The Soup and Marching Band
Fitness Programme
A Kindle eBook by Gallowhill Fats
Who is this book for?
People who have let themselves go.
People who find even a short walk to the shops a challenge.
People for whom most fitness programmes out there seem to be too challenging.
People who can initially devote around 30 minutes each day marching to regain fitness.
People who need a gentle, gradual, measured journey back to a level of fitness that equips them for a normal daily life.
People who might want to lose a little weight.
Oh ... and people who like soup.
(There is also a route through the marching programme for people with a slightly higher initial fitness level.)
What’s it all about?
Hamish had severe hypertension, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, anaemia, a heart condition, was overweight and had suffered two minor strokes. Apart from that he was fine.
His fitness, though, was at a very low ebb.
He needed a programme of exercise and healthy eating to restore his fitness to a level where he could do the normal things in life comfortably like going shopping and carrying his groceries home.
And so March with Hamish was created.
Marching
March with Hamish is a 6-month graded programme of gentle exercise consisting of marching to the backdrop of some of the world’s finest marching music delivered in the form of carefully selected Spotify playlists.
Here are some playlist samples from each of the 6 months.
Souping
While the marching programme is the principal thrust of this book, in order to encourage some weight loss, Hamish was introduced to a healthy eating routine with soup playing a central role. The 5S2 (S = Soup) programme is a variation on the well-known 5:2 intermittent fasting theme. For two days a week the principal intake for lunch and dinner is soup-healthy and filling.
The Five-fold Way
There are five ways to navigate March with Hamish.
1. Hamish mode
If you consider yourself to be at the very lowest end of the fitness scale (something like Hamish) then at first you do your marching on a treadmill. This enables you to carefully manage your return to fitness.
The initial aim of the Hamish mode is to graduate to the mixed mode (treadmill and road). Marching outdoors is healthier, both physically and mentally, and is more effective at building up your strength—I think that you are more inclined to have a longer stride length on the pavement.
The treadmill can always act as insurance against inclement weather. You can be marching along cosy and safe inside come wind, rain or snow.
2. Road mode
The road mode involves marching outdoors and being wired for sound as they used to say. Your marching on the pavement is driven by listening to the Spotify playlists using earphones. Marching to the beat of a classic march is such a different experience from simply walking along. When you might be inclined to slacken your pace a fraction, the music drives you on. The difference is remarkable.
The road mode is treadmill-free.
3. Mixed mode
The mixed mode will occur naturally in the progression to fitness by those who start off in Hamish mode. In mixed mode you combine treadmill marches with road mode marches. You can do this in any proportion that best suits your circumstances.
4. Boost mode
Boost mode is for those who start from a slightly higher fitness level than rock bottom and can be followed with or without a treadmill. In this case I suggest joining the marching programme at the start of either month 3 or 4 giving 4 or 3 months of daily playlists, respectively.
5. Mental mode
Hamish added that there was also the mental mode. This was useful whenever he had forgotten to bring out his phone. He had listened to many of the tracks so many times that he could replay them in his mind as he marched along and it was an effective filip to his marching.