http://www.diet-and-health.net/Supplements/Lactase.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-vinegar-diet.htm
http://www.puredairyfree.co.uk/recipe.php?id=97
DEEP PAN PIZZA
Dairy free
Gluten free
Suitable for vegetarians
Number of servings: 2
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
INGREDIENTS
BASE
75g Pure spread, melted
100g grated carrot
1 egg, beaten
150ml water
100g brown rice flour
100g potato flour
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
Salt & pepper to season
TOPPING
25g Pure spread
50g organic tomato puree
1tsp dried mixed herbs or 1tbsp fresh herbs, chopped
1 tomato, sliced
50g courgette, thinly sliced
½ red, orange or green pepper, diced
3 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
Fresh basil leaves to garnish
Carrot slice cut into stars
METHOD
1. Melt 25g of Pure spread in a pan and stir-fry the courgette, peppers, broccoli and spring onion for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes last and cook briefly. Put to one side.
2. Liquidise the carrot to a smooth puree with the water and egg.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together for the base with 3 tablespoons of Pure spread. Quickly fold the flour mixture into the puree. Do not leave to stand.
4. Heat a 20cm frying pan, greasing the base with remaining Pure spread. Pour the batter into the pan and cook until the mixture bubbles and sets. Carefully turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Each side should take about 10 minutes. While cooking the second side, spread the top with the tomato puree, a scattering of herbs and top with the stirfried vegetables. Remove from pan and serve on a plate, garnish with basil leaves and carrot stars. This pizza can be served hot or cold.
Sunday 31 October 2010
Thursday 28 October 2010
Striking the right Attitude
If you take a look at any success story and grasp the one element of similarity between them, you'll notice that virtually every self-made, successful person has this one super-important object of success in their mind- a burning desire to succeed. What counts is your frame of mind. Age, location, ethnic origin, gender, or any other individuality have absolutely no part in your attitude to become what you desire.
This is where you start.
TAKE SOME POSITIVE STEPS:
Look in the mirror and pick out your best feature. If it's your eyes, then keep those eyes in the back of your mind when someone criticizes your calves or points out your pimples or braces.
RESPECT YOURSELF:
Unless you do, getting anyone else to is next to impossible. You need to put yourself first in order to keep everything else in perspective.
GET BETTER EVERY DAY:
Plan to do one thing that will help you improves physically, intellectually, emotionally, even spiritually. Making just one change for the better will boost your attitude from the inside out.
LIKE ALL YOUR PARTS:
Make friends with every part of your body and face. You can lose weight, you can alter and conceal anything, but your uniqueness will take you through your life. Accept it all, and then you can make the necessary changes to those areas that you like less.
LITTLE THINGS ADD UP:
It's amazing, really.
The seemingly meaningless things you do for yourself may not have immediate results, but after just a short period of time they'll have you looking and feeling better. So add those bubbles to your bath, make sure you eat your vegetables, and the results will be worth it.
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LIVE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE:
There's saying that thoughts become things. There's another saying that you wear your spirit on your face. Whether you buy into either philosophy, the more beauty you integrate into your life, the more familiar it will feel.
MIRRORS DON'T LIE:
Catty acquaintances can. Well-meaning friends might out of kindness or fear of hurting the friendship, but if you've got spinach in your teeth, your mirror will point it out.
JUST GO:
If you just can't get rid of that cowlick in your hair, that pimple on your nose, or those extra three pounds from yesterday's buffet, just throw some gel in you hair, conceal that pimple the best you can, and wear something that's not too clingy.
BE AN OBSERVER:
When you see someone who just shouts confidence and beauty, write down what it is about that person that made her stand out. Was it her walk? Her hair? Although it's hard to nail down "polish," there are probably things that this person does that are just a little bit different or better that makes her special.
RELY ON YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER:
When you think you can't possibly walk through that door or go out "looking like that," let the person who knows you best, that inner best pal, walk with you.
APPRECIATE :
To get that attitude going the right way, you need to appreciate your face and body for what it is.
It may be unrealistic to tell you to love it, but you certainly shouldn't hate it. You definitely need to value what life has thrown you. That's easier said than done in this society of model adulation and unrealistic standards.
This is where you start.
TAKE SOME POSITIVE STEPS:
Look in the mirror and pick out your best feature. If it's your eyes, then keep those eyes in the back of your mind when someone criticizes your calves or points out your pimples or braces.
RESPECT YOURSELF:
Unless you do, getting anyone else to is next to impossible. You need to put yourself first in order to keep everything else in perspective.
GET BETTER EVERY DAY:
Plan to do one thing that will help you improves physically, intellectually, emotionally, even spiritually. Making just one change for the better will boost your attitude from the inside out.
LIKE ALL YOUR PARTS:
Make friends with every part of your body and face. You can lose weight, you can alter and conceal anything, but your uniqueness will take you through your life. Accept it all, and then you can make the necessary changes to those areas that you like less.
LITTLE THINGS ADD UP:
It's amazing, really.
The seemingly meaningless things you do for yourself may not have immediate results, but after just a short period of time they'll have you looking and feeling better. So add those bubbles to your bath, make sure you eat your vegetables, and the results will be worth it.
Advertise Here
LIVE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE:
There's saying that thoughts become things. There's another saying that you wear your spirit on your face. Whether you buy into either philosophy, the more beauty you integrate into your life, the more familiar it will feel.
MIRRORS DON'T LIE:
Catty acquaintances can. Well-meaning friends might out of kindness or fear of hurting the friendship, but if you've got spinach in your teeth, your mirror will point it out.
JUST GO:
If you just can't get rid of that cowlick in your hair, that pimple on your nose, or those extra three pounds from yesterday's buffet, just throw some gel in you hair, conceal that pimple the best you can, and wear something that's not too clingy.
BE AN OBSERVER:
When you see someone who just shouts confidence and beauty, write down what it is about that person that made her stand out. Was it her walk? Her hair? Although it's hard to nail down "polish," there are probably things that this person does that are just a little bit different or better that makes her special.
RELY ON YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER:
When you think you can't possibly walk through that door or go out "looking like that," let the person who knows you best, that inner best pal, walk with you.
APPRECIATE :
To get that attitude going the right way, you need to appreciate your face and body for what it is.
It may be unrealistic to tell you to love it, but you certainly shouldn't hate it. You definitely need to value what life has thrown you. That's easier said than done in this society of model adulation and unrealistic standards.
food women
Learning how to eat healthy, again.
Foods we eat, low carb, low fat, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, whole foods, have a direct bearing on how we feel: our energy, mood, appearance, and body image are all influenced by our dietary choices.
In order to solve weight problem, we needed to stop focusing on what people should be eating and instead focus on why they eat unhealthily in the first place. Behavioral psychologists have studied and found reasons for unhealthy eating. For instance:
Convenience is a major factor in what people choose to eat. Having to cook is a drawback.
Access is key. If candy is within arm's reach, it is hard to resist. If it is out of sight in a cupboard, we eat less of it. If it isn't in the house at all, we are very unlikely to actually get in the car and seek it out.
The main causes of overeating bouts are not hunger or the deliciousness of the food, but emotional and psychological cravings.
Larger serving sizes make us consume more food (even if we don't finish the serving).
There is little relationship between meals; for example, eating a large lunch will not help us eat a small dinner.
We eat or drink more from large half-filled containers than from small full ones but believe we have consumed less.
In order to overcome these hurdles we need to develop a whole new relationship between food and body.
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Learn to differentiate between hunger and craving: To find out if you're feeling a craving or getting hungry, give the urge to eat a 10-minute waiting period. If you've moved on to doing something and you suddenly realized you're not hungry, it was a craving; if the urge to eat is still there, chances are you're getting peckish. By breaking yourself of eating when habit, the clock, or your best friend says it's time to eat again, you will reacquaint your body to eating in response to hunger rather than outside cues.
Try to overcome the guilt: We love food, but we struggle with the temptations and the guilt, the way it makes us feel bad about ourselves. Having to count calories takes away the enjoyment of eating and turns it into a math game fraught with worry. The need of the hour is to cultivate smart lifestyle habits that help you exercise naturally and eat right without thinking so hard about food.
Chew your food properly before swallowing: Chewing food certainly helps with digestion, it also slows down the meals. Try it and you'll be eating less food. Fast eater, tend to gobble down as much food as quickly as possible without letting their stomach say, "I'M FULL! STOP!". Slow and conscious eating, will help you realize getting full and it will feel good to stop eating.
Eat foods that make you feel good: Learn to identify and incorporate foods that leave you feel healthy rather than those that leave you stuffed or guilty. Eating fruits and vegetables, colorful salads etc. will make you feel good, so eat them. Sugar can make you feel depressed. Too much corn makes can make you bloated.
Learn to identify serving size: Use measuring cups and spoons to compare serving sizes that you would typically eat with the standard serving sizes listed on food labels. You may be surprised by the amount you’re overeating. Eating the right kind of food at the right time in healthy proportion will prevent undesired weight gain To exercise portion control try to change your eating habits so that your meals and snacks are balanced with a variety of healthy foods. Eat the foods you like to eat, but master portion control. It takes just a slight energy imbalance to cause a gradual increase in weight . Say you ate just 50 excess calories a day, that is, you ate 50 more calories than you burned during physical activity. That means five extra pounds in a year.
Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.
By eating healthy you can develop better looks, better health, better spirit and above all a better YOU. Eating is a spiritual act. Let's get started on rediscovering that spirit.
Top 10 Steps to Changing Your Eating Behavior
Do you alternate between following a meal plan and losing weight (being “good”) and falling off the plan and regaining weight (being “bad”)? It’s a frustrating but common cycle. Nutrition experts Ellie Zografakis, RD, and Dale Huff, RD, CSCS, co-owners of NutriFormance Personal Training and Sports Nutrition in St. Louis believe that behavior modification strategies--rather than diets--can help you break this self-defeating cycle and make lasting lifestyle changes.
Enlisting the aid of qualified professionals (e.g., a registered dietitian, a physician, a personal trainer and/or a psychologist) will make it easier to interrupt old behavior patterns. You can also begin to practice the following lifestyle change principles developed by Zografakis and Huff:
Stop Dieting. How can you lose weight if you don’t diet? Creating a deficit of about 500 calories a day for one week should result in a 1-pound weight loss. Most people can incur a large part of this 500-calorie-a-day deficit by exercising and making moderate changes in food intake. In choosing this approach you avoid the negative consequences of rigid dieting.
Become Physically, Not Externally, Connected to Eating. Internal hunger cues--such as a rumbling stomach, a slight headache, fatigue, irritability and decreased concentration--are meant to remind you to meet your energy requirements and maintain your natural set point weight. Reconnecting with your physical signals of hunger and satiety can help you acquire the internal power to regulate your food intake.
Use the Rating of Perceived Hunger (RPH) Scale. Using this scale can make you more aware of your internal hunger and satiety cues. Think of 0 as indicating extreme hunger and 10 as signaling extreme fullness. With the scale in mind, begin to read your body’s signals. Your target range should be between 3 and 8. If you go to 0, you may eat too much too fast, particularly since it takes your brain 15 to 20 minutes to sense that your body is full. You should begin to eat at 3 on the RPH scale and stop at 7 or 8, when you’re comfortably full and satisfied.
Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.
Neutralize Food. There are no good or bad foods--all foods are okay when eaten in moderation. Forbidding certain foods may simply make you want them all the more. If portion control is a problem with particular foods, try specific strategies with these items--for example, measure out one serving of potato chips and put the bag back in the pantry.
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Do Not Skip Meals. Eating frequently throughout the day (3 small meals and 2-3 snacks) will stimulate your metabolism. Skipping meals (including breakfast) can decrease your metabolism.
Dispel Myths; Do Not Create Them. A safe weight loss is 1 or 2 pounds a week, not 20. Be wary of supplements and meal replacement products. Product testimonials may or may not be true; spokespersons may or may not have any credentials. Remember, a healthy body comes from healthy eating.
Be Supportive, Not Critical. People lose weight at different rates. Weight may drop off quickly at first and then plateau, or vice versa. The important thing is that long-term healthy behavior gets results. Reassure yourself that you are working hard and remember that hard work pays off.
Watch Your Language. Do you find yourself thinking “I will never lose weight” or “I feel fat”? Watch for thoughts that are negative or irrational, rather than supportive of your goals. See if you can accurately describe your mood. Are you angry, sad, afraid?
Understand that “fat” is not a feeling.
Change the Reward System. You are probably used to rewarding yourself and being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than for altering your behavior. Create a system of rewards for the positive changes you make, rather than the numbers you see on the scale.
Top 10 Ways for Healthy Eating
VARIETY – BUT NOT TOO MUCH
As there are no food that contain an optimum combination of the required nutrients such as fat, protein, minerals, vitamins, water and fiber, the diet much include the required quantities of the various nutrient groups in order to guarantee optimal provision. Naturally each group contains some foodstuffs, which have a higher rating from the point of view of physiological nourishment, and others, which have a lower rating. So, in the group showing cereals and cereal products, we have a slice of whole meal wheat bread, which is rated higher than a slice of toasted bread made from milled white flour.
LESS FAT AND FATTY FOODS
Pay special attention to the so-called hidden fat. This includes for example fat in meat, delicatessen meats, cheese, eggs, nuts, cakes, chocolate, etc.
Make sure that this hidden fat amounts to no more than 30 to 40 grams a day. This way, you will have information not just on how high your daily energy intake is and how high our fat consumption is, you will also learn whether the combinations of the main nutrients meets the recommendations.
SPICY BUT NOT SALTY
Your sense of taste will very quickly got used to salty food. If you start eating very salty food for a few days you will then find food with a normal amount of salt very tasteless. At the moment many populations use of average twice as much salt as recommended, that is, ten grams of cooking salt instead of five grams per day. Most cheeses, preserves, prepared dishes, snacks, and delicatessen meats, cooking aids such as stock cubes, mustard and concentrates are particularly salty. On the other hand, there is very little salt in milk, yogurt, fresh vegetables, meat and herbs, Use fresh herbs for taste. Only add salt alter tasting. If there is an iodine deficiency, the use of iodine salt is recommended since this can help to prevent iodine deficiency.
