A few of our class participants have been experiencing shoulder problems recently — it happens every year at this time, often as we head back into our gardens and start to overuse muscles that haven’t needed to be worked as much over the winter.

So for Exercise of the Week this week I am giving you a shoulder release, plus Jenny has put together a shoulder warm-up sequence which I think you will all find useful.

Do the release 4 times a day if you are having specific shoulder problems, then — as it starts to feel more comfortable — work on doing Jenny’s warm up every day, particularly if you are planning some work in your garden.

As always, work at the appropriate level for your body and keep away from pain.

My Dad used to love fishing. The night before he would start getting his kit ready, checking his rods and his line, filling up his fishing basket, preparing his packed lunch and getting his flask ready — and we always knew he was going to be planning a fishing trip by the fact he would arrive home from work with a box full of maggots which he used as bait … yuk, I found them fascinating, but revolting all at the same time.

He would get up at some unearthly hour of the morning — 3.30am sometimes — and head off. My Dad didn’t drive so we didn’t have a car, but we were lucky in that we lived within walking distance of a river so Dad would carry his equipment and head off over the fields until he found the perfect spot to set up. He loved the peace, the tranquility and the time that fishing gave him, so when I asked as an 8 year old if I could go with him, I’m not so sure he was that thrilled, but he said as long as I was prepared to sit still and be quiet that I could.

The main thing I can remember about the trip was that Dad would catch a fish but throw it back, and this happened a lot, and in the end I asked him why, what was the point of fishing, when all you did was throw them back in the river. Well of course, as all good fishermen know, if the fish are smaller than a certain size you legally have to thrown them back, you can’t keep them. I couldn’t understand the point of it, why did Dad continue to sit there for hours catching small fish that he then had to throw back?

Now, when I think about his explanation, I recognise the lesson he was passing onto me — because on one of these occasions the fish I get will be a big one, one that I will be proud to have caught, and all the time I have put in to sitting and waiting as I catch the small ones will not have been wasted, but will have brought me to this point of catching my big fish. Don’t give up at the first disappointment of just catching a small fish, keep on going, keep trying because eventually your patience and investment in time and energy will pay off and you will get your big fish.