Let’s Get Physical

A program designed to encourage children to eat and make and more healthy food choices has evolved and is helping toddlers to develop healthier eating habits. MEND which stands for Mind, Exercise, Nutrition….Do It, are and organisation which has been funded by the National Lottery, offer a program open to children between the ages of  7 and 13 who have been classed as been obese or overweight.

The new program known as Mini – MEND began trials at the end of 2007 and it’s aimed at children between the age of 2 and 4. MEND achieve their results including the parents and therefore encouraging the family to be more conscious of their food intake and physical health. It’s by no means a diet, but a sensible lifestyle change aimed at preventing unhealthy behaviour progressing into adulthood.

There are currently around 250 locations nationwide and still growing! For more information check the MEND website: http://www.mendprogramme.org/

Right, so now you should have an understanding of the things that annoy the hell out of gym users. They are clearly inconsiderate and not necessary. Now let’s put a more positive light on things and look at the things we should all be doing to encourage a more effective and aggravation free gym environment.

Do:

•    Acknowledge the space around you to be sure you’re not causing obstruction
•    Be responsible for your personal hygiene and not punish others with your smells
•    Ask to work between sets and allow others to work in between sets with you, allowing a free flow especially in a busy gym
•    Always check that someone has finished with their equipment before hijacking it
•    Ask those obstructing you when you’re working out to move
•    Show mutual respect for others in the gym
•    Train in the appropriate areas, especially when the gym is busy
•    Use common sense
•    Be patient and mindful of others, especially those that don’t know any better

So to conclude, it’s not rocket science but basic common sense mutual respect goes along way. Just acknowledge that everyone else has also paid membership to be there so treat them the way you would like to be in return.

There are many things that annoy me in life, but this is one of those few things that just get my goat! How many times have you thought “I can never get a piece of equipment” or “why can’t that person go and stand in that free space and work out rather than right next to me?”. And don’t you just hate it when you’re waiting for something and the person “using” it is just having a casual chat?
Well let’s look at a few gym Do’s and Don’ts:

Don’t:

• Leave equipment covered in your own sweat for the next person
• Hog equipment when you are not using it
• Invade personal space while they are working out especially when they are mid exercise. It’s very distracting and can result in some injuring themselves
• Talk for ages to anyone around, or even worse on your mobile phone. It’s distracting to those of us who actually want to work out.
• Leave your weights littering the gym floor when finished

Start doing these things and next we’ll talk about what you should be doing!

Through exercising as little as 20 minutes a day, you can alleviate the symptoms of stress.
Research has shown that regular exercise will release a natural hormone produced in the body called Endorphins. These Endorphins create a positive state of well being and is known to an Anti-depression effect. When stressed the body can get all tensed up. This is because the muscles can contract tightly resulting in aches, pains and general stiffness. Exercising can help to release that the muscle tightness. But the most important effect of all in my view, is that regular exercise promotes deep sleep which in turn creates a more relaxed and refreshed feeling and can promote an overall feeling of well being and general health, as the body repairs and refreshes itself while asleep.

Besides making yourself look like a goody two shoes and making all those on break look bad, what drives people to work through their breaks? The reply is an all too familiar one, “there is too much work to do”, or “I can work through my break and leave on time!”

Well both statements have been time and again proven to be clearly wrong. Those same people will stress because the work is still never done and after missing all their breaks to get it done, they still end up working late. Why is this?

There is no need to feel guilty taking beaks they are there for a reason. The body has a natural rest and activity cycle, whereby it needs to rest after every 90 – 120 minutes for a minimum of 20 minutes. Long periods of continuous work leads to poor concentration, tiredness and more error in judgement. Overall this creates a highly stressful state! As a result it could actually take more time to get the work done.

So next time you feel you need a break because you can’t think straight, you clearly should have already had on, so go take it, you’ve earned it!