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NOT MUCH SWEET FOOD
Just as we can form a certain threshold of acceptability for salty food, so too can we for sweet food. A certain dependency on sweet things can develop in this way. While they have a relatively high energy content, sweets have a relatively low nutritional value. Simple sugars and refined sugars are frequently combined with saturated fats. Especially stick sweets, such as candy, bonbons and pralines, etc, threaten dental health by forming canes. Anyone who eats sweets regularly is absorbing too much energy and is giving up nutritious foods ion exchange for sweets with little nutritional value. This, of course, means that the body will be provided with fewer of the nutrients it needs to survive. In addition, sweets offer absolutely no way out of this situation. Even if they contain no calories themselves, they are first of all contributing to raising the level of the sweetness threshold for the sense of taste, and secondly they cannot satisfy the hunger for carbohydrates, because they do not contain any. This is how, when people are hungry and when the blood sugar level is low, they often consume more sweet foods than they actually need for their energy requirements. So if you feel like eating something sweet, you should have some fresh or dried fruit.
MORE WHOLE MEAL PRODUCTS
The consumption of products manufactured from milled white flour mainly reduces the quantities of fiber, vitamins and minerals consumed. These elements, contained in the external layers of while wheat, are mostly lost when it is milled. As the fiber intake of many people is less than the recommended 30 grams, and as the provision of the B-vitamins and certain minerals is not always guaranteed, we should not do without the benefit of whole meal products in our diets.
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A WEALTH OF VEGETABLES, POTATOES AND FRUIT
Fruit and vegetables contain mainly carbohydrates, which are supposed to supply more than half of the energy we consume every day, in addition to this, fruit and vegetables provide the body with fiber, vitamins, minerals and water. The high water and fiber content mean they have a relatively low energy content. Pulses – like potatoes – have, in addition to their particularly high fiber content, a very high protein content, the value of which is enhanced when combined with cereal or milk products. Even deep-frozen fruit and vegetables can be recommended if, as is now common practice, they are quick-frozen immediately after harvesting. This process preserves vitamins, which are often lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables, which have generally spent a few days in storage, which causes volatile vitamins to be lost on their way to the store.
LESS ANIMAL PROTEIN
Even though animal protein generally has a higher biological rating than vegetable protein, that is, it is more easily utilized by the human organism, sources of animal protein do not only bring benefits. If, in addition to this, you combine your vegetable protein sources with other protein-rich foods such as milk, milk products or cereals in your diet, you need not fear deficiencies in your protein supply, especially if you are involved in strength training.
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ENLIGHTENED DRINKING
Drinking can provide the fastest energy replacement without any related feeling of satiation. As this energy has no parallel nutritional value, especially when it comes from lemonades and even alcoholic drinks, it is recommended to cut down on this type of drink as much as possible.
SMALLER MEALS MORE OFTEN
Five smallish meals will not only crank up your metabolism, this will also mean that energy dips during the course of the day have a lesser effect on you. So have a second breakfast and an afternoon snack. But as a result, make your main meals smaller than usual so that your total energy intake does not exceed the required level. If your body weight is normal, you could even allow yourself a little late snack after supper.
MAKE TASTY AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD
Cook for as short a time as possible and with little water or fat, to preserve the nutrients and flavor of the food. Vitamins are partially soluble in water and are sensitive to heat, oxygen and light. To preserve them, store your vegetables and fruit in a cool, dark place, use them as quickly as possible and never keep them wart for long. In addition, you should wash them before chopping and chop them coarsely so that the surfaces, which can lose nutrients, cover only a limited area. Minerals are also lost in water. Careful preparation not only attains positive results for the nutritional content; it also considerably improves the flavor.
Always keep these tips in mind while preparing and consuming meals to reap the benefit of good health.
Top 10 Triggers for Over-eating
For some women overeating means bingeing and for others it means consuming more or other than planned. Most of us are overeating for a hundred different reasons. We are eating due to stress, irritation and frustration. It may be worry or overwork. We eat because our stomach feels ‘blah’. We are eating out of habit and with no real direction or thoughts about what we are doing with our face in the fridge.
Identify, the ten "triggers" for overeating and then try to overcome them:
Boredom- You eat when you're bored or do not have anything interesting to do or look forward to. TV is a favorite pass time especially when you are alone at home and bored. When food commercials are running 200 images per hour into our cerebral cortex it is difficult not to be draw towards the refrigerator. If food commercials are a trigger, watch nature shows or commercial-free TV.
Beat it by: If you are just grabbing anything out of the refrigerator, make something healthy like cut veggies and leave them in the fridge.
Feeling Deprived- You feel deprived of the foods which you enjoy and this leaves you craving for them even more. Media's attitudes towards emphasizing thinness as ideal has lead to restrictive dieting and avoidance of whole groups of foods. Unfortunately, because the foods being avoided are abundantly available, and food visibility and availability are powerful eating stimuli, the restricter often breaks her "plan" and eats a forbidden food. Once this happens, overwhelming guilt followed by feelings of low self esteem motivate the individual to go on over consuming the avoided food in an attempt to numb these negative feelings.
Beat it by: Focusing on balancing the calorie input to calorie output. Model healthy eating and exercise habits. Do this as a genuine concern for your own well-being. Eating high fat foods in moderation will do no harm.
Feeling Disgust or Hatred with Your Body- Check if your focus is on the things which you feel are wrong with your body. One of the reason women are unable to over come eating triggers is the inability to accept the body in spite of the bombardment on our souls of absurd body ideals.
Beat it by: seeking professional advice from a dietician or psychologist who will help you overcome the feeling of disgust and hatred. Map out a recovery plan in close consultation and then try to stick with it to develop a positive self-image. Define your own personal values – those that are right for your individual authentic self. Each of you must discover who you are inside, what your innate talents and gifts are and then find the joy and strength to nurture those gifts to their fullest – regardless of anyone else’s opinions.
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Glucose intolerance- This is a physiological trigger. In a healthy body, carbohydrates are converted to glucose and a blood glucose level of ~60-120mg/dl is maintained without thought to the dietary consumption of carbohydrate. In the glucose intolerant population, carbohydrates are readily converted to glucose and the pancreas responds to this shift in blood sugar by secreting an excessive amount of the hormone, insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the glucose from the blood stream and help it to enter the body cells. If done properly, the blood glucose level returns to the normal range regardless of the amount of carbohydrate consumed. If this system is not working correctly, a quick rise in blood glucose followed by an over production of insulin occurs. The excessive insulin is not recognized by the body cells so is unable to remove the glucose from the blood stream. The result is an increase in blood insulin levels, which has an appetite stimulating effect. The person is driven to eat and if simple carbohydrates are chosen, the cycle continues.
Beat it by: Spreading the calories out by eating a small amount frequently can help maintain a normal blood glucose level. This means every ~3 hours. A recommendation is to be slightly hungry before the next eating event. If famished, then the interval between eating events is probably too long or too little was eaten at the last eating event. If one approaches the next eating event full then too much was consumed at the last eating event. The macronutrients, protein and fat, in combination with carbohydrate have the potential to delay the rise in blood glucose. Protein is preferred as fat interferes with the effectiveness of insulin. Complex carbohydrates leave the stomach more slowly than simple carbohydrate and therefore can also help in blood glucose regulation. Complex carbohydrates contain fiber. Soluble fiber is especially beneficial for this condition. If blood glucose levels do not rise rapidly, there is less likelihood of excessive insulin secretion and less appetite stimulation. It’s important to increase water consumption along with an increase in protein or fiber. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to cells and removes waste. Eating a high fiber diet requires extra water to process the additional roughage and to prevent constipation.
Habits- Your daily habits are not as healthy as they may be and you may not even be aware of some of them. Often, excessive eating, lack of physical activity and stress tips the scales of our otherwise balanced lifestyles. Many women have found that overeating tends to occur in specific places and times, such as in the evening when you're at home and watching television.
Beat it by: Turning off the TV off and engaging in a hobby that keeps your mind and hands busy. Another solution to stress-related overeating is to address the sources of stress. Acknowledge and address feelings of depression, anger or anxiety. Do whatever you can to reduce feelings of stress, like writing a journal, talking with a friend, or exercise.
Lack of Energy and Feeling Tired- You are putting up with so much in your life that this is constantly draining your energy, leaving you feeling tired. "When your energy level is low, you may look for food to pick you up," says Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach. Unfortunately, most women reach for calorie-laden treats instead of an apple or banana.
Beat it by: Identifying your low-energy times of day and substitute them with other activities for eating. Take a 10-minute walk or a water-cooler chat break. There are healthier ways of nurturing yourself, such as getting plenty of rest and relaxation, reading a good book, or taking a quiet walk.
Needing Love and Comfort- You turn to food when you're really needing love and comfort. With the pressure of work both at office as well, at home women tend to be burned out. All this is acceptable if supported with constant appreciation and love. Lack of appreciation, discouraging remarks leave women sad and lonely, who tend to turn towards food to find consolation.
Beat it by: Taking out some time for yourself and relaxing. Pamper yourself by going out for a facial, manicure or pedicure. Take out the children to a nearby park where you can walk and relax along with the kids.
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Feeling Overwhelmed- You have got so much that you feel you must do that you find it difficult to take the first step. Pressure of work and deadlines leaves many discouraged, who finally drop-out without giving a try. Take the first step, then the second and third and move on...
Beat it by: Do what can be done. Trust me, you will be amazed with your own capacity of performance. Reinforce the feeling of achievements in you instead of submitting to the pressure. Emotional eating is sometimes considered well within the range of normal behavior. However, problems arise when emotional eating becomes excessive and interferes with lifestyle quality and good health. If you feel emotional eating is a problem, it may be wise to work with a counselor trained in eating disorders
Feeling Upset and Hurt- You turn to food when someone says or does something that feels upsetting or hurtful to you. Anxieties and emotions can also trigger the desire to eat. Some women eat because they are sad or stressed out or even to celebrate when they are happy.
Beat it by: Going out in the open air and walk, The mini-blast of oxygen will vanquish tiredness and mental exhaustion. Leave your worries behind and be in the moment. Look at the birds. Be thankful. Let go, breathe deeply and relax. You may discover God has always been with you!
Lack of Willpower- Your attitude is shaped by your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It's really easy to feel good when the going is good. The key to vibrant energy and a powerful attitude is to MAKE yourself feel good, ESPECIALLY when the going's tough, and you don't feel good, or you don't want to feel good. Willpower is one of the tools you need to employ in order resist the powerful cravings associated with food. The cravings will attempt to control you. It is your willpower, determination and self-discipline that you will use to fight back.
Beat it by: developing a strong will-power. Every women has the capacity to build up or strengthen her willpower by exercising it in times of need. Lifting weights develops muscles, and exercising willpower makes it stronger. Add self-discipline in your life to become more aware of how you use your willpower in the course of all your daily activities.
Constructive identification and learning to cope with emotional and physiological triggers is an important key towards lifelong physical, mental, emotional and social health.
Food craving : understanding body signals
Food cravings mean that the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or blue, we have low blood sugar and/or low serotonin, and the body signals the brain that it needs a pick-me-up. This signal causes a sugar craving or carbohydrate craving. Why do we crave for food?
There are three basic factors responsible for food craving:
Hormonal Imbalance
Dieting
Adrenal fatigue
Serotonin is our basic feel-good hormone. Hormonal imbalance or weak digestion can lead to low serotonin. Unfortunately, sugars and simple carbohydrates release a short burst of serotonin — we feel good for a moment, but soon return to our low-serotonin state — then crave more sugar and simple carbohydrates.
Insulin is responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels by telling the body’s cells when to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Being insulin resistant means your body stops responding to insulin, and instead grabs every calorie it can and deposits it as fat. So no matter how little you eat, you will gradually gain weight. Insulin resistance leads directly to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. And a low-fat diet makes it far more likely you will suffer from this condition. At the same time, your cells cannot absorb the glucose they need, so they signal your brain that you need more carbohydrates or sugars. The result is persistent food cravings.
If you eat a low-fat diet in the hope of losing weight, you unintentionally make the problem worse. If, like millions of women, you have eaten a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for many years, or followed fad diets, the odds are good that you have become at least partially insulin resistant. Millions of women are trying the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet. While these diets are an improvement over the conventional low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, they can worsen your metabolic problems, because dieting itself is stressful to the body. So many women need to heal their metabolism first before even considering weight loss.
Another cause of food cravings is adrenal fatigue. If you are under a great deal of stress, or suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation, you are probably exhausted much of the time. This leads to adrenal fatigue or outright adrenal exhaustion, which in turn signals the body it needs a pick-me-up. You may resort to sugar or carbohydrate snacks or coffee during the day and carbohydrates or alcohol at night, all of which exacerbate the problem.
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How to curb cravings
Learning how to listen to your body is a vital step to living an active and healthy lifestyle. Women who blame themselves for their food cravings only worsen their mood and increase their need for serotonin. That’s when a pattern of emotional eating can develop. Remember, there are biological causes of sugar cravings, and your carbohydrate craving is rarely just a behavioral problem. The root problem is more likely inadequate nutrition.
To reduce food cravings, the body needs real support — and lots of it. Eating healthy foods, eating breakfast every day (skipping breakfast can make cravings worse), taking nutritional supplements, moderate exercise and lots of emotional support can almost miraculously curb cravings. Your metabolism will heal itself when provided with the necessary nutritional support. If it has been damaged, the process can take some time, but it will happen.
Here are some tips to help when times get tough:
Eat every 3 hours. One of the biggest culprits for
psychological cravings is falling blood sugar levels. If you keep your levels steady, you simply won't crave the same things. The easiest way to combat cravings is to avoid them in the first place.
Drink water. Dehydration confuses the body and will often make it feel hungry. A small glass of water each hour will keep your stomach full and keep you hydrated.
Wait. Real cravings stay with you but psychological ones don't. If you've eaten enough and are hydrated, putting off a decision for 15 to 20 minutes will help the craving dissipate.
Distract yourself. If you've been working in front of a computer but feel the need to eat, do something else. Make a phone call or read the news. Changing your mindset might be all you need.
Exercise. If you start to exercise and your cravings aren't physiological, you'll feel better almost instantly. If they are physical, you'll never be able to really get into your workout, which is a sign that you need to eat.
Keep healthy snacks around. Keeping healthy snacks around will help. Have a piece of fruit or some raw veggies. If that doesn't help, you'll know your craving is psychological.
Change your routine. Habit can affect a craving, so shake up what you do, even if it's just slightly. Turn off the lights in your kitchen and try not to use that room. Forcing simple changes can make it easier to follow through with tougher ones.
And when absolutely nothing else works, give in—but RARELY! Have a square of chocolate instead of a whole bar, a serving of chips (around 20) instead of a bag, half a soda instead of the entire thing. And never let one bad evening turn into a three-day (or three-week) binge! This will work your habitual mind in the right direction and lead to the ability to cut that craving out for good.
