I have been inundated with messages all asking the same thing, what is this new fitness programme you have taken up?

Well first let me say that I joined a fitness club as a joint exercise with my wife Karen, she has always liked swimming and working out, in earlier years I kept myself in reasonable shape by working as a carpenter, when I turned professional dart player in 1976 that all stopped, for years I travelled the road, many thousands of miles, with this kind of life my eating routine changed dramatically, it did not take long to settle into the life of a junk food eater, snacks in the day time would be burgers or KFC night time meals would inevitably be Indian or Chinese take-aways, now I am not saying I did not like these types of food, I still do but the times I would eat them (usually after 11-30 at night) had it's toll, the pounds pilled on, from 12 stone to 16 stone, of course the pints did not help either.

I thought this was part and parcel of being a touring professional dart player and happily went along with it after all there were not many fit looking players around in those days, one day on tour with Cliff Lazarenko in the middle east we were lazing around the swimming pool I could not help noticing even though it was 95 deg the only two people sweating cobs was Cliff and myself, we were the big guys, I made a decision that day to lose weight, over the next two months I lost over 2 stone, I used a diet to do this and did not take any exercise.

I felt good and kept the weight off for a few years but to be honest it did nothing for my darts, my concentration was not what it used to be and that is right there at the top of my list in what makes a good dart player great.

When I divorced in 1998 and remarried Karen 12 months later my life changed dramatically, I had taken almost a year off from darts, I only played in tournaments, I did not take any exhibitions, during this time my batteries recharged and my desire to play at the very top level returned, I knew if I was to compete with the modern day professionals I would have to improve my standard, my concentration and my fitness.

I changed my diet and my drinking, I cut out eating after 7-30 whenever possible and tried to eat varied but healthy food, it worked and my weight dropped to 12 and a half stone, people said I was to thin and I looked drawn, well I would after being so much over weight for the last 15 years, I liked my new weight and the nice part was that I could go up 5 or 6 pounds and take it of again within a few days, this year I decided to go a step further and try to improve my overall fitness, this is when we joined our local Cannons fitness club.

It was a few weeks before I found a programme that suited me, I did not want to lose weight I wanted to improve my fitness and co-ordination hence an improvement in my concentration (to be honest I wanted to improve the distance of my golf drive at the same time) I tried the programme set out by my personal trainer and between us we arrived at a work out that suited my requirements fine, I must stress that it is important to seek professional advice when taking a fitness programme, it is quite easy to injure yourself by trying to go it alone, the wrong weights and the wrong set up of the machines can cause more harm than good, so after that rather large introduction and explanation of how I arrived at Cannons let me introduce you to my own routine.

It is very important to get the oxygen flowing through your body before going through any routine and I chose one of three ways to do this, I cycle on the fixed bike for 10 minutes in Cardio at level 10 or I will take a brisk walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes at level 8 or I will take 5 minutes on the rowing machine in level 8. any of these three will take the heart beat up and the body will be ready to exercise.

I then go through a routine of 10 machines in any order depending which ones are vacant, on each one I will only do 12 exercises.

Arm Curl 12 no at 35 lb
Abdominal 12 .. .. 42 .
Pullover 12 .. .. 42 .
Seated Row 12 .. .. 42 .
Lat pull down 12 .. .. 42 .
Chest press 12 .. .. 42 .
Hip abductor 12.. .. 60 .
Inner and outer.
Arm extension 12 .. .. 42 .
Pectoral fly 12 .. .. 42 .
Rear deltoid 12 .. .. 42 .

I will then finish off with 15 minutes on the treadmill in level 8 at speed 7.0

It's then time for a spot of relaxation, a sauna, steam room or Jacuzzi for as long as it takes, my workouts usually last for one and a half hours, sometimes two and the cost, £38 per month for unlimited use of the club and all it's facilities.

The one thing that did open my eyes at Cannons was the members, they come in all shapes and sizes and all ages, once they overcome that initial shyness or embarrassment of not being the perfect shape but knowing they are trying to do something about it, everything is fine.

Results, well I am still in there, my ranking has improved, my enthusiasm for the sport even at 57 as never been better, the results speak for themselves and believe me I feel so much better in myself, I know this when we are on the road and the exercise as to stop and my golf drive: 10 yards longer off the tee (not guaranteed)

Speak soon off to Cannons.