My fitness journey started with Men’s Health. When it first came out in the UK in 1995, I was working at a hotel in Cyprus and I used to get clients to bring out copies for me. I loved all the tips and advice, and I used them to create a personal training routine that I still use to this day.
That routine starts every morning at 5.28am – for no other reason than I just don’t want to start my day with a conventional 5.30am alarm. It sounds early, but this is the only time of day I can have to myself. So I train alone at the gym for two hours. After that, my working day starts and everyone will get a piece of me – my boss, my family, my lovely children, my friends – but before 8.30am, it’s strictly me time.
My routine is the same – a quick warm-up, followed by a weights session for an hour. This is broken down into either biceps and triceps, chest and back or legs and shoulders, focusing on lower weights and high reps. After that, I do 20 minutes of core work, followed by 30 minutes of cardio. I love running – I started when I was 12, running long distance in school, and still complete half marathons and 10k races regularly. London’s Royal Parks Half Marathon is a firm favourite, which I’ve run multiple times. But to protect my knees, I don’t run daily. Instead, I use the cross trainer in the mornings for injury-free cardio, and only do interval sprints on the treadmill once a week.
I train almost every day, listening to what my body tells me rather than scheduling rest days. So, if I don’t want to jump out of bed like usual when my alarm goes off, I know to sleep in instead. I used to have a voice in my head telling me I’m lazy if I didn’t train all the time, but I’ve got better at suppressing it, as I know resting is important.
Injuries are my worst enemy, so I’ve adapted my training over the years to avoid them as much as possible. When I’m injured, I get quite depressed and spend my whole time fixating on how to remedy them. The last injury I had was a rotator cuff issue, which came from overuse. I had PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatments to help with the healing – it works by taking a blood sample and separating the platelets using a centrifuge, then reinjecting them in this higher concentration back into the patient. Platelets release growth factors that help with healing, making PRP helpful for accelerating repair after injury. I’m also a big fan of PRP as it uses your own blood – I don’t like experimenting with anything that puts something unnatural in my body.
‘The ultimate luxury is good health’
I follow a Mediterranean diet, focusing on whole foods and avoiding processed ones. I like to eat carb-rich fruit and cereals in the morning, and other than a protein shake at breakfast – to boost my protein intake – I don’t use any supplementation. You can get everything you need from a good diet. For example, I tend to eat a lot of fish, as it’s high in protein but low in calories. While I like to sprinkle olive oil on almost everything, I don’t eat fried foods and avoid visible fat – it’s why I don’t eat lamb. I’m also careful with my carbs, consuming them at breakfast then tapering them off during the day so that I eliminate them after lunch. Everyone is different, but it works for my body if I want to stay lean.
But what’s more important to me than aesthetics is the happiness training brings me. I love the feeling I get from the endorphins afterwards. Plus, for me, health is wealth. I work in the luxury sector and I see people enjoying luxury cars, holidays and fashion all the time, but the ultimate luxury is good health. That’s why training hard and good nutrition isn’t a trauma – it makes me feel alive. Longevity is my goal.
Those natural, biological changes that happen as we age are inevitable, but there are things you can do to delay them. Focusing on a good diet, cardiovascular capacity and muscle mass is the key, but it’ll only work if it’s something you enjoy.
George Kyriacou is a member of the Men’s Health SQUAD. Join today for training plans, exclusive events and the chance to be featured in the magazine.
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