A healthful diet should be one that meets your nutritional and your emotional needs, as well as your preferences
ran Muffins
Makes: 12 muffins.
Serving Size: 1 muffin
Ingredients
2 cups raisin bran cereal
1 cup skim milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with non-stick spray.
Mix cereal, milk, oil, and egg in large mixing bowl. Allow to stand for at least five minutes. Combine remaining dry ingredients and add to cereal mixture. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Nutrition Information per Serving:
135 calories
22 grams carbohydrate
3 grams protein
4 grams fat
Banana Malted Milk Shake
Makes: 4 shakes.
Serving Size: 6 ounces
Ingredients
2 cups nonfat chocolate or vanilla ice cream
1 sliced banana
½ cup skim milk
3 tablespoons malted milk powder
Directions
Put measured ingredients in blender and mix on high until smooth. Pour into chilled glass, garnish with banana slice, and serve.
Nutrition Information Per Serving:
150 calories
31 grams carbohydrate
grams protein
0.5 grams fat
Cantaloupe Slush with Mango
A refreshing dessert or snack, this provides each person with more than three servings of fruit.
Makes: 4 servings.
Ingredients
1 medium-sized cantaloupe
Juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons honey
1 mango
Directions
Peel and seed cantaloupe. Cut into 1-inch pieces. (It should equal about 6 cups.) Place in blender or food processor with lemon juice and honey, and puree until very smooth. Pour mixture into a shallow 9x12 glass pan and set in the freezer for two hours.
With a fork, chip and stir the icy mixture and return it to the freezer for two to four hours.
Peel and cut mango into long, thin, attractive slices, avoiding the pit (which is shaped like a large almond). Again with a fork, chip the frozen cantaloupe mixture so it resembles a snow cone or shaved ice. Spoon it into clear bowls, and top with mango slices. Serve.
Nutrition information per serving
Calories 144,
Carbohydrate 37g,
Protein 3g,
Fat 0.5g
Saturated Fat 0g,
Cholesterol 0mg,
Sodium 63mg,
Fiber 5g,
Calories from Fat 3%,
Saturated Fat 0%,
3 "5 A Day" servings.
Foods we eat, low carb, low fat, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, whole foods, have a direct bearing on how we feel: our energy, mood, appearance, and body image are all influenced by our dietary choices.
In order to solve weight problem, we needed to stop focusing on what people should be eating and instead focus on why they eat unhealthily in the first place. Behavioral psychologists have studied and found reasons for unhealthy eating. For instance:
Convenience is a major factor in what people choose to eat. Having to cook is a drawback.
Access is key. If candy is within arm's reach, it is hard to resist. If it is out of sight in a cupboard, we eat less of it. If it isn't in the house at all, we are very unlikely to actually get in the car and seek it out.
The main causes of overeating bouts are not hunger or the deliciousness of the food, but emotional and psychological cravings.
Larger serving sizes make us consume more food (even if we don't finish the serving).
There is little relationship between meals; for example, eating a large lunch will not help us eat a small dinner.
We eat or drink more from large half-filled containers than from small full ones but believe we have consumed less.
In order to overcome these hurdles we need to develop a whole new relationship between food and body.
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Learn to differentiate between hunger and craving: To find out if you're feeling a craving or getting hungry, give the urge to eat a 10-minute waiting period. If you've moved on to doing something and you suddenly realized you're not hungry, it was a craving; if the urge to eat is still there, chances are you're getting peckish. By breaking yourself of eating when habit, the clock, or your best friend says it's time to eat again, you will reacquaint your body to eating in response to hunger rather than outside cues.
Try to overcome the guilt: We love food, but we struggle with the temptations and the guilt, the way it makes us feel bad about ourselves. Having to count calories takes away the enjoyment of eating and turns it into a math game fraught with worry. The need of the hour is to cultivate smart lifestyle habits that help you exercise naturally and eat right without thinking so hard about food.
Chew your food properly before swallowing: Chewing food certainly helps with digestion, it also slows down the meals. Try it and you'll be eating less food. Fast eater, tend to gobble down as much food as quickly as possible without letting their stomach say, "I'M FULL! STOP!". Slow and conscious eating, will help you realize getting full and it will feel good to stop eating.
Eat foods that make you feel good: Learn to identify and incorporate foods that leave you feel healthy rather than those that leave you stuffed or guilty. Eating fruits and vegetables, colorful salads etc. will make you feel good, so eat them. Sugar can make you feel depressed. Too much corn makes can make you bloated.
Learn to identify serving size: Use measuring cups and spoons to compare serving sizes that you would typically eat with the standard serving sizes listed on food labels. You may be surprised by the amount you’re overeating. Eating the right kind of food at the right time in healthy proportion will prevent undesired weight gain To exercise portion control try to change your eating habits so that your meals and snacks are balanced with a variety of healthy foods. Eat the foods you like to eat, but master portion control. It takes just a slight energy imbalance to cause a gradual increase in weight . Say you ate just 50 excess calories a day, that is, you ate 50 more calories than you burned during physical activity. That means five extra pounds in a year.
Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.
By eating healthy you can develop better looks, better health, better spirit and above all a better YOU. Eating is a spiritual act. Let's get started on rediscovering that spirit.
Top 10 Steps to Changing Your Eating Behavior
Do you alternate between following a meal plan and losing weight (being “good”) and falling off the plan and regaining weight (being “bad”)? It’s a frustrating but common cycle. Nutrition experts Ellie Zografakis, RD, and Dale Huff, RD, CSCS, co-owners of NutriFormance Personal Training and Sports Nutrition in St. Louis believe that behavior modification strategies--rather than diets--can help you break this self-defeating cycle and make lasting lifestyle changes.
Enlisting the aid of qualified professionals (e.g., a registered dietitian, a physician, a personal trainer and/or a psychologist) will make it easier to interrupt old behavior patterns. You can also begin to practice the following lifestyle change principles developed by Zografakis and Huff:
Stop Dieting. How can you lose weight if you don’t diet? Creating a deficit of about 500 calories a day for one week should result in a 1-pound weight loss. Most people can incur a large part of this 500-calorie-a-day deficit by exercising and making moderate changes in food intake. In choosing this approach you avoid the negative consequences of rigid dieting.
Become Physically, Not Externally, Connected to Eating. Internal hunger cues--such as a rumbling stomach, a slight headache, fatigue, irritability and decreased concentration--are meant to remind you to meet your energy requirements and maintain your natural set point weight. Reconnecting with your physical signals of hunger and satiety can help you acquire the internal power to regulate your food intake.
Use the Rating of Perceived Hunger (RPH) Scale. Using this scale can make you more aware of your internal hunger and satiety cues. Think of 0 as indicating extreme hunger and 10 as signaling extreme fullness. With the scale in mind, begin to read your body’s signals. Your target range should be between 3 and 8. If you go to 0, you may eat too much too fast, particularly since it takes your brain 15 to 20 minutes to sense that your body is full. You should begin to eat at 3 on the RPH scale and stop at 7 or 8, when you’re comfortably full and satisfied.
Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.
Neutralize Food. There are no good or bad foods--all foods are okay when eaten in moderation. Forbidding certain foods may simply make you want them all the more. If portion control is a problem with particular foods, try specific strategies with these items--for example, measure out one serving of potato chips and put the bag back in the pantry.
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Do Not Skip Meals. Eating frequently throughout the day (3 small meals and 2-3 snacks) will stimulate your metabolism. Skipping meals (including breakfast) can decrease your metabolism.
Dispel Myths; Do Not Create Them. A safe weight loss is 1 or 2 pounds a week, not 20. Be wary of supplements and meal replacement products. Product testimonials may or may not be true; spokespersons may or may not have any credentials. Remember, a healthy body comes from healthy eating.
Be Supportive, Not Critical. People lose weight at different rates. Weight may drop off quickly at first and then plateau, or vice versa. The important thing is that long-term healthy behavior gets results. Reassure yourself that you are working hard and remember that hard work pays off.
Watch Your Language. Do you find yourself thinking “I will never lose weight” or “I feel fat”? Watch for thoughts that are negative or irrational, rather than supportive of your goals. See if you can accurately describe your mood. Are you angry, sad, afraid?
Understand that “fat” is not a feeling.
Change the Reward System. You are probably used to rewarding yourself and being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than for altering your behavior. Create a system of rewards for the positive changes you make, rather than the numbers you see on the scale.
Top 10 Ways for Healthy Eating
VARIETY – BUT NOT TOO MUCH
As there are no food that contain an optimum combination of the required nutrients such as fat, protein, minerals, vitamins, water and fiber, the diet much include the required quantities of the various nutrient groups in order to guarantee optimal provision. Naturally each group contains some foodstuffs, which have a higher rating from the point of view of physiological nourishment, and others, which have a lower rating. So, in the group showing cereals and cereal products, we have a slice of whole meal wheat bread, which is rated higher than a slice of toasted bread made from milled white flour.
LESS FAT AND FATTY FOODS
Pay special attention to the so-called hidden fat. This includes for example fat in meat, delicatessen meats, cheese, eggs, nuts, cakes, chocolate, etc.
Make sure that this hidden fat amounts to no more than 30 to 40 grams a day. This way, you will have information not just on how high your daily energy intake is and how high our fat consumption is, you will also learn whether the combinations of the main nutrients meets the recommendations.
SPICY BUT NOT SALTY
Your sense of taste will very quickly got used to salty food. If you start eating very salty food for a few days you will then find food with a normal amount of salt very tasteless. At the moment many populations use of average twice as much salt as recommended, that is, ten grams of cooking salt instead of five grams per day. Most cheeses, preserves, prepared dishes, snacks, and delicatessen meats, cooking aids such as stock cubes, mustard and concentrates are particularly salty. On the other hand, there is very little salt in milk, yogurt, fresh vegetables, meat and herbs, Use fresh herbs for taste. Only add salt alter tasting. If there is an iodine deficiency, the use of iodine salt is recommended since this can help to prevent iodine deficiency.
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NOT MUCH SWEET FOOD
Just as we can form a certain threshold of acceptability for salty food, so too can we for sweet food. A certain dependency on sweet things can develop in this way. While they have a relatively high energy content, sweets have a relatively low nutritional value. Simple sugars and refined sugars are frequently combined with saturated fats. Especially stick sweets, such as candy, bonbons and pralines, etc, threaten dental health by forming canes. Anyone who eats sweets regularly is absorbing too much energy and is giving up nutritious foods ion exchange for sweets with little nutritional value. This, of course, means that the body will be provided with fewer of the nutrients it needs to survive. In addition, sweets offer absolutely no way out of this situation. Even if they contain no calories themselves, they are first of all contributing to raising the level of the sweetness threshold for the sense of taste, and secondly they cannot satisfy the hunger for carbohydrates, because they do not contain any. This is how, when people are hungry and when the blood sugar level is low, they often consume more sweet foods than they actually need for their energy requirements. So if you feel like eating something sweet, you should have some fresh or dried fruit.
MORE WHOLE MEAL PRODUCTS
The consumption of products manufactured from milled white flour mainly reduces the quantities of fiber, vitamins and minerals consumed. These elements, contained in the external layers of while wheat, are mostly lost when it is milled. As the fiber intake of many people is less than the recommended 30 grams, and as the provision of the B-vitamins and certain minerals is not always guaranteed, we should not do without the benefit of whole meal products in our diets.
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A WEALTH OF VEGETABLES, POTATOES AND FRUIT
Fruit and vegetables contain mainly carbohydrates, which are supposed to supply more than half of the energy we consume every day, in addition to this, fruit and vegetables provide the body with fiber, vitamins, minerals and water. The high water and fiber content mean they have a relatively low energy content. Pulses – like potatoes – have, in addition to their particularly high fiber content, a very high protein content, the value of which is enhanced when combined with cereal or milk products. Even deep-frozen fruit and vegetables can be recommended if, as is now common practice, they are quick-frozen immediately after harvesting. This process preserves vitamins, which are often lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables, which have generally spent a few days in storage, which causes volatile vitamins to be lost on their way to the store.
LESS ANIMAL PROTEIN
Even though animal protein generally has a higher biological rating than vegetable protein, that is, it is more easily utilized by the human organism, sources of animal protein do not only bring benefits. If, in addition to this, you combine your vegetable protein sources with other protein-rich foods such as milk, milk products or cereals in your diet, you need not fear deficiencies in your protein supply, especially if you are involved in strength training.
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ENLIGHTENED DRINKING
Drinking can provide the fastest energy replacement without any related feeling of satiation. As this energy has no parallel nutritional value, especially when it comes from lemonades and even alcoholic drinks, it is recommended to cut down on this type of drink as much as possible.
SMALLER MEALS MORE OFTEN
Five smallish meals will not only crank up your metabolism, this will also mean that energy dips during the course of the day have a lesser effect on you. So have a second breakfast and an afternoon snack. But as a result, make your main meals smaller than usual so that your total energy intake does not exceed the required level. If your body weight is normal, you could even allow yourself a little late snack after supper.
MAKE TASTY AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD
Cook for as short a time as possible and with little water or fat, to preserve the nutrients and flavor of the food. Vitamins are partially soluble in water and are sensitive to heat, oxygen and light. To preserve them, store your vegetables and fruit in a cool, dark place, use them as quickly as possible and never keep them wart for long. In addition, you should wash them before chopping and chop them coarsely so that the surfaces, which can lose nutrients, cover only a limited area. Minerals are also lost in water. Careful preparation not only attains positive results for the nutritional content; it also considerably improves the flavor.
Always keep these tips in mind while preparing and consuming meals to reap the benefit of good health.
Top 10 Triggers for Over-eating
For some women overeating means bingeing and for others it means consuming more or other than planned. Most of us are overeating for a hundred different reasons. We are eating due to stress, irritation and frustration. It may be worry or overwork. We eat because our stomach feels ‘blah’. We are eating out of habit and with no real direction or thoughts about what we are doing with our face in the fridge.
Identify, the ten "triggers" for overeating and then try to overcome them:
Boredom- You eat when you're bored or do not have anything interesting to do or look forward to. TV is a favorite pass time especially when you are alone at home and bored. When food commercials are running 200 images per hour into our cerebral cortex it is difficult not to be draw towards the refrigerator. If food commercials are a trigger, watch nature shows or commercial-free TV.
Beat it by: If you are just grabbing anything out of the refrigerator, make something healthy like cut veggies and leave them in the fridge.
