Five rules from the pitch that work in the office

Warm up before anything

No coach starts a session with a whistle and a sprint. Five minutes of warm-up — then the body is ready. In the office that means: don't open the hardest email at 8:01. Ten minutes of walking, coffee standing up, then into the work. Body and mind run on the same principle.

The break rule: 45/5

In a kids' session no drill lasts more than 8–10 minutes. In adults, focus holds for about 45 minutes. After that — five minutes to stand up. Not scrolling your phone sitting down: stand, walk, refill the water. I teach classes of 36; when I forget to break, I see it on their faces at exactly 40 minutes.

Step count isn't a goal — it's a gauge

Ten thousand steps is a marketing number. The real number is "more than yesterday". If yesterday was 3,000, today's 4,000 is a win. Kids on the pitch don't run because there's a target, they run because the ball moves. Find your ball: walking meetings, the far parking spot, calls standing up.

Strength twice a week

From 30 onwards the body loses muscle unless you challenge it. No gym needed: twenty minutes at home, twice a week — squats, push-ups (knees are fine), plank, stairs. I do this with the teenagers in class and they're surprised how hard it is without weights.

The coach doesn't shout — he repeats

The most important thing I've learned: a kid doesn't learn from one video, he learns from repetition. So does a habit. Don't look for the perfect plan, look for the plan you can repeat on a Wednesday night when you have nothing left. Mine starts in the morning with a bottle of water and a green sachet, because it's the smallest thing that tells the body "we've started".

A routine that holds in a bad week is worth more than a perfect plan that holds for one.

This week

Pick one of the five. One. Hold it for a week, then add the next.