The Inbetweeners star has a shed full of gym kit – and reckons an hour on the pads can turn his entire day around.

Blake Harrison may be best known for playing Neil Sutherland in The Inbetweeners – a character whose greatest sporting achievement was arguably that dance – but away from the cameras, the actor is a surprisingly good role model when it comes to looking after his health, and a serious mixed martial arts fan.

So serious, in fact, that he hosts The MMA Fan Show podcast and has filled a shed at home with training equipment.

‘I have a big shed filled with gym stuff,’ Harrison revealed in an interview with The Times. ‘I’ve always loved mixed martial arts but these days I’m trying to do more weights.’

And, to be fair, his routine sounds not only pretty dialled in, but also refreshingly realistic. After returning from the school run, Harrison fuels up with yoghurt, fruit and nuts, followed by a protein bar, before trying to get straight into his training.

Whether the weights are delivering the physical results he wants is another question.

‘It hasn’t worked out – I’m still slim!’ he jokes.

But gaining size isn’t the only reason Harrison trains. For him, the biggest and most immediate benefit comes from putting in some work on the pads.

‘A workout is very good for your mental health,’ he says. ‘After hitting the pads for an hour, you feel better about everything.’

It’s a short observation, but a smart one. Training is often judged entirely by what can be measured: weight lifted, muscle gained, calories burned. But one of its most overlooked – and perhaps most valuable – benefits is simply how it changes the way the rest of your day feels.

There’s something uniquely cathartic about pad work, too. It demands enough coordination and concentration to steer your mind away from whatever else is rattling around in there, while still giving you the visceral satisfaction of repeatedly hitting something as hard as you can. As a bonus, it’s also an excellent workout.

Harrison’s approach to looking after his head doesn’t end in the gym, either. His advice is to ‘regularly detox from social media’ and ‘give yourself a break’. Sound advice.

He’s also trying to pay more attention to the other side of the workout equation: recovery. He admits that he and his wife are working on their sleep hygiene, although giving up watching television in bed remains ‘a struggle’.

His biggest piece of advice is straightforward, but again, full of wisdom:

‘Everything is worse when you’re tired. Get some sleep!’

Weights for the body. Pad work for the head. Sleep to recover from both.

A pretty solid formula, we’d say.

With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    

Advertisement

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   

 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.

Chris Hemsworth and his wife, Elsa Pataky, are known for their health and fitness-focused lifestyle.

But the Spanish actress and model’s latest workout video has sparked an online debate over whether she is promoting a health regime some have labelled “unachievable”.

Pataky, 50, recently shared a video of herself exercising on a boat, dressed in a bikini and sun hat. In the clip, she performs a series of exercises using a foam roller and fitness band.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

“You don’t need a gym. You don’t need perfect conditions. You just need to start,” she captioned the video.

“No excuses. Just move.”

The post has received more than 80,000 likes on Instagram, with many followers praising Pataky as an “inspiration” and thanking her for sharing her fitness tips.

But others took issue with the message behind the post, arguing not everyone has the time, money or circumstances to prioritise their health and fitness in the same way.

While Pataky’s point was exercise can be done almost anywhere, critics said the message overlooked the realities of people who are juggling work, family and financial pressures.

“No gym just a €1M yacht, private chef and lots of free time,” one Instagram user commented.

Others, however, came to Pataky’s defence, arguing her level of fitness is also the result of years of discipline and hard work.

“Of course having help and money to pay for help gives you the luxury of time and with that the ability to invest in yourself. But this lady has worked hard to look this way and that is undeniable,” one person wrote.

Pataky and her Australian actor husband, Hemsworth, regularly share their demanding fitness routines on social media.

Pataky has also turned her passion for health and exercise into a career, releasing the fitness and lifestyle book Strong: How to Eat, Move and Live with Strength and Vitality.

The book features high-intensity exercise circuits requiring minimal equipment, along with simple nutrition advice and tips for staying motivated.

Hemsworth founded the digital health, fitness and wellness subscription program Centr.

For Pataky, staying active is about more than appearance.

“If I’m not exercising, I don’t feel strong. I feel soft and I don’t like it,” she previously told Body And Soul.

“I am a very active person. I want my body to stay young — in strength and energy. I want to still go horse riding with my daughter when I’m 80!”

Pataky, who lives in Byron Bay with Hemsworth and their three children, has previously said the couple first bonded over their shared love of an active lifestyle.

“Chris and I love to do sports, eat healthy and move our bodies,” she said.

“We’ve got the kids into surfing.

“Any hobbies to get them outside, and not on social media and computers. My daughter has been horse riding with me since she was two-and-a-half.”

In many ways, September feels like more of a fresh start than January ever does. No matter how old you are, it seems to retain that back-to-school energy – which is why so many of us use this month to get back on track with our health and fitness goals.

Actually getting started, however, is often the hardest part.

It’s something 69-year-old fitness icon Denise Austin has noticed among her own friends.

Speaking on Instagram, the fitness instructor, bestselling author and creator of Fit Over 50 magazine said many of them wanted to move more but were struggling to turn good intentions into action.

‘A lot of my friends are saying, “Denise, I’m lacking some motivation”,’ she shared in a recent video.

‘I wanted to come on here as a girlfriend, just to tell you little things that I do to get me jump-started again,’ she added.

Denise’s solution is refreshingly simple.

‘The first thing is I just tell myself I’m going to do five minutes: five minutes of a walk, five minutes of toning… That way, my five minutes turns to 10 minutes. Mentally, if you just say five minutes, you’ll be able to get it done and then go a little further,’ she explained.

She finished the video with one of her trademark sayings: ‘Remember, if you rest, you’ll rust.’

It’s advice backed up by research. While rest and recovery are essential for health and longevity, long periods of sitting come with genuine health risks – and even brief movement breaks can make a difference.

A major study involving more than 90,000 people found that spending long, uninterrupted periods sitting was associated with a higher risk of cancer-related death.

After tracking participants’ movement over 12 years, researchers found that every additional hour spent in prolonged sedentary behaviour – sitting or lying down while awake – was associated with a 10% higher risk of dying from cancer.

The encouraging news? Breaking up those long periods of sitting with even light activity, such as household chores or a gentle walk, was linked with a lower risk. Greater benefits were seen with moderate and vigorous activity.

So, if you’re struggling to get back into an exercise routine this September, Denise’s advice is worth remembering: don’t worry about committing to an hour. Start with five minutes.

Chances are, once you’ve begun, you’ll want to keep going.

One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.

Get the plan

Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women’s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis.  She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity.  A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.