Feeling Deprived- You feel deprived of the foods which you enjoy and this leaves you craving for them even more. Media's attitudes towards emphasizing thinness as ideal has lead to restrictive dieting and avoidance of whole groups of foods. Unfortunately, because the foods being avoided are abundantly available, and food visibility and availability are powerful eating stimuli, the restricter often breaks her "plan" and eats a forbidden food. Once this happens, overwhelming guilt followed by feelings of low self esteem motivate the individual to go on over consuming the avoided food in an attempt to numb these negative feelings.
Beat it by: Focusing on balancing the calorie input to calorie output. Model healthy eating and exercise habits. Do this as a genuine concern for your own well-being. Eating high fat foods in moderation will do no harm.
Feeling Disgust or Hatred with Your Body- Check if your focus is on the things which you feel are wrong with your body. One of the reason women are unable to over come eating triggers is the inability to accept the body in spite of the bombardment on our souls of absurd body ideals.
Beat it by: seeking professional advice from a dietician or psychologist who will help you overcome the feeling of disgust and hatred. Map out a recovery plan in close consultation and then try to stick with it to develop a positive self-image. Define your own personal values – those that are right for your individual authentic self. Each of you must discover who you are inside, what your innate talents and gifts are and then find the joy and strength to nurture those gifts to their fullest – regardless of anyone else’s opinions.
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Glucose intolerance- This is a physiological trigger. In a healthy body, carbohydrates are converted to glucose and a blood glucose level of ~60-120mg/dl is maintained without thought to the dietary consumption of carbohydrate. In the glucose intolerant population, carbohydrates are readily converted to glucose and the pancreas responds to this shift in blood sugar by secreting an excessive amount of the hormone, insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the glucose from the blood stream and help it to enter the body cells. If done properly, the blood glucose level returns to the normal range regardless of the amount of carbohydrate consumed. If this system is not working correctly, a quick rise in blood glucose followed by an over production of insulin occurs. The excessive insulin is not recognized by the body cells so is unable to remove the glucose from the blood stream. The result is an increase in blood insulin levels, which has an appetite stimulating effect. The person is driven to eat and if simple carbohydrates are chosen, the cycle continues.
Beat it by: Spreading the calories out by eating a small amount frequently can help maintain a normal blood glucose level. This means every ~3 hours. A recommendation is to be slightly hungry before the next eating event. If famished, then the interval between eating events is probably too long or too little was eaten at the last eating event. If one approaches the next eating event full then too much was consumed at the last eating event. The macronutrients, protein and fat, in combination with carbohydrate have the potential to delay the rise in blood glucose. Protein is preferred as fat interferes with the effectiveness of insulin. Complex carbohydrates leave the stomach more slowly than simple carbohydrate and therefore can also help in blood glucose regulation. Complex carbohydrates contain fiber. Soluble fiber is especially beneficial for this condition. If blood glucose levels do not rise rapidly, there is less likelihood of excessive insulin secretion and less appetite stimulation. It’s important to increase water consumption along with an increase in protein or fiber. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to cells and removes waste. Eating a high fiber diet requires extra water to process the additional roughage and to prevent constipation.
Habits- Your daily habits are not as healthy as they may be and you may not even be aware of some of them. Often, excessive eating, lack of physical activity and stress tips the scales of our otherwise balanced lifestyles. Many women have found that overeating tends to occur in specific places and times, such as in the evening when you're at home and watching television.
Beat it by: Turning off the TV off and engaging in a hobby that keeps your mind and hands busy. Another solution to stress-related overeating is to address the sources of stress. Acknowledge and address feelings of depression, anger or anxiety. Do whatever you can to reduce feelings of stress, like writing a journal, talking with a friend, or exercise.
Lack of Energy and Feeling Tired- You are putting up with so much in your life that this is constantly draining your energy, leaving you feeling tired. "When your energy level is low, you may look for food to pick you up," says Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach. Unfortunately, most women reach for calorie-laden treats instead of an apple or banana.
Beat it by: Identifying your low-energy times of day and substitute them with other activities for eating. Take a 10-minute walk or a water-cooler chat break. There are healthier ways of nurturing yourself, such as getting plenty of rest and relaxation, reading a good book, or taking a quiet walk.
Needing Love and Comfort- You turn to food when you're really needing love and comfort. With the pressure of work both at office as well, at home women tend to be burned out. All this is acceptable if supported with constant appreciation and love. Lack of appreciation, discouraging remarks leave women sad and lonely, who tend to turn towards food to find consolation.
Beat it by: Taking out some time for yourself and relaxing. Pamper yourself by going out for a facial, manicure or pedicure. Take out the children to a nearby park where you can walk and relax along with the kids.
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Feeling Overwhelmed- You have got so much that you feel you must do that you find it difficult to take the first step. Pressure of work and deadlines leaves many discouraged, who finally drop-out without giving a try. Take the first step, then the second and third and move on...
Beat it by: Do what can be done. Trust me, you will be amazed with your own capacity of performance. Reinforce the feeling of achievements in you instead of submitting to the pressure. Emotional eating is sometimes considered well within the range of normal behavior. However, problems arise when emotional eating becomes excessive and interferes with lifestyle quality and good health. If you feel emotional eating is a problem, it may be wise to work with a counselor trained in eating disorders
Feeling Upset and Hurt- You turn to food when someone says or does something that feels upsetting or hurtful to you. Anxieties and emotions can also trigger the desire to eat. Some women eat because they are sad or stressed out or even to celebrate when they are happy.
Beat it by: Going out in the open air and walk, The mini-blast of oxygen will vanquish tiredness and mental exhaustion. Leave your worries behind and be in the moment. Look at the birds. Be thankful. Let go, breathe deeply and relax. You may discover God has always been with you!
Lack of Willpower- Your attitude is shaped by your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It's really easy to feel good when the going is good. The key to vibrant energy and a powerful attitude is to MAKE yourself feel good, ESPECIALLY when the going's tough, and you don't feel good, or you don't want to feel good. Willpower is one of the tools you need to employ in order resist the powerful cravings associated with food. The cravings will attempt to control you. It is your willpower, determination and self-discipline that you will use to fight back.
Beat it by: developing a strong will-power. Every women has the capacity to build up or strengthen her willpower by exercising it in times of need. Lifting weights develops muscles, and exercising willpower makes it stronger. Add self-discipline in your life to become more aware of how you use your willpower in the course of all your daily activities.
Constructive identification and learning to cope with emotional and physiological triggers is an important key towards lifelong physical, mental, emotional and social health.
Food craving : understanding body signals
Food cravings mean that the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or blue, we have low blood sugar and/or low serotonin, and the body signals the brain that it needs a pick-me-up. This signal causes a sugar craving or carbohydrate craving. Why do we crave for food?
There are three basic factors responsible for food craving:
Hormonal Imbalance
Dieting
Adrenal fatigue
Serotonin is our basic feel-good hormone. Hormonal imbalance or weak digestion can lead to low serotonin. Unfortunately, sugars and simple carbohydrates release a short burst of serotonin — we feel good for a moment, but soon return to our low-serotonin state — then crave more sugar and simple carbohydrates.
Insulin is responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels by telling the body’s cells when to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Being insulin resistant means your body stops responding to insulin, and instead grabs every calorie it can and deposits it as fat. So no matter how little you eat, you will gradually gain weight. Insulin resistance leads directly to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. And a low-fat diet makes it far more likely you will suffer from this condition. At the same time, your cells cannot absorb the glucose they need, so they signal your brain that you need more carbohydrates or sugars. The result is persistent food cravings.
If you eat a low-fat diet in the hope of losing weight, you unintentionally make the problem worse. If, like millions of women, you have eaten a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for many years, or followed fad diets, the odds are good that you have become at least partially insulin resistant. Millions of women are trying the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet. While these diets are an improvement over the conventional low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, they can worsen your metabolic problems, because dieting itself is stressful to the body. So many women need to heal their metabolism first before even considering weight loss.
Another cause of food cravings is adrenal fatigue. If you are under a great deal of stress, or suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation, you are probably exhausted much of the time. This leads to adrenal fatigue or outright adrenal exhaustion, which in turn signals the body it needs a pick-me-up. You may resort to sugar or carbohydrate snacks or coffee during the day and carbohydrates or alcohol at night, all of which exacerbate the problem.
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How to curb cravings
Learning how to listen to your body is a vital step to living an active and healthy lifestyle. Women who blame themselves for their food cravings only worsen their mood and increase their need for serotonin. That’s when a pattern of emotional eating can develop. Remember, there are biological causes of sugar cravings, and your carbohydrate craving is rarely just a behavioral problem. The root problem is more likely inadequate nutrition.
To reduce food cravings, the body needs real support — and lots of it. Eating healthy foods, eating breakfast every day (skipping breakfast can make cravings worse), taking nutritional supplements, moderate exercise and lots of emotional support can almost miraculously curb cravings. Your metabolism will heal itself when provided with the necessary nutritional support. If it has been damaged, the process can take some time, but it will happen.
Here are some tips to help when times get tough:
Eat every 3 hours. One of the biggest culprits for
psychological cravings is falling blood sugar levels. If you keep your levels steady, you simply won't crave the same things. The easiest way to combat cravings is to avoid them in the first place.
Drink water. Dehydration confuses the body and will often make it feel hungry. A small glass of water each hour will keep your stomach full and keep you hydrated.
Wait. Real cravings stay with you but psychological ones don't. If you've eaten enough and are hydrated, putting off a decision for 15 to 20 minutes will help the craving dissipate.
Distract yourself. If you've been working in front of a computer but feel the need to eat, do something else. Make a phone call or read the news. Changing your mindset might be all you need.
Exercise. If you start to exercise and your cravings aren't physiological, you'll feel better almost instantly. If they are physical, you'll never be able to really get into your workout, which is a sign that you need to eat.
Keep healthy snacks around. Keeping healthy snacks around will help. Have a piece of fruit or some raw veggies. If that doesn't help, you'll know your craving is psychological.
Change your routine. Habit can affect a craving, so shake up what you do, even if it's just slightly. Turn off the lights in your kitchen and try not to use that room. Forcing simple changes can make it easier to follow through with tougher ones.
And when absolutely nothing else works, give in—but RARELY! Have a square of chocolate instead of a whole bar, a serving of chips (around 20) instead of a bag, half a soda instead of the entire thing. And never let one bad evening turn into a three-day (or three-week) binge! This will work your habitual mind in the right direction and lead to the ability to cut that craving out for good.
A healthful diet should be one that meets your nutritional and your emotional needs, as well as your preferences
ran Muffins
Makes: 12 muffins.
Serving Size: 1 muffin
Ingredients
2 cups raisin bran cereal
1 cup skim milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with non-stick spray.
Mix cereal, milk, oil, and egg in large mixing bowl. Allow to stand for at least five minutes. Combine remaining dry ingredients and add to cereal mixture. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Nutrition Information per Serving:
135 calories
22 grams carbohydrate
3 grams protein
4 grams fat
Banana Malted Milk Shake
Makes: 4 shakes.
Serving Size: 6 ounces
Ingredients
2 cups nonfat chocolate or vanilla ice cream
1 sliced banana
½ cup skim milk
3 tablespoons malted milk powder
Directions
Put measured ingredients in blender and mix on high until smooth. Pour into chilled glass, garnish with banana slice, and serve.
Nutrition Information Per Serving:
150 calories
31 grams carbohydrate
grams protein
0.5 grams fat
Cantaloupe Slush with Mango
A refreshing dessert or snack, this provides each person with more than three servings of fruit.
Makes: 4 servings.
Ingredients
1 medium-sized cantaloupe
Juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons honey
1 mango
Directions
Peel and seed cantaloupe. Cut into 1-inch pieces. (It should equal about 6 cups.) Place in blender or food processor with lemon juice and honey, and puree until very smooth. Pour mixture into a shallow 9x12 glass pan and set in the freezer for two hours.
With a fork, chip and stir the icy mixture and return it to the freezer for two to four hours.
Peel and cut mango into long, thin, attractive slices, avoiding the pit (which is shaped like a large almond). Again with a fork, chip the frozen cantaloupe mixture so it resembles a snow cone or shaved ice. Spoon it into clear bowls, and top with mango slices. Serve.
Nutrition information per serving
Calories 144,
Carbohydrate 37g,
Protein 3g,
Fat 0.5g
Saturated Fat 0g,
Cholesterol 0mg,
Sodium 63mg,
Fiber 5g,
Calories from Fat 3%,
Saturated Fat 0%,
3 "5 A Day" servings.
De-fusing Anger with yoga
Anger comes in several forms, including outrage, frustration, jealousy, resentment, fury, and hatred. It also masquerades as judgment, criticism, and even boredom. Like all emotions, it is a complex, ever-shifting state involving thoughts, feelings, and bodily changes.
Yogis understand anger as an energy existing, like all emotions, halfway between a physical and mental experience. Like heat or other energies, anger wanes naturally, if we don't hold it back with psychological defenses—say, denying or repressing it: "Anger tends to arise in a very visceral wave. It arises, crests, and then passes away."
In yogic theory, asanas, pranayama, and meditation comprise a comprehensive toolkit for freeing up blockages at the mental, physical, or energetic level. Yoga, particularly therapeutic forms like restorative yoga, has proven to be a valuable method of cooling hot-reactives down. Asanas may be in fact the best yogic antidote for anger "because asanas allow you to move the energy."
The fact that anger manifests differently in each person, and must be treated differently as well. Some of us get so revved up by our catecholamines that we can't think straight. In those cases, experts have found that methods such as deep breathing, moderate exercise, or walking away from a provocative situation are the best way to lower the arousal level. But for those who are milder by nature, awareness can accelerate anger's rush through, and out of, the body. Yoga helps people stay with the wave of anger all the way to the other end,
The first step at anger management is - do not resist and do not ignore the cause of anger. Experience it fully. Try and develop an attitude of an observer or a witness. Learn to change your role from being the subject to becoming a bystander. See how the anger is operating. See what it is doing to your mind and how. When faced by an anger causing action, immediately get into the mode of exploring and rationalizing with the "whys" and "more whys".
You will start seeing some wonderful perspectives. You start appreciating that it is not necessarily the desire of the person to hurt you - getting angry is YOUR response. You realize that a person is seeing the situation from his point of view to the best of his intellectual and emotional capability - he may not be quite 'capable enough' to appreciate your point of view. This is only natural - because individuals are built in different ways. After all, aren't you showing similar traits when you are getting angry!
Advertise Here
Yoga Asanas to overcome Anger
All postures should be performed while doing deep, quiet breathing
The Shoulder Stand (Sarvang Asana)
Benefits
Effective for Excessive anger or hate, Migraine headache, Liver disorder, hemorrhoids, Anemia, Hypertension, Indigestion.
