Health and Fitness: Lambourne Partners' Paul Franks to take on staff in Variety Spin 4 Kids

If you work in a profession which requires you to be on your feet and mobile for most of the day then chances are you’re getting your fair share.

But, if you work an office job that requires endless hours sitting at desk, you might be struggling.

According to www.steptember.com, “for office, call centre and retail employees 75 per cent of time is sedentary while at work” and an average office worker takes 3000 steps a day compared to the recommended 10,000.

Steptember involves taking 10,000 steps each day for 28 days from September 4, which means it is not too late to sign up. Money raised goes towards supporting people with cerebral palsy.

You might even be able to convince your colleagues, or boss, to enter a work team and support each other into having a more active workplace.

One Newcastle business getting the workplace moving with a bit of a different twist is accounting firm Lambourne Partners.

They are among 30 groups who will shed the corporate wear this Friday to take part in the Variety Spin 4 Kids cycling event, which is being held at Harbour Square.

The twist to their entry is that partner Paul Franks will go solo on one bike for the six-hour challenge and take on six of his staff in a team effort on another bike.

Mr Franks, who is 48 and in training for the gruelling ironman world championships in Hawaii in October, said it was “all in the name of fun”, but was also keen to have the bragging rights over his team.

“Our practice tries to support local charities,” Mr Franks said. “We thought it would be good in that respect and also from a health and fitness side. We try to encourage staff to be active. Last year we had around 10 staff do the Fernleigh 15.

“I do a bit of triathlon so this fitted in well and we thought it would make it a bit more fun and create a bit of banter.”

The event raised over $40,000 last year and this year Jason Bourke, Variety’s head of regional development, said they were ramping up the technology to more accurately track each team’s kilometres travelled in the six hours.

Obviously for accountants that is pretty important and Mr Franks agreed, saying: “We’re going to need something to make sure it’s been verified that I outrode them”.

“There’s already been plenty of banter and I think there will be more after the event, but it's all in good fun,” he said.

Last week Lambourne Partners had raised $5500 for the Variety event, which is raising funds to support the unmet needs of disadvantaged Australian kids. 

This month is International Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month. Every two hours an Australian woman is diagnosed with some form of gynaecological cancer and every five hours one dies.

To raise awareness, Blacksmiths Family Medical Practice will donate $10 for every cervical screening test performed at their practice in September to Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation to support medical research.

Variety Spin 4 Kids, Harbour Square, September 7: A six-hour team or individual cycling charity event on stationary bikes to help disadvantaged children of the Hunter. 

Tomaree Trail Run Festival, Fingal Bay, September 23: Courses include a half marathon, 11.5km, 6km and kids event. The scenic trails are through Tomaree National Park, the Samurai Dunes and Fingal Bay beaches.

Fernleigh 15, Fernleigh Track, October 21: A 15-kilometre course along the iconic Fernleigh Track. Do it as an individual or as a team of five with change-over zones at each railway station along the track.

With some wet weather predicted, don’t let it put a dampener on your spring goals. Grab a skipping rope. The great thing about skipping is you don’t need much space to get a good workout. 

Part 1: 20 squats with alternating single-arm shoulder press, 30 skips, 10 push-ups, 20 mountain climbers, 20 lunges, 30 skips, 10 pull-ups/rows, 20 mountain climbers, 20 ab rotation with weight, 30 skips, 10 glute bridge. Repeat twice. 

Part 2: Skipping intervals. 15 sec hard: 45 sec easy or rest; 30 sec hard: 30 sec easy/rest; 45 sec hard: 15 sec easy/rest: 60 sec hard: 60 sec rest. Repeat.

Send your health and fitness news to r.valentine@fairfaxmedia.com.au.