Let’s Get Physical

Kickboxing is a great, fun way of keeping fit and I’ve listed some tips below which will help you in the right direction.

• Ensure that you warm up and stretch off properly so your muscles don’t cramp up and cause you pain
• Focus on the basics. Don’t try to run before you can walk, so aim to perfect the jabs, kicks and other moves before adding power or moving to more complicated moves
• Don’t overdo it. If you’re tired, that’s your body telling you to stop. Have a drink of water, rest for a minute and start back where you left off.

Most girls will be put off by weight training by the mere thought of gaining muscles and ending up looking like Arnie. While this is almost physiologically impossible for us women to build muscle up like this due to lack of the testosterone hormone, our muscles are metabolically active meaning that they burn calories even when they’re not exercising.

With age comes the loss of muscle mass; from the time we reach our 30s we begin to lose thee to five percent of our muscle mass per decade so adding resistance to our training will help to fight the middle age spread and counter the effects.

Training for a 10k can be hard work but great fun. 10k runs are popular throughout the UK with seasoned runners and beginners alike. I think 10k is a good distance to run and upon completion you get the satisfaction of accomplishment and pure satisfaction of having completed the distance.

It’s a brilliant challenge that anyone can train for, whatever your fitness level but the ideal training timescale would be eight to ten weeks before the actual run. If you worry about being able to fit the training in due to work and a busy lifestyle, don’t worry. It can be easily fitted around with a little organisation.

Whether crunches are more beneficial then situps is a difficult one to decide. Both have their slight advantages and disadvantages and cannot really be compared with one another. I don’t think so anyway.

Some people say crunches have no effect as lacks the full range of movement therefore does not use the majority of the muscles in the abs. What is true however, is that the situp does not use any more muscles than the crunch, believe it or not. The only extra workout you are getting from a situp is the movement is from the hip with the hip flexors. People who say situps is better then crunches will most likely have limited knowledge of biomechanics.

If there’s one exercise that provides better, faster results and gives an all over body workout over them all, it has to be the burpee. That’s why burpees are favoured amongst the elite military forces worldwide, every football team and Crossfit trainers.

This simple, easy to learn exercise uses the whole body with each repetition, working your abs, arms, thighs, chest, front deltoids and the hamstrings. It tests not only your core body strength but also your aerobic capabilities and is one of the best exercises for burning fat. What I love the most about burpees is it can be performed anywhere, from the park, living room and on the road.

There a misconception that doing a million sit-ups and/or crunches will tone up your waistline and burn fat to reveal abs. However this is not the case is it?
Well doing abdominal exercise alone is not the key, however research has come to light suggesting that prolonged abdominal work over a reasonable amount of time, say 15 to 20 minutes with little to no rest will encourage not only abdominal tone, but specifically burn fat in the stomach region.
To succeed in this exercise it’s about quality over quantity over a variety of four ab movements targeting the various regions, such as lower, upper and oblique abdominals.
This should be followed up by some cardio from 15 – 30 minutes to burn the fat released from the fat cells in the abdominal region.

The kind of headline you would expect to see in your local tabloid paper but if you have been playing five a side football, been on a long run (especially in these humid conditions!) or been working out in a gym, this headline couldn’t be much further from the truth.

Keeping yourself well hydrated is in general an important factor for life, however it becomes exceptionally important during activity as this is the time when most fluids and important salts and electrolytes are lost from the body and they therefore need to be replaced.

Sport drinks are often the best and most preferred way to do this as the flavour often encourages  drinking in comparison to the bland taste of just water and the fact that they are designed to replenish lost fluids and nutrients is there added bonus factor.

Research shows that the preferred way to consume any drink during or after an activity is cold. This is why drinks machines are their most useful. They can dispense bottled water and sports drinks to the individual taste which is useful to encourage rehydration. Of the sports drinks out there, I would recommend Lucozade Sport, Lucozade Hydroactive and Gatorade as being the better choices of sports drink out there, however beware as with all sweetened drinks of possible dental caries.

In my opinion water is always the best choice. Keep it natural.

Are you like me and get thought so much junk mail through the post. Most of it either for the even expanding take away business that seem to be taking over the neighborhood or else its Business telemarketing lists trying to get me sign up for the latest fancy gadgets. Or else its the phone constantly ringing asking more questions than my morage adviser would do!!!

However on this occasion the marketing junk mail actually proved well worth reading. Usually I get so annoyed when you here that mail box flap rattle I get all excited at the prospect of mail but no its just some rubbish but I was about to be proved wrong. I don’t know that but it was a marketing survey questionnaire all about the local services in the area and what you thought the local community would benefit from. For ages I have been moaning on about the local council run gym saying how small and poky it is, it is fantastically cheap for but I actually wouldn’t mind paying a bit more if they invested in new equipment or more of it.
Also as it’s a council run the aerobics classed are not covered in the monthly subscription as the gym rents out the rooms to privately held classes. This class for which are so expensed and for a limited number
Anyway getting back to the point the survey that landed on my door mat must have caught me at the right moment as I poured my heart out about what I wanted from the local services in particular the gym got it. Posted it back and forgot all about it
Well 6 months later what a surprise the gym is now expanding and I have a 3 month free pass for when completed. I think there was a lot of factors and I am not saying that my voice was the leading light to change but some times if we do take the time to fill a simple survey in, you can make a slight difference.

I must say after doing the Manchester run last Sunday I think I have now got the running bug back. I must explain that I did use to run a lot but over the last year I have got out of the habit. There is always an excuse particular over winter why run in the freezing cold. After a hard day at work all you want to do is swap your executive office furniture and collapse in your favourite chair rather than tying up the laces on your trainers than go for a run.

However I must admit I so enjoyed the run last Sunday I have now re thought and decided this was the push I needed to get my running shoes back on again

Nothing bores me more than to pace endlessly at the gym on the tread mill wishing every second of the clock would fly by but instead love the freedom of being outdoors

I must admit I am very fortunate to live on the edge of the country side so it is not difficult to be two minutes from my front door to the great outdoors

The one thing I haven’t forgotten however is just how hard it is to get back the stride I once had. Its seems too go the moment you stop the routine of regularly running and it is so hard to get back again. Every step hoping the next 5 minutes will be easier. But I am determined with the bikini calling me that I am going to be running fit for summer. London marathon may be a tad out of my reach but everyone has to have a goal

With it being half term I thought I would consider the options of outdoor activities to get the kids activite and most importantly from under your feet.

Look not everything means having to rush out and buy the latest outdoor equipment, what with the current economic climate not everything has to cost a fortune the main thing is to got get children interested in the outdoors being fit and getting fresh air!

So what is a typical outdoor activity it doesn’t have to be climbing Everest or scaling and 1000 foot high mountain ridge.

Outdoor activities usually means enjoying pastimes away from civilization, like hill walking, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, running, or cycling, kayaking - basically just spending time with family.

As long as you are taking pleasure in the out doors enjoying scenery and nature, and making sure EVERYONE is free of stress from work either the office or housework enjoying nature. As mentioned there are more expensive alternative which you can find down the tourist board but hey when you have 3 kids with friends it can be a tad on the expensive side

Trekking

Why not try Trekking – no this has anything to do with dressing up in some dodgy space film outfit, but outdoor walking in the country side. There are so many options and route that can be taken to suite all levels of fitness. Why not make it a full day out with a picnic. Get the kids to document the route buy finding things of nature to make a scrapbook of the day event at the end of the day