The Shoulder stand invigorates and rejuvenates your whole body.
Description of the asana
Lie down on the floor with your legs together and your hands, push down, by your sides. inhaling, push down on your hands and raise your legs straight up above you.
Lift your hips off the floor and bring your legs up, over and beyond your head, at an angle of about45°.
Exhaling, bend your arms and support your body, holding as near the shoulders as possible, thumbs around the front of the body, fingers around the back. Push your back up, lift your legs.
Now straighten your spine and bring the legs up to a vertical position. Press your chin firmly into the base of your throat. Breathe slowly and deeply in the pose, gradually trying to work your elbows closer together and your hands further down your back toward the shoulders, so as to straighten your torso. Keep your feet relaxed.
Caution
Shoulder stands should not be attempted without a qualified teacher.
Any one suffering from breathing difficulties or pain in the upper spine should not attempt these postures.
The Half Bow (Ardha Dhanurasana)
Benefits
Half bow energizes and strengthens the entire body, and especially builds core body strength. Half bow stimulates the kidneys, adrenals and reproductive system.
Description of the asana
Lie on your belly, with the legs together or a few inches apart. Bring the chin to the floor and slide the right arm along the floor, over your head with the palm facing down.
Bend the left knee and reach the left hand back to hold onto the left heel or ankle.
Inhale and kick the left foot into the arm to lift the left leg, head and chest off of the floor. Keep the neck in line with the spine, looking down at the floor. Lift the right arm off of the floor, keeping it parallel to the floor.
Breathe and hold for 2-6 breaths.
To release: slowly exhale and lower the leg, arm, head and chest down to the floor.
Repeat on other side.
Avoid: Recent or chronic injury to the legs, hips, neck or arms; pregnancy, recent abdominal surgery.
Hidden Lotus Pose (Gupta Padmasana)
Benefits
This asana corrects postural defects of the spine. It may be used as a relaxation or even a meditation pose as it induces peace, stability and emotional balance.
Description of the asana
Sit in Padmasana. Place the hands on the floor in front of the knees. Leaning on the arms, raise the buttocks and stand on the knees. Slowly lower the front side of the body to the floor in the prone position. Rest either the chin or one cheek on the floor.
Place the palms together behind the back. The fingers may point downward, or upward in Universal Spirit. If possible, touch the back of the head with the middle fingers. Close the eyes and relax the whole body.
Return to the starting position, cross the legs the other way and repeat the asana.
Hold the position for as long as is comfortable. For complete relaxation, the hands may rest on the floor beside the body with the palms upward.
Note: The Sanskrit word Gupta means 'Hidden'. In this asana the feet are hidden under
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The Corpse Pose (Shava-asana)
Benefits
The goal of the shava-asana is for the body and mind to be perfectly still and relaxed. Not only should the body be motionless and at ease, but the mind as well should be quiet, like the surface of a still lake. The result will be a deep and stable relaxation that will extend into your meditation or be felt through the activities of your daily circumstances. If find yourself getting drowsy while in the shava-asana increase the rate and depth of your breathing.
Description of the asana
Lie flat on your back with your legs together but not touching, and your arms close to the body with the palms facing up.
Keep your eyes gently closed with the facial muscles relaxed and breath deeply and slowly through the nostrils.
Starting at the top of the head and working your way down to the feet, bring your attention to each part of your body, consciously relaxing it before proceeding on to the next.
Remain in the shava-asana for between 3 and 5 minutes or longer. If you become sleepy while in the shava-asana begin to breath a bit faster and deeper.
"Antar mouna" meditation
Developing this observer attitude is NOT difficult. Yoga also has some very powerful tools in the form of "antar mouna" meditation techniques that help you cultivate this attitude. Moreover, as you start reaping the wonderful fruits of such an attitude, such a behavioral pattern only gets reinforced.
Over time, with such an attitude, you will see that not only do you get angry less often, but also each brush with an unpleasant situation provides a remarkable opportunity to know your subconscious mind in a better way. Every such insight brings you one step closer to the supreme goal - that is, Enlightenment (perpetual Bliss)
Antar mouna is the technique of inner silence, also known as witnessing. It is divided into six main stages which can be divided into three basic categories. The first two categories are passive, where we sit and observe our mind and our process of evolution, of change in our inner nature, without engagement. We simply observe that tendency to suppress things and to grab onto things and to lose ourselves within our mental process. We do not try to change anything. We simply develop what is called a sense of self. A sense of self is very grounding and calming. We feel a greater sense of safety and trust the more we develop it. So the first stages of antar mouna are simply passive, learning to witness outside sounds or sensations, learning to witness thoughts without getting engaged in suppression of thoughts or involvement in the process. These are the two main states, grabbing onto a thought and pushing it away. Of course, the awareness is the antidote to ignorance.
Once we have that capacity, we go into the next two stages. These are active, to develop mental muscle, like doing mental push-ups. We consciously try to grab onto a thought, to exaggerate the process of grabbing. Then we consciously let it go. One stage is to create a thought, grab it and then throw it away, and the other state is to grab a spontaneous thought as it comes up and then throw it away. So we are developing this internal capacity to deal with our thoughts, feelings, emotions and inner states with greater clarity. In the third category, which is divided into two groups, we throw out any thought that comes into our mind, until we achieve shoonya or emptiness, a luminous emptiness. It is not a dark, tamasic emptiness; it is an emptiness which is full of peace and love.
Antar mouna is one of the most important techniques that we can learn in order to maintain the path, in order to maintain an awareness of duality and polarity, and to be able to hold the negative as well as the positive experiences.
Yogis understand anger as an energy existing, like all emotions, halfway between a physical and mental experience. Like heat or other energies, anger wanes naturally, if we don't hold it back with psychological defenses—say, denying or repressing it: "Anger tends to arise in a very visceral wave. It arises, crests, and then passes away."
In yogic theory, asanas, pranayama, and meditation comprise a comprehensive toolkit for freeing up blockages at the mental, physical, or energetic level. Yoga, particularly therapeutic forms like restorative yoga, has proven to be a valuable method of cooling hot-reactives down. Asanas may be in fact the best yogic antidote for anger "because asanas allow you to move the energy."
The fact that anger manifests differently in each person, and must be treated differently as well. Some of us get so revved up by our catecholamines that we can't think straight. In those cases, experts have found that methods such as deep breathing, moderate exercise, or walking away from a provocative situation are the best way to lower the arousal level. But for those who are milder by nature, awareness can accelerate anger's rush through, and out of, the body. Yoga helps people stay with the wave of anger all the way to the other end,
The first step at anger management is - do not resist and do not ignore the cause of anger. Experience it fully. Try and develop an attitude of an observer or a witness. Learn to change your role from being the subject to becoming a bystander. See how the anger is operating. See what it is doing to your mind and how. When faced by an anger causing action, immediately get into the mode of exploring and rationalizing with the "whys" and "more whys".
You will start seeing some wonderful perspectives. You start appreciating that it is not necessarily the desire of the person to hurt you - getting angry is YOUR response. You realize that a person is seeing the situation from his point of view to the best of his intellectual and emotional capability - he may not be quite 'capable enough' to appreciate your point of view. This is only natural - because individuals are built in different ways. After all, aren't you showing similar traits when you are getting angry!
Advertise Here
Yoga Asanas to overcome Anger
All postures should be performed while doing deep, quiet breathing
The Shoulder Stand (Sarvang Asana)
Benefits
Effective for Excessive anger or hate, Migraine headache, Liver disorder, hemorrhoids, Anemia, Hypertension, Indigestion.
The Shoulder stand invigorates and rejuvenates your whole body.
Description of the asana
Lie down on the floor with your legs together and your hands, push down, by your sides. inhaling, push down on your hands and raise your legs straight up above you.
Lift your hips off the floor and bring your legs up, over and beyond your head, at an angle of about45°.
Exhaling, bend your arms and support your body, holding as near the shoulders as possible, thumbs around the front of the body, fingers around the back. Push your back up, lift your legs.
Now straighten your spine and bring the legs up to a vertical position. Press your chin firmly into the base of your throat. Breathe slowly and deeply in the pose, gradually trying to work your elbows closer together and your hands further down your back toward the shoulders, so as to straighten your torso. Keep your feet relaxed.
Caution
Shoulder stands should not be attempted without a qualified teacher.
Any one suffering from breathing difficulties or pain in the upper spine should not attempt these postures.
The Half Bow (Ardha Dhanurasana)
Benefits
Half bow energizes and strengthens the entire body, and especially builds core body strength. Half bow stimulates the kidneys, adrenals and reproductive system.
Description of the asana
Lie on your belly, with the legs together or a few inches apart. Bring the chin to the floor and slide the right arm along the floor, over your head with the palm facing down.
Bend the left knee and reach the left hand back to hold onto the left heel or ankle.
Inhale and kick the left foot into the arm to lift the left leg, head and chest off of the floor. Keep the neck in line with the spine, looking down at the floor. Lift the right arm off of the floor, keeping it parallel to the floor.
Breathe and hold for 2-6 breaths.
To release: slowly exhale and lower the leg, arm, head and chest down to the floor.
Repeat on other side.
Avoid: Recent or chronic injury to the legs, hips, neck or arms; pregnancy, recent abdominal surgery.
Hidden Lotus Pose (Gupta Padmasana)
Benefits
This asana corrects postural defects of the spine. It may be used as a relaxation or even a meditation pose as it induces peace, stability and emotional balance.
Description of the asana
Sit in Padmasana. Place the hands on the floor in front of the knees. Leaning on the arms, raise the buttocks and stand on the knees. Slowly lower the front side of the body to the floor in the prone position. Rest either the chin or one cheek on the floor.
Place the palms together behind the back. The fingers may point downward, or upward in Universal Spirit. If possible, touch the back of the head with the middle fingers. Close the eyes and relax the whole body.
Return to the starting position, cross the legs the other way and repeat the asana.
Hold the position for as long as is comfortable. For complete relaxation, the hands may rest on the floor beside the body with the palms upward.
Note: The Sanskrit word Gupta means 'Hidden'. In this asana the feet are hidden under
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The Corpse Pose (Shava-asana)
Benefits
The goal of the shava-asana is for the body and mind to be perfectly still and relaxed. Not only should the body be motionless and at ease, but the mind as well should be quiet, like the surface of a still lake. The result will be a deep and stable relaxation that will extend into your meditation or be felt through the activities of your daily circumstances. If find yourself getting drowsy while in the shava-asana increase the rate and depth of your breathing.
Description of the asana
Lie flat on your back with your legs together but not touching, and your arms close to the body with the palms facing up.
Keep your eyes gently closed with the facial muscles relaxed and breath deeply and slowly through the nostrils.
Starting at the top of the head and working your way down to the feet, bring your attention to each part of your body, consciously relaxing it before proceeding on to the next.
Remain in the shava-asana for between 3 and 5 minutes or longer. If you become sleepy while in the shava-asana begin to breath a bit faster and deeper.
"Antar mouna" meditation
Developing this observer attitude is NOT difficult. Yoga also has some very powerful tools in the form of "antar mouna" meditation techniques that help you cultivate this attitude. Moreover, as you start reaping the wonderful fruits of such an attitude, such a behavioral pattern only gets reinforced.
Over time, with such an attitude, you will see that not only do you get angry less often, but also each brush with an unpleasant situation provides a remarkable opportunity to know your subconscious mind in a better way. Every such insight brings you one step closer to the supreme goal - that is, Enlightenment (perpetual Bliss)
Antar mouna is the technique of inner silence, also known as witnessing. It is divided into six main stages which can be divided into three basic categories. The first two categories are passive, where we sit and observe our mind and our process of evolution, of change in our inner nature, without engagement. We simply observe that tendency to suppress things and to grab onto things and to lose ourselves within our mental process. We do not try to change anything. We simply develop what is called a sense of self. A sense of self is very grounding and calming. We feel a greater sense of safety and trust the more we develop it. So the first stages of antar mouna are simply passive, learning to witness outside sounds or sensations, learning to witness thoughts without getting engaged in suppression of thoughts or involvement in the process. These are the two main states, grabbing onto a thought and pushing it away. Of course, the awareness is the antidote to ignorance.
Once we have that capacity, we go into the next two stages. These are active, to develop mental muscle, like doing mental push-ups. We consciously try to grab onto a thought, to exaggerate the process of grabbing. Then we consciously let it go. One stage is to create a thought, grab it and then throw it away, and the other state is to grab a spontaneous thought as it comes up and then throw it away. So we are developing this internal capacity to deal with our thoughts, feelings, emotions and inner states with greater clarity. In the third category, which is divided into two groups, we throw out any thought that comes into our mind, until we achieve shoonya or emptiness, a luminous emptiness. It is not a dark, tamasic emptiness; it is an emptiness which is full of peace and love.
Antar mouna is one of the most important techniques that we can learn in order to maintain the path, in order to maintain an awareness of duality and polarity, and to be able to hold the negative as well as the positive experiences.
Yoga & Stress
Stress has been described over or lack of stimuli. Too little can lead to depression, lethargy, feelings of being devalued and lack of focus. Conversely, too much stress can lead to exhaustion "burn out" or even "nervous breakdown". Yoga, on the other hand minimizes impact of stress on the individual. Yogic science believes that the regular practice of asanas and pranayama strengthens the nervous system and helps people face stressful situations positively. Tension, is not a modern phenomenon. In the centuries-old yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali attributed the causes of mental affliction to the ego, spiritual ignorance, desire, hatred of others, and attachment to life. He called these kleshas or "sorrows".
Cause of Stress
Through advances in science and technology, modern civilization has been able to conquer ignorance in many fields, but its pride in technological achievement is excessive and misplaced. It has triggered widespread feelings of competitiveness and envy. Financial tensions, emotional upheavals, environmental pollution and, above all, a sense of being overtaken by the speed of events, have all increased the stress of daily life.
All these factors strain the body, causing nervous tension, and adversely affecting mind. This is when feelings of isolation and loneliness take over.
To deal with this, people turn to artificial solutions to cope with the pressures of daily life. Substance abuse, eating disorders, and destructive relationships are some of the substitutes people grasp at in their desperate search for consolation. But while these measures may provide temporary distraction or oblivion, the root cause of unhappiness - stress - remains unresolved.
Advertise Here
Yoga is not a miracle cure that can free a person from all stress, but it can help to minimize it. The worries of modern life deplete our reserves of bio - energy, because we draw on our vital on our vital energy from the storehouse - the nerve cell. This can, ultimately, exhaust our energy reserves and lead to the collapse of mental and physical equilibrium.
