on-one personal training and advice with Tim, plus free use of the Fitness Bank in Douro Terrace, Ashbrooke, where the health and fitness coach holds his training sessions.

“It’s easy to be cynical about New Year, new you, but people often feel extra motivation at this time of year, it can give them the impetus to make a change,” he said.

Over the course of the three months, Tim will work with the winner for an hour a week, instructing them on how to use the equipment, training them and offering nutritional advice.

“After three months they will see some difference,” he said. “But this is about giving them the tools to change so it’s sustainable. I won’t be recommending any crazy diets. It’s important to focus on what they enjoy doing too, as if they enjoy it they are more likely to keep doing it. It will be a mixture of what they want, and what they need.”

He added: “My background is as a health and fitness coach working in the NHS with people who have mental health problems, as well as with physical health.

“It’s not just about physical fitness, it’s a lifestyle change as well. The training is not a counselling session, but it helps that I can give them advice in other areas if needed.

“Stress is a major factor which affects a lot of people, they have a lot of pressures with work,” he said. “But exercising helps because it eases stress while boosting self-esteem.”

Anyone can enter the competition, as long as there are no health reasons as to why they couldn’t exercise. And they should be willing to have their progress featured in the Echo.

Sessions would take place once a week, at a time of the winner’s choosing, between 7am and 9pm Monday to Saturday. They can also use Fitness Bank for free at anytime in those three months.

Tim said: “All I’m looking for is someone who has the motivation to change and someone who needs to lose weight.”

l For more information on Tim’s work visit www.livewelltraining.co.uk.

l To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is write a letter explaining why you want to make a change. Make sure to include your name and contact details. Send your letters to Fitness Competition, Katy Wheeler, 2nd Floor, Alexander House, 1 Mandarin Road, Rainton Bridge Business Park, Houghton, DH4 5RA.

Alternatively, you can email your letter to [email protected]

Letters should be received by January 30.