EVERY FITNESS MYTH ends here.
Training guides and gear reviews checked against the research, written by an NHS worker who trains around shifts and two children. If a claim can't be sourced, it doesn't get published.
FOUR DISCIPLINES. One standard.
Start wherever you actually train. Everything in each section is written from inside a full-time job and a family, because that is the life it was written in.
BOXING
Five years in the ring. From which foot goes forward to your first spar — schedules, gear for every budget, and the myths that won't die.
RUNNING
Couch to 5K through to marathon, road to trail. UK and European race guides, and the science on why your knees are fine.
LIFTING
Three-day programmes built around real life, and what barbell training actually does to a woman's body.
SUPPLEMENTS
Protein, creatine, pre-workout, vitamins. What the evidence says — and which half of the aisle to walk past.
THE LATEST, and what I'm working on.
SARAJEVO HALF MARATHON: THE COMPLETE GUIDE
A flat, certified half in a small European capital, under three hours from London, for around £350 all in. I'm running it myself on 13 September, so it gets a first-hand rewrite afterwards.
TRAIL RUNNING WITH A DOG
Gear, routes, pace management, and why running with an animal bred for it strips every metric away.
I DIDN'T START RUNNING TO GET FIT
My dad was an addict. I started running because I had a quantity of grief that would not fit inside a house.
THE MYTHS stop here.
Every one of these is checked against peer-reviewed research and referenced in full. Feelings don't change physiology, and marketing copy doesn't change biochemistry.
Research shows the opposite. Structured combat sport builds emotional regulation, discipline and resilience.
The relative rate of muscle growth is nearly identical between sexes. Starting point, training and diet drive the outcome — not a testosterone gap this large.
Long-term studies show recreational runners have lower rates of knee osteoarthritis than sedentary people.
THE BALKANS ARE THE MOST UNDERRATED running destination in Europe.
Everybody flies to Berlin and Valencia. Meanwhile there are mountain races in Montenegro carrying UTMB points, a marathon in Ljubljana bigger than most people realise, and a half in Sarajevo that will stay with you for years. Cheaper, warmer, far less crowded — and almost invisible in English-language running media.
SARAJEVO HALF MARATHON
Flat, certified, and a genuine personal-best course through a city that carries its history openly.
BOKA MARATHON
A flat marathon along the Bay of Kotor in December — 86 metres of climb, mountains on both sides, and a qualifying race for Abbott age-group rankings.
BELGRADE MARATHON
Over 13,000 runners across a flat, fast city course and the Sava bridges. The one most people in the region do first.
LJUBLJANA MARATHON
The largest of them all — close to 25,000 across the weekend from 86 countries. Flat and superbly organised.
FRUŠKA GORA TRAIL
Fourteen routes on one mountain — five ITRA-certified races from 22km to 134km, and nine hiking trails for everyone else.
Belgrade and Ljubljana are covered in the Balkans overview for now — each is getting the full treatment in turn. If you organise a race in the region and would like it covered, I'd genuinely like to hear from you.
NOT A GURU. NOT A COACH. Just real.
I work full-time in the NHS. I've boxed for over five years, run hundreds of miles of road and trail, and lifted for years. I am not a certified personal trainer, I don't sell coaching, and I have never accepted a sponsorship.
Fit & Myth exists because the fitness internet is full of advice from people who have never worked a twelve-hour shift, never trained at 5am because it was the only window, and never had to make a £60 gear decision count.
NO PLANS TO SELL YOU. Just what I've written.
An email when something new goes up — a myth taken apart, a race guide finished, or a piece of kit that turned out to be worth it. Roughly twice a month, never more.
No spam, no selling your address, unsubscribe in one click.
NO SPONSORSHIPS. No bull.
Every piece of gear on this site was bought at full retail price, trained in, and honestly assessed. Amazon UK affiliate links mean the same price for you and a small commission for me. That is the entire business model — no paid placements, no press samples, no exceptions. The commission comes after the honest opinion, never before.