In yoga, experience of relaxation means moving from the outside to the inside, becoming aware of this introversion and maintaining balance and stability.
Yogic science believes that the nerves control the unconscious mind, and that when the nervous system is strong, a person faces stressful situations more positively. Asanas improve blood flow to all the cells of the body, revitalizing the nerve cells. This flow strengthens the nervous system and its capacity for enduring stress.
Relieving Stress
The diaphragm, according to yogic science, is the seat of the intelligence of the heart and the window to the soul. During stressful situations, however, when you inhale and exhale, the diaphragm becomes too taut to alter its shape. Yogic exercises address this problem by developing elasticity in the diaphragm, so that, when stretched, it can handle any amount of stress, whether intellectual, emotional, or physical.
The muscles also accumulate stress because when there is no movement of the body then a chemical accumulates called lactic acid. At night when you sleep your body generates lactic acid which causes the feeling of stiffness when you wake up in the morning. When there is a movement for some time then that stiffness slowly fades away. The toxins which accumulate in the joints prevent free movement. The adjoining muscles also have minute spaces in which circulation stagnates. So yogic postures stretch the muscles and expand the joints. As a result circulation improves and toxins are drained away. Some useful practices which take only a short time are the head and neck movements.
Yoga has been found to be an effective therapy to increase the immunity, the stamina and the strength of the different systems within the body.
Yoga also does not consider the mind as everything, but it accepts that by developing awareness and concentration you can awaken the dormant potential which can be used to develop and attain success in your life.
The practice of asanas and pranayama helps to integrates the body, breath, mind, and intellect. Slow, effortless exhalation during practice of an asana brings serenity to the body cells, relaxes the facial muscles, and releases all tension from the organs of perception: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.
A good starting point and a difficult one, is to be sober and clean, living a life free from drug use or drink.
When this happens, the brain, which is in constant communication with the organs of action, becomes shunya, or void, and all thoughts are stilled. Then, invading fears and anxieties cannot penetrate to the brain. When you develop this ability, you perform your daily activities with efficiency and economy. You do not dissipate your valuable bio-energy. You enter the state of true clarity of intellect. Your mind is free of stress and is filled with calm and tranquility.
The importance of relaxation in our society is vital to health and well being and body "ease". A body in a constant state of arousal eventually becomes exhausted and "dis-eased".
Cause of Stress
Through advances in science and technology, modern civilization has been able to conquer ignorance in many fields, but its pride in technological achievement is excessive and misplaced. It has triggered widespread feelings of competitiveness and envy. Financial tensions, emotional upheavals, environmental pollution and, above all, a sense of being overtaken by the speed of events, have all increased the stress of daily life.
All these factors strain the body, causing nervous tension, and adversely affecting mind. This is when feelings of isolation and loneliness take over.
To deal with this, people turn to artificial solutions to cope with the pressures of daily life. Substance abuse, eating disorders, and destructive relationships are some of the substitutes people grasp at in their desperate search for consolation. But while these measures may provide temporary distraction or oblivion, the root cause of unhappiness - stress - remains unresolved.
Advertise Here
Yoga is not a miracle cure that can free a person from all stress, but it can help to minimize it. The worries of modern life deplete our reserves of bio - energy, because we draw on our vital on our vital energy from the storehouse - the nerve cell. This can, ultimately, exhaust our energy reserves and lead to the collapse of mental and physical equilibrium.
In yoga, experience of relaxation means moving from the outside to the inside, becoming aware of this introversion and maintaining balance and stability.
Yogic science believes that the nerves control the unconscious mind, and that when the nervous system is strong, a person faces stressful situations more positively. Asanas improve blood flow to all the cells of the body, revitalizing the nerve cells. This flow strengthens the nervous system and its capacity for enduring stress.
Relieving Stress
The diaphragm, according to yogic science, is the seat of the intelligence of the heart and the window to the soul. During stressful situations, however, when you inhale and exhale, the diaphragm becomes too taut to alter its shape. Yogic exercises address this problem by developing elasticity in the diaphragm, so that, when stretched, it can handle any amount of stress, whether intellectual, emotional, or physical.
The muscles also accumulate stress because when there is no movement of the body then a chemical accumulates called lactic acid. At night when you sleep your body generates lactic acid which causes the feeling of stiffness when you wake up in the morning. When there is a movement for some time then that stiffness slowly fades away. The toxins which accumulate in the joints prevent free movement. The adjoining muscles also have minute spaces in which circulation stagnates. So yogic postures stretch the muscles and expand the joints. As a result circulation improves and toxins are drained away. Some useful practices which take only a short time are the head and neck movements.
Yoga has been found to be an effective therapy to increase the immunity, the stamina and the strength of the different systems within the body.
Yoga also does not consider the mind as everything, but it accepts that by developing awareness and concentration you can awaken the dormant potential which can be used to develop and attain success in your life.
The practice of asanas and pranayama helps to integrates the body, breath, mind, and intellect. Slow, effortless exhalation during practice of an asana brings serenity to the body cells, relaxes the facial muscles, and releases all tension from the organs of perception: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.
A good starting point and a difficult one, is to be sober and clean, living a life free from drug use or drink.
When this happens, the brain, which is in constant communication with the organs of action, becomes shunya, or void, and all thoughts are stilled. Then, invading fears and anxieties cannot penetrate to the brain. When you develop this ability, you perform your daily activities with efficiency and economy. You do not dissipate your valuable bio-energy. You enter the state of true clarity of intellect. Your mind is free of stress and is filled with calm and tranquility.
The importance of relaxation in our society is vital to health and well being and body "ease". A body in a constant state of arousal eventually becomes exhausted and "dis-eased".
Depression: the silent epidemic
Depression in its clinical form, is a mood disorder in which the individual may feel sad, helpless, hopeless, as if life is just too overwhelming and burdensome. Every one of us experiences depressed feelings from time to time; no one can escape the hurtful things in life. Its how we react that matters in the face of adversity.
Question that often arises is- Can I overcome depression? Yes, you can. To combat and overcome depression all of us need to learn how to face and manage difficulties skillfully. Sadness and hurt are parts of life that no one escapes. Easy it may sound, the goal should be to handle difficulties as temporary problems to be solved in efficient ways.
Treatment Options
There are a wide variety of treatment options for dealing with depression. Each case is different and the prescribed treatment varies from person to person. Some treatment options include:
Psychotherapy
Support groups
Medication/antidepressants
Natural remedies
Hypnosis
Meditation
Exercise
Any combination of the above.
In this section of the article we deal with, Self Help Techniques to deal with Depression. With increasing side effects of medication for depression, like weight-gain, anti-depressants should be the last resort.
Meditation:
Meditation can calm the mind and reduce stress, making dealing with depression easier. This technique brings you in contact with the present moment and creates awareness of what is around you.
Inhale slowly and deeply. Imagine your breath beginning at your head and traveling down to your feet, then coming back up again. Feel your breath travel through your body. How long you spend in this meditation it all depends on your tolerance for it. If you're new to meditation, ten minutes might be as much as you can handle. If you can last for or gradually increase your time to thirty minutes that would be ideal.
Realistic goal setting
Goal setting fights depression by helping women regain a sense of control over their lives. Regaining control over life also boosts self esteem and helps with positive thinking. Remember that regardless of age, a one-week goal is a manageable way to begin with. Goals should be “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, to build self-confidence.
Relaxation Techniques
Learning relaxation techniques can ease stress, muscle tension and anxiety. Progressive relaxation teaches- how to relax at will. This way of relaxation allows you to regain control over your body's involuntary muscle tension, and trains your body to release that tension. Basically, you focus your attention on one group of muscles at a time (the left arm, for instance, or the lower back muscles). Which in turn helps you, to become aware of the tension and tightness in that group of muscles, examining where the tension occurs and how it feels. Now exaggerate the tension, tightening the muscles and then releasing. By making the muscle even tighter than usual, you train your body to recognize how a relaxing muscle feels. Over time, the muscles relax more easily, and you become more aware of your body's tension trouble spots.
Question that often arises is- Can I overcome depression? Yes, you can. To combat and overcome depression all of us need to learn how to face and manage difficulties skillfully. Sadness and hurt are parts of life that no one escapes. Easy it may sound, the goal should be to handle difficulties as temporary problems to be solved in efficient ways.
Treatment Options
There are a wide variety of treatment options for dealing with depression. Each case is different and the prescribed treatment varies from person to person. Some treatment options include:
Psychotherapy
Support groups
Medication/antidepressants
Natural remedies
Hypnosis
Meditation
Exercise
Any combination of the above.
In this section of the article we deal with, Self Help Techniques to deal with Depression. With increasing side effects of medication for depression, like weight-gain, anti-depressants should be the last resort.
Meditation:
Meditation can calm the mind and reduce stress, making dealing with depression easier. This technique brings you in contact with the present moment and creates awareness of what is around you.
Inhale slowly and deeply. Imagine your breath beginning at your head and traveling down to your feet, then coming back up again. Feel your breath travel through your body. How long you spend in this meditation it all depends on your tolerance for it. If you're new to meditation, ten minutes might be as much as you can handle. If you can last for or gradually increase your time to thirty minutes that would be ideal.
Realistic goal setting
Goal setting fights depression by helping women regain a sense of control over their lives. Regaining control over life also boosts self esteem and helps with positive thinking. Remember that regardless of age, a one-week goal is a manageable way to begin with. Goals should be “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, to build self-confidence.
Relaxation Techniques
Learning relaxation techniques can ease stress, muscle tension and anxiety. Progressive relaxation teaches- how to relax at will. This way of relaxation allows you to regain control over your body's involuntary muscle tension, and trains your body to release that tension. Basically, you focus your attention on one group of muscles at a time (the left arm, for instance, or the lower back muscles). Which in turn helps you, to become aware of the tension and tightness in that group of muscles, examining where the tension occurs and how it feels. Now exaggerate the tension, tightening the muscles and then releasing. By making the muscle even tighter than usual, you train your body to recognize how a relaxing muscle feels. Over time, the muscles relax more easily, and you become more aware of your body's tension trouble spots.
Top 10 Ways of Dealing with Stress
The word Stress is used to describe both external events that make demand on us and the internal responses they trigger. In fact, stress is the body's general response to any demand made on it, regardless of whether that demand is pleasant or unpleasant, or whether it is emotional or physical.
Relaxation helps reduce stress by distracting your mind from stress provoking thoughts. Besides various relaxation techniques help to counter effects of 'fight or flight' reaction.
Check out these Ten simple and effective ways of handling stress
TALK ABOUT IT:
Where you feel you can, discuss your problems with your partner or close friend in order to see the situation more objectively.
PLEASE YOURSELF:
Make sure you do something you really enjoy at least once a day.
LAUGH IT OFF :
Laughter is a fabulous healer and encourages social bonding. The act of laughing also increases the oxygen supply to the lungs, stimulates the production of endorphins and can produce a feeling of euphoria. Occasionally it may also open the gates to tears-another positive release.
EXERCISE :
Burn off the energy that stress generates before it burns you up. A study at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, shows that 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate to about 120 beats per minute at least three times a week can lower depression and anxiety within 12 weeks. Performing some stretching exercises or regular exercise pattern can help you combat stress. Check out stretching exercises at WF Flexibility exercises for reliving stress.
SAY NO :
Make space for yourself and get some respect. State your options clearly and calmly. Don't wait to be asked, then feel angry and overlooked if you're not.
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BE CREATIVE:
Women often feel stressed, frustrated and depressed when family or business management pushes creativity out of the picture. Taking up a stimulating new interest helps you to keep an open and progressive mind.
GET REAL :
Accept your personality, don't try to alter it. Instead, learn to manage your strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, stop chastising yourself for past mistakes. Learn from them - then let them go.
PLAN AND PRIORITIZE :
Organize your life better by tackling important issues early to get them off your mind, and don't take on too much.
THINK POSITIVE :
Approval-seeking and self-doubt both erode self-esteem. Tell yourself you can do things not merely to stay popular but because you genuinely enjoy them.
BE KIND TO YOURSELF :
When you're stressed, give yourself physical and emotional support. Treat yourself to your favorite foods. Pamper yourself in an aromatherapy bath or book in for a relaxing massage. Make sure that you regularly do things just for fun. It might be as simple as taking a walk in a park, going to movies, or even doing something you would normally Consider as childish, such as jumping into a pile of fallen leaves or splashing in puddles.
If you regard happiness as coming from outside, you will waste a lot of time chasing it, because all the evidence suggest that happiness comes from within yourself. The same lies true with all other aspects of your life physical, mental, social and emotional life.
Relaxation helps reduce stress by distracting your mind from stress provoking thoughts. Besides various relaxation techniques help to counter effects of 'fight or flight' reaction.
Check out these Ten simple and effective ways of handling stress
TALK ABOUT IT:
Where you feel you can, discuss your problems with your partner or close friend in order to see the situation more objectively.
PLEASE YOURSELF:
Make sure you do something you really enjoy at least once a day.
LAUGH IT OFF :
Laughter is a fabulous healer and encourages social bonding. The act of laughing also increases the oxygen supply to the lungs, stimulates the production of endorphins and can produce a feeling of euphoria. Occasionally it may also open the gates to tears-another positive release.
EXERCISE :
Burn off the energy that stress generates before it burns you up. A study at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, shows that 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate to about 120 beats per minute at least three times a week can lower depression and anxiety within 12 weeks. Performing some stretching exercises or regular exercise pattern can help you combat stress. Check out stretching exercises at WF Flexibility exercises for reliving stress.
SAY NO :
Make space for yourself and get some respect. State your options clearly and calmly. Don't wait to be asked, then feel angry and overlooked if you're not.
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BE CREATIVE:
Women often feel stressed, frustrated and depressed when family or business management pushes creativity out of the picture. Taking up a stimulating new interest helps you to keep an open and progressive mind.
GET REAL :
Accept your personality, don't try to alter it. Instead, learn to manage your strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, stop chastising yourself for past mistakes. Learn from them - then let them go.
PLAN AND PRIORITIZE :
Organize your life better by tackling important issues early to get them off your mind, and don't take on too much.
THINK POSITIVE :
Approval-seeking and self-doubt both erode self-esteem. Tell yourself you can do things not merely to stay popular but because you genuinely enjoy them.
