MEET THE EXPERTS

PAT DIVILLY

Pat is an author, speaker and wellness trainer from Barna, Co Galway, who enjoys sharing the message of how to build a healthy body and mind. After starting with five clients on his local beach in May 2012, Pat has gone on to train more than 25,000 clients via his online training programmes and has three international best-selling books. Pat’s main focus now is on delivering corporate wellness solutions both online and onsite for businesses in Ireland and the UK. His groups have raised more than €250,000 for local charities and built schools in Nepal. Pat’s own fitness regime centres around Brazilian jiu jitsu training at the Shaolin MMA club in Galway. He has also taken up mountaineering, climbing the highest mountains in Europe and Africa, and will climb South America’s highest mountain, Aconcagua, in February.

PETA BEE

Peta is an award-winning health journalist with a lifelong passion for fitness and health.

She started running aged nine and hasn’t stopped exercising since, fuelling her appetite for research about the subject with degrees in sports science and nutrition.

In addition to writing twice weekly articles for a national newspaper and penning eight books, including The Ageless Body, co-written with Dr Sarah Schenker (Bloomsbury, £8.99) and Fast Exercise, co-written with Dr Michael Mosley (Fast Books, £7.99), she has completed eight marathons (one on roller skates) and is an athletics coach to 100 children.

Peta turns 50 next year and her goal is to emulate her great aunt who walked two miles a day aged 102.

CREDE SHEEHY-KELLY

Crede is a sport and performance psychologist who works with clients through her consultancy, Tiger’s Eye Performance. Her clients range from professional athletes and corporate leaders to individuals, all seeking to create the mindset required to achieve their goals. Crede believes that mental wellbeing is a key factor in reaching your potential. She has channelled this passion into creating and managing Rugby Players Ireland’s Tackle Your Feelings mental wellbeing campaign which aims to inspire more people to become proactive about looking after their mental healthy on a daily basis. Her favourite way to keep fit is to do what she enjoys most. Whether it’s surfing, yoga or sit-ups, she tries to make every fitness session a ‘want-to’ rather than a ‘have-to’.

DR FIONNULA McHALE

Fionnula graduated from Trinity College Dublin before specialising in functional medicine. She is also a certified sports nutritionist with the International Society for Sports Nutrition, as well as a strength and conditioning specialist.

She works one-on-one with clients, ranging from those with chronic disease to elite athletes, using an integrative approach to optimise health and maximise performance in life, the workplace or in their sport. To stay fit and healthy, Fionnula likes to mix it up with HIIT (High intensity interval training), yoga and weight training. Training is not just a passion, she says, it’s her medicine. She finds that regular physical activity is absolutely essential for overall health, whether that is physical or mental.

JEFF HOROWITZ

Jeff is a certified triathlon, running and cycling coach, as well as a personal trainer, with more than 20 years’ experience. Formerly a practising attorney, Jeff quit law to share his passion for endurance sport and healthy living. His latest book is Ageless Strength, which follows Quick

Strength For Runners (Velo Press, 2013), among others. Jeff is also the race director for the Ethiopia Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5K, held annually in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Washington, DC, and he teaches running, cycling, and strength training at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Jeff has run over 180 marathons and ultramarathons, completing at least one marathon in every State and on six continents, including Antarctica. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and their 12-year-old son Alex. Visit Jeff and read his blog at RunHorowitz.com

PROFESSOR GIUSEPPE DE VITO

Giuseppe is head of the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science. His main research interest concerns neuromuscular changes in ageing and the role of exercise in treating those affected by disorders such as diabetes. He has a long list of academic achievements to his name, including a PhD in Human and Exercise Physiology, and has held positions in Glasgow at the University of Strathclyde and, in Rome, at the University Institute of Movement Science. As a specialist in Sports Medicine, Giuseppe has in the past also worked as team doctor to the Italian Olympic Committee and understands the physiology of the athlete intimately, having represented Italy in the Modern Pentathlon himself. He also makes a point of taking regular breaks from his desk-bound work.