BE KIND TO YOURSELF :
When you're stressed, give yourself physical and emotional support. Treat yourself to your favorite foods. Pamper yourself in an aromatherapy bath or book in for a relaxing massage. Make sure that you regularly do things just for fun. It might be as simple as taking a walk in a park, going to movies, or even doing something you would normally Consider as childish, such as jumping into a pile of fallen leaves or splashing in puddles.
If you regard happiness as coming from outside, you will waste a lot of time chasing it, because all the evidence suggest that happiness comes from within yourself. The same lies true with all other aspects of your life physical, mental, social and emotional life.
Lifesaver on Weight loss hurdles
Lifesaver #1: Use the buddy system
Corny but proven: You get by with a little help from your friends. Nine out of 10 women in Werner's study said they relied on their friends for emotional support – but not just any friends. It's about quality," Werner says. "People who survive adversities usually have one or two close friends from early in life." Having a social life is one thing, but having someone to talk to is the thing.
Lifesaver #2: Mine that silver lining
In order to remain resilient, you need to learn how to dig the positive treasures out of the muddiest pit, but – pessimists, stay with us – true optimism is not just thinking annoyingly happy thoughts all day long. Rather, it's believing that you have the power to bring about good results, or at least fix the bad ones, says Susan C. Vaughan, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City".
Lifesaver #3: Look for better excuses
The gym may have closed down or membership fees may be astronomical, but keeping fit and exercising needn't cost a penny or be painful or inconvenient. Why not start a walking club with others who want to lose weight? This is a great way to socialize and keep each other motivated - not to mention an enjoyable way of earning extra exercise points. The courageous among you could start a beginners' jogging club. Set yourself realistic goals and see yourself improve. Exercise isn't something that should be constricted to the realms of dieting and weight loss, it should be, and indeed anyone who undertakes any sort of regular exercise will tell you, it is fun.
Advertise Here
Lifesaver #4: Create better habits
Something you do for a couple weeks to a month is not going to change your life. Create habits that you know you'll be able to keep up every day for the rest of your life, and, even if it's one habit at a time, dedicate yourself to making the changes for good. This way, your weight loss will be for good, too! Celebrations like weddings, parties, leaving dos and birthdays don't have to be a weight-loss nightmare. Again, pre-planning helps. Decide to budget for the occasion by sticking to your weight-loss program and exercising up to the event.
Lifesaver #5: Be realistic.
If your expectations for weight loss are too high, you're bound to get disappointed, and your frustrations could lead you to stray from your healthy eating and exercise efforts. Set a realistic goal for your weight loss -- no more than one or two pounds a week -- and keep in mind that you may occasionally hit weight-loss plateaus.
Lifesaver #6: Plan your meals in time
Cook your foods on the weekends. Freeze lunches for work and always have a protein bar or energy bar in your purse or duffel bag. This way when plans change your diet doesn't have to. Always have almonds, water, and protein bars with you at all times. Plan your meal for the day in advance (chop vegetable, soak beans, stock fruits); in order to prevent jeopardizing your diet. Once you have a goal and diet plan on paper, you are ready to get behind the starting line of that race track. If you do stray drastically from your healthy eating, don't throw in the towel in despair. Forgive yourself and get back on the straight and narrow the very next day.
Lifesaver #7: Learn to cope with stress
A recent Harvard study found that the most common triggers for stress-related weight gain are work and bills. In men, hot buttons include feeling a lack of authority, and in women, family pressures and perceived life constraints. We're wired to eat when we're under stress. Evolutionarily, that was a good thing. If you needed to escape a dangerous situation, high calories would give you the energy to do it; but in today's modern society, the stress-food response no longer works in your favor. "Every time you reach for food when you're stressed, you deepen the wiring," says Mary Dallman, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor Emerita at the University of California, San Francisco. To compound the problem, the release of stress hormones causes a surge of insulin, which turns extra calories into belly fat.
Lifesaver #8: Avoid Deprivation
Depriving yourself of your favorite foods is a powerful trigger for overeating. Humans naturally want what they can't have. In order to avoid certain foods you tend to focus on them more, increasing the risk of bingeing. Plus, a diet of low-calorie foods simply isn't satisfying, so it's easy to eat too much. A study in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that when people go to "healthy" fast-food restaurants such as Subway they choose sides (such as chips), beverages, and desserts containing up to 131 percent more calories than they would have consumed if they'd gone to a restaurant they perceived as less healthy. Focus on fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, and eat healthy but calorie-dense choices such as nuts in moderation. Any food, including chocolate or butter, can have a place in a balanced diet. To reintroduce foods you've come to think you shouldn't eat, experiment with them mindfully. Pay attention to every single bite.
Quick weight loss is inspiring, but it is important to think ahead too: you need to retrain your palate and eating habits and reassess your physical activity so that you can lose weight and stay slim. You cannot expect to achieve miracles in a few days, but you will see a difference within three or four weeks if you eat properly and exercise regularly. Losing weight successfully is like getting fitter: you need a horizon - or goal - ahead of you to help spur you on.
Corny but proven: You get by with a little help from your friends. Nine out of 10 women in Werner's study said they relied on their friends for emotional support – but not just any friends. It's about quality," Werner says. "People who survive adversities usually have one or two close friends from early in life." Having a social life is one thing, but having someone to talk to is the thing.
Lifesaver #2: Mine that silver lining
In order to remain resilient, you need to learn how to dig the positive treasures out of the muddiest pit, but – pessimists, stay with us – true optimism is not just thinking annoyingly happy thoughts all day long. Rather, it's believing that you have the power to bring about good results, or at least fix the bad ones, says Susan C. Vaughan, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City".
Lifesaver #3: Look for better excuses
The gym may have closed down or membership fees may be astronomical, but keeping fit and exercising needn't cost a penny or be painful or inconvenient. Why not start a walking club with others who want to lose weight? This is a great way to socialize and keep each other motivated - not to mention an enjoyable way of earning extra exercise points. The courageous among you could start a beginners' jogging club. Set yourself realistic goals and see yourself improve. Exercise isn't something that should be constricted to the realms of dieting and weight loss, it should be, and indeed anyone who undertakes any sort of regular exercise will tell you, it is fun.
Advertise Here
Lifesaver #4: Create better habits
Something you do for a couple weeks to a month is not going to change your life. Create habits that you know you'll be able to keep up every day for the rest of your life, and, even if it's one habit at a time, dedicate yourself to making the changes for good. This way, your weight loss will be for good, too! Celebrations like weddings, parties, leaving dos and birthdays don't have to be a weight-loss nightmare. Again, pre-planning helps. Decide to budget for the occasion by sticking to your weight-loss program and exercising up to the event.
Lifesaver #5: Be realistic.
If your expectations for weight loss are too high, you're bound to get disappointed, and your frustrations could lead you to stray from your healthy eating and exercise efforts. Set a realistic goal for your weight loss -- no more than one or two pounds a week -- and keep in mind that you may occasionally hit weight-loss plateaus.
Lifesaver #6: Plan your meals in time
Cook your foods on the weekends. Freeze lunches for work and always have a protein bar or energy bar in your purse or duffel bag. This way when plans change your diet doesn't have to. Always have almonds, water, and protein bars with you at all times. Plan your meal for the day in advance (chop vegetable, soak beans, stock fruits); in order to prevent jeopardizing your diet. Once you have a goal and diet plan on paper, you are ready to get behind the starting line of that race track. If you do stray drastically from your healthy eating, don't throw in the towel in despair. Forgive yourself and get back on the straight and narrow the very next day.
Lifesaver #7: Learn to cope with stress
A recent Harvard study found that the most common triggers for stress-related weight gain are work and bills. In men, hot buttons include feeling a lack of authority, and in women, family pressures and perceived life constraints. We're wired to eat when we're under stress. Evolutionarily, that was a good thing. If you needed to escape a dangerous situation, high calories would give you the energy to do it; but in today's modern society, the stress-food response no longer works in your favor. "Every time you reach for food when you're stressed, you deepen the wiring," says Mary Dallman, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor Emerita at the University of California, San Francisco. To compound the problem, the release of stress hormones causes a surge of insulin, which turns extra calories into belly fat.
Lifesaver #8: Avoid Deprivation
Depriving yourself of your favorite foods is a powerful trigger for overeating. Humans naturally want what they can't have. In order to avoid certain foods you tend to focus on them more, increasing the risk of bingeing. Plus, a diet of low-calorie foods simply isn't satisfying, so it's easy to eat too much. A study in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that when people go to "healthy" fast-food restaurants such as Subway they choose sides (such as chips), beverages, and desserts containing up to 131 percent more calories than they would have consumed if they'd gone to a restaurant they perceived as less healthy. Focus on fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, and eat healthy but calorie-dense choices such as nuts in moderation. Any food, including chocolate or butter, can have a place in a balanced diet. To reintroduce foods you've come to think you shouldn't eat, experiment with them mindfully. Pay attention to every single bite.
Quick weight loss is inspiring, but it is important to think ahead too: you need to retrain your palate and eating habits and reassess your physical activity so that you can lose weight and stay slim. You cannot expect to achieve miracles in a few days, but you will see a difference within three or four weeks if you eat properly and exercise regularly. Losing weight successfully is like getting fitter: you need a horizon - or goal - ahead of you to help spur you on.
Top 10 Foods That Help You Lose Weight
Top 10 Foods That Help You Lose Weight
Magic Diets don't exist. But because they're rich in fiber, some foods take longer to eat, yet have fewer calories per gram. They may also alter intestinal hormone levels and lead to your feeling less hungry.
That's the idea behind the following foods which because they're also tasty-trick your body into feeling satisfied with far less fat and fewer calories:
Salads: Make salads with tomato, car rot, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, lettuce, or cucumber all low in calories-your diet staple, to liven them up, you can use curd or lemon as a salad dressing. Sandwiches too, are a goods way to have these raw vegetables. The bread helps fill you up, but don't use butter-spread a coriander-and-mint chutney instead would do good.
Grapes: Instead of munching your way through a packet of biscuits after a hard day, try grapes instead. They're high in sugar, but as long as you don't overdo it, they offer the same soothing hand-to-mouth action with none of the fat. They're especially good chilled besides, a hundred grams of grapes contain only 70 calories.
Oranges: The more slowly you eat; the easier it is to recognize your body's satiety signals. And what snack takes longer than peeling and sectioning an orange? Oranges have only 48 calories. (200 ml of orange juice, with all the fiber gone, has about 115).
Potatoes: Surprised? The problem is not the potatoes, but the way they are cooked . Finger chips or other forms of fried potatoes are high in fat. But if baked or boiled and eaten without fatty accompaniments, potatoes are great for your diet. Have them mashed, adding pepper and a dash of lime. Or stuffed-as in aloo parathas, prepared without oil or ghee of course. (If you must have finger chips make them in the microwave). Potatoes contain only 97 calories.
Sweet potatoes when boiled have a naturally rich taste and creamy texture. They have 120 calories more than potatoes – but they're delicious even without accompaniments. And although they belong to a different botanical family, calorie they're just as nutritious as regular potatoes.
High fiber cereals: By providing bulk, some cereal-based foods, too, fill you up on relatively few calories. They include chapattis, roasted corn on the cob, dhokla or idlis, and white rice upmas. Other breakfast choices could be oats, poha, or rice wheat-or- corn-flakes low in sugar'. Pour skim milk on the flakes. If you prefer them sweet, add chopped fruit.
Sprouted pulses: When pulses are sprouted, they gain vitamins and fiber. Eaten raw, they're good for slimming. Moong, for instance, sprouts quickly and its sprouts taste good raw. A 50-gram serving has about 140 calories. Raw sprouts of other pulses-rajma, broad beans and dried peas for example-can be made more palatable if they're steamed, though this lowers their nutrient value.
Curds: If made from skimmed cow's milk, curds contain only 56 calories and are a good source of protein, calcium and vitamins, Plain curds with a little fruit is delicious as a dessert.
Water: Research shows that snacking in particular is often the result of mistaking thirst for hunger; write Tarla Dalal and Dr Swati Piramal in East Your Way to Good Health. Water has no calories, so it's great for filling up. Those who find it a plain bore can quaff low-calorie drinks that contain mostly water such as buttermilk, coconut water, and watermelon juice. Clear vegetable or dal soups are nutritious and don't have many calories, avoid cream soups.
Air popped popcorn: That's popcorn made without butter, oil or salt. Pop it your self in a container with a lid, either over a stove or in a microwave oven. If quantity affects the quality of your eating experience consider that four cups of air-popcorn have only 100 calories and one gram of fat. Compare that to potato wafers-four cups have about 600 calories and 40 grams of fat.
Chocolate bar: To avoid binges, it's important to indulge yourself once in a while. An occasional 20-gram chocolate bar-about the size of a small 5 star-is a good choice for sweet-tooth cravings, because it's individually pack aged and thus less risky than cake, ice cream, or puddings.
A diet containing these foods can help you lose weight, but don't neglect exercise. Scientific studies have shown that calories intake is not necessarily higher in the obese than in normal people. It's energy expenditure that's often lower in those who are overweight. So make sure your weight-reduction plan gives equal importance to exercise
So the next time when each one of you is off to shop for food or sit down to eat, don't forget to incorporate these foods in some or the other way to achieve a healthy and balanced diet.
Magic Diets don't exist. But because they're rich in fiber, some foods take longer to eat, yet have fewer calories per gram. They may also alter intestinal hormone levels and lead to your feeling less hungry.
That's the idea behind the following foods which because they're also tasty-trick your body into feeling satisfied with far less fat and fewer calories:
Salads: Make salads with tomato, car rot, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, lettuce, or cucumber all low in calories-your diet staple, to liven them up, you can use curd or lemon as a salad dressing. Sandwiches too, are a goods way to have these raw vegetables. The bread helps fill you up, but don't use butter-spread a coriander-and-mint chutney instead would do good.
Grapes: Instead of munching your way through a packet of biscuits after a hard day, try grapes instead. They're high in sugar, but as long as you don't overdo it, they offer the same soothing hand-to-mouth action with none of the fat. They're especially good chilled besides, a hundred grams of grapes contain only 70 calories.
Oranges: The more slowly you eat; the easier it is to recognize your body's satiety signals. And what snack takes longer than peeling and sectioning an orange? Oranges have only 48 calories. (200 ml of orange juice, with all the fiber gone, has about 115).
Potatoes: Surprised? The problem is not the potatoes, but the way they are cooked . Finger chips or other forms of fried potatoes are high in fat. But if baked or boiled and eaten without fatty accompaniments, potatoes are great for your diet. Have them mashed, adding pepper and a dash of lime. Or stuffed-as in aloo parathas, prepared without oil or ghee of course. (If you must have finger chips make them in the microwave). Potatoes contain only 97 calories.
Sweet potatoes when boiled have a naturally rich taste and creamy texture. They have 120 calories more than potatoes – but they're delicious even without accompaniments. And although they belong to a different botanical family, calorie they're just as nutritious as regular potatoes.
High fiber cereals: By providing bulk, some cereal-based foods, too, fill you up on relatively few calories. They include chapattis, roasted corn on the cob, dhokla or idlis, and white rice upmas. Other breakfast choices could be oats, poha, or rice wheat-or- corn-flakes low in sugar'. Pour skim milk on the flakes. If you prefer them sweet, add chopped fruit.
Sprouted pulses: When pulses are sprouted, they gain vitamins and fiber. Eaten raw, they're good for slimming. Moong, for instance, sprouts quickly and its sprouts taste good raw. A 50-gram serving has about 140 calories. Raw sprouts of other pulses-rajma, broad beans and dried peas for example-can be made more palatable if they're steamed, though this lowers their nutrient value.
Curds: If made from skimmed cow's milk, curds contain only 56 calories and are a good source of protein, calcium and vitamins, Plain curds with a little fruit is delicious as a dessert.
Water: Research shows that snacking in particular is often the result of mistaking thirst for hunger; write Tarla Dalal and Dr Swati Piramal in East Your Way to Good Health. Water has no calories, so it's great for filling up. Those who find it a plain bore can quaff low-calorie drinks that contain mostly water such as buttermilk, coconut water, and watermelon juice. Clear vegetable or dal soups are nutritious and don't have many calories, avoid cream soups.
Air popped popcorn: That's popcorn made without butter, oil or salt. Pop it your self in a container with a lid, either over a stove or in a microwave oven. If quantity affects the quality of your eating experience consider that four cups of air-popcorn have only 100 calories and one gram of fat. Compare that to potato wafers-four cups have about 600 calories and 40 grams of fat.
Chocolate bar: To avoid binges, it's important to indulge yourself once in a while. An occasional 20-gram chocolate bar-about the size of a small 5 star-is a good choice for sweet-tooth cravings, because it's individually pack aged and thus less risky than cake, ice cream, or puddings.
A diet containing these foods can help you lose weight, but don't neglect exercise. Scientific studies have shown that calories intake is not necessarily higher in the obese than in normal people. It's energy expenditure that's often lower in those who are overweight. So make sure your weight-reduction plan gives equal importance to exercise
So the next time when each one of you is off to shop for food or sit down to eat, don't forget to incorporate these foods in some or the other way to achieve a healthy and balanced diet.
fitness first
NUTRITIONAL ADVICE
Nutritional tips that help you get the body you want
1. Diets Don’t Solve the Problem
Most people try to get in shape think that dieting solves problems - it doesn’t. Diets often make you feel that you are starving yourself whilst eating celery and lettuce or following the latest fad diet. However as soon as your ‘diet’ is over and you’ve reached your magic weight you start eating as normal and wonder why the weight piles on again - don’t be surprised, this is what happens!
2. Calories Consumption
If you feel that you are out of shape it’s because you have eaten more calories than your body needs. If you are underweight you are not eating enough calories. It’s that simple!
3. Eating for Success
You are what you eat. If you snack on all types of junk food then expect to look no better than the food you are eating. Eating the correct food to build a great body doesn’t always mean you have to sacrifice great tasting food, it just means you have to become a little more selective to ensure that what you do eat is healthy, useful and full of nutrients.
4. Eating Regularly throughout the day
It is important that you try to avoid missing meals. The fewer meals you eat daily, the more your metabolism slows down. Eating smaller meals more regularly or snacking every 3 hours results in a fast metabolism, lean muscle gain (increased tone) and a decrease in body fat, not to mention an enhanced mood and feeling of well being. You will be sharper at work and more interactive.
5. Food Supplements
To assist in your effort to eat regularly throughout the day there are a number of food supplements, (also known as sports nutrition) which are a convenient form of nutrition. The supplements often come in the form of powders, bars and drinks and assist in the achievement of a goal you may have.
6. What are…
Carbohydrates
Carbs are the chief source of fuel for activity and are broken down into simple sugars called glucose. Glucose is stored in the muscles as glycogen and is used to provide energy (Milk, Vegetables, fruit, bread etc)
Proteins
Protein is made up of amino acids which the body uses for repairing and building muscles, enzymes and most other living cells in the body. It also defends your body against disease by supporting immune system (Fish, Poultry, Meat)
Fats
Fats are the most concentrated form of energy. Our body taps into fat stores when glycogen sources are low. All fats are not equal and our body needs essential fatty acids to promote good health while other fats including saturated fats increase the risk of the bad form of cholesterol and heart disease.
Vitamins and minerals
These are vital nutrients that the body cannot produce hence they must be included in your diet. These nutrients help to support energy production, hormone construction and bone development.
7. Supplements Can Help
Muscle tone / shape and strength
A number of studies show that increasing protein consumption will help build muscle faster and prevents your body from using existing muscle tissue as a source of fuel. Increased protein intake prevents muscle loss whilst trying to lose weight and is essential for any man or woman who wants to increase muscle size or just tone up. Good sources of protein are whey protein / chicken / fish / lean red meat / cottage cheese.
High quality protein can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Fat Burning / Weight Loss
These products are designed to support and optimise your metabolism to help increase your body’s fat burning capacity. Often these products contain extract of green tea, guarana, caffeine, vitamin B5 and l’carnatine
Safe and effective fat burning and weight loss products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Recovery
In order to accelerate your recovery after training it is important to re fuel the body with nutrient rich food stuff. Most recovery products contain a mixture of carbohydrate and protein and accelerate the recovery phase of any training regime. The combination of carbs and protein provides essential amino acids which assists in repair and growth of muscles post exercise.
A range of recovery products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Hydration
Whatever your exercise goals you need to perform at your best. Just a 2% drop in body weight as a result of sweating can lead to a decrease in performance. Dehydration can make you feel as though you’re working harder than you are and can put a strain on the body. Ideally drink 200 - 500ml shortly before training / 120 - 150ml every 15 - 20 minutes during and at least 500ml after training.
A range of recovery products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Energy
It is important to always to have a pre-training meal, snack or drink. Training on an empty stomach will result in a lack of energy and a bad workout. Ideally consume a snack in the hour before training. If you are feeling low in energy before training there are a number of options that will provide you with an instant energy kick and keep you going throughout your workout.
A range of energy products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
8. Other Useful Tips
o Breakfast is most important meal of the day
o If your are not losing body fat then reduce your calories
o Have a small protein snack before you go to bed
o Reward yourself one day at the weekend by eating what you want
o Avoid margarine and other food stuff containing hydrogenated fats and oils.
o Limit your intake of alcohol to a few glasses on the weekend or special occasions.
A final word
Supplements or Sports Nutrition work far better when you combine with an effective exercise programme. Nothing comes easy, you can’t expect to pop a pill and have the body you have always dreamed of. However with a sensible eating programme coupled with nutrient filled supplements and a regular, enjoyable exercise plan you will get the beach body that you have always wanted.
GET RESULTS QUICKLY
Personal Trainers provide the member with all the motivation and support they need to achieve their goals. Many members don’t know the benefits of Personal Training until they experience it. Group Personal Training will provide the member with the opportunity to take part in scheduled Personal Training sessions with like minded members. Working in a small group allows for great interaction and motivation as well as loads of fun. Ask about Personal Training in club if you want to get results quickly!
WORK OUT TOGETHER
Group Exercise is a great way to get fit in an environment that is fun and motivating. If you have never attended a Group Exercise class you are missing out!
As part of our Group Exercise offering themed classes will take place on the gym floor with a Sport, Strength, Health or Shape focus.
Find a training buddy! Our Health & Fitness Manager can partner you up with members who have like minded goals and fitness levels. Let our Health & Fitness Manager act as the ‘match maker’ and bring together members who don’t want to work out alone.
INSPIRING & ENERGETIC
Challenge Yourself! Fitness First has partnered with Men’s Fitness magazine to bring the Fit Brit challenge to our clubs. You will be able to take part in this challenge at any time with the UK final taking place in September. You will be able to record and track your results on the leaflets available in club.
FITNESS TIPS
Top tips to get you looking and feeling great!
Shape
1. Invigorated by crisp air? If so, take your workout outside. Try one of our bootcamp sessions or running clubs.
2. If you exercise outdoors, keep the following in mind: Dress in layers. When exercising in cooler temperatures, it is important not to overdress or under-dress. By wearing layers, you can remove clothes when you heat up, and put them back on when you cool down. Avoid wearing cotton or other materials that trap perspiration. Instead, look for materials specifically designed to wick perspiration away from the skin. Take advantage of your FIRST CLUB 10% discount at JJB Sports to treat yourself to a new kit!
3. Gather your friends or family and participate in a sport like football or netball once a week. This will give you something to look forward to during the autumn months, before the snow covers your playing area.
4. Adjust your lifestyle - one major component of your lifestyle is what you eat. Your diet is an extremely important aspect of getting in shape.
5. In order for your body to become more toned and efficient it is essential to eat lots of organic foods, fruits and vegetables, less saturated fat and preservatives and drink approximately 2 litres of water daily.
6. Get active! This doesn't mean walking to work occasionally, getting up off the couch for a drink, or typing all day on your computer, it means cardiovascular exercise, exercise that boosts your heart rate.
7. In order to lose weight and stay fit, cardio exercise burns calories and also keeps your heart in shape.
8. In addition to working your heart, it is critical to also work your muscles with weight training. It helps improve your resting breathing rate, metabolism, and muscle definition.
9. Relax and use imagery each day to get a feel for victory. See yourself, having already reached your goal, slipping into a smaller-sized outfit or pair of jeans. Or imagine feeling proud as you step on your bathroom scale and see the numbers. Pretending it’s already true enlists the support of your subconscious mind to make it really happen.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SHAPE
Nosheen Ahmed
Nosheen has battled through severe obesity, eating disorders, bullying, abuse, chronic depression and illnesses which could have killed her. With the help of Fitness First and a personal trainer, Nosheen has lost an incredible 14 stone in one year, going from 27 stone to 13 stone. Not only has Nosheen changed her life, she now works to help others around the country to achieve their dreams. Nosheen said “I have learnt the hard way that if you put your mind to something, then your body will follow and you can achieve anything!”
Sport
1. Never miss an opportunity to get involved in sports. Get involved in activities and sports requiring running, strength and quick reflexes wherever possible.
2. Stretch to become flexible - Stretching is the most neglected part of sports training. Stretching helps you become flexible and helps prevent injuries.
3. Train with weights for strength – Weight training exercises can be done using exercise equipment like dumbbells, barbells or resistance based machines. Your sporting discipline will dictate how many reps and sets will suit best, for further information, speak to a Personal Trainer today. Bodyweight exercises like push ups, pull ups, lunges and squats are excellent.
4. Train for speed - Almost every sport requires you to have quick reflexes to move and change directions quickly. Speed training uses speed drills which will help you build sharp reflexes. Simple speed drills like sprinting, running fast and turning around, stop & move drills and relays are excellent for developing speed and reflexes.
5. Train for aerobic endurance - You may have great power, your reflexes may be lightening but without your heart supplying enough oxygen you will fail on the field. You can use treadmills, skipping ropes, bikes, cross trainers or any aerobic exercise machine and the results will ultimately be the same. This will improve your aerobic endurance considerably.
6. Get sport specific - Different sports require different skills. Skills required in football are different than those required in tennis. Therefore break your sporting discipline down and look at which aspects you need to work on!
7. Get quality nutrition - Nutrition is often neglected and the common excuse is time. Remember without proper diet all your efforts in the gym and on the field will be a waste.
8. Competitions are great motivators - competitions, leagues and matches are an excellent motivation to train hard and win. They will provide you the additional impetus to give your best preparing for the competition.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SPORT
Max Exton
Max, from Godalming, was involved in a horrific motorcycling accident in July 2008 which nearly cost him his life. A scan revealed a bleed deep in his brain, which was inoperable. Max was attached to a life support machine and his family warned to expect the worst. Miraculously Max was breathing for himself within 24 hrs but was paralysed down the right side of his body and Doctors told him he would never walk again. However with intense physiotherapy and sheer determination, Max was walking within one month of the accident. Max then decided to join Fitness First to aid with his rehabilitation. With Max’s commendable level of commitment to his training, he is close to achieving his goal of getting back on his bike.
Health
It takes a lot of hard work and discipline to achieve a healthy, toned body. But with some basic nutritional knowledge you could achieve your goals faster than you thought. Getting the right balance of food, exercise and dedication may seem a hard task but putting your mind to it is the first hurdle. For starters, try following these essential nutritional tips
1. Eat more often
By spacing out your meals to every 2.5 - 3 hours you will actually help yourself lose weight. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, divide this into 6 smaller meals. Not only will the more regular flow of nutrients into your body help raise your metabolism and burn more fat in the long-run, you will also feel less hungry.
2. Don't skip breakfast
Research has shown that people who miss breakfast find it harder to lose weight. Breakfast, in short, is the most important meal of the day and is essential for getting your metabolism fired up.
3. Take your time
It can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full after you have finished eating. Don't rush your food and savour every mouthful, the more slowly you eat, the fuller you're going to feel.
4. Eat protein in every meal
Foods high in protein make you feel fuller quicker and for longer. Choose meats such as chicken, turkey, low fat mince or any type of fish. Protein is also essential for muscle growth and repair
5. Cutting the calories
To lose a pound of body fat, you must burn the equivalent of 3500 calories. If you cut your daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day (i.e. a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps), you'll be losing 1 pound a week. Do this for 3 months and you've lost almost a stone! You don't need to become a calorie counting junkie- just remove foods from your diet you don't really need. Increasing the amount of cardiovascular exercise will also help burn the fat. Start of slow and build up - try running for 30 minutes 3 times a week and if you've got more energy, try longer/more regular intervals.
6. Carbs are good
As much as you may have heard, carbohydrates are NOT the enemy. We need carbohydrates for energy whether for short bursts or long-sustained energy sources. Without carbohydrates our bodies find it hard to adjust to this inherent energy deficit. Stick to complex carbohydrates like vegetables, whole grains and beans which take a long time to digest and have a more prolonged release of energy.
7. Drink Enough Water
Water is a fundamental part of our lives. Aside from aiding in digestion and absorption of food, water regulates body temperature and blood circulation, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, and removes toxins and other wastes. Among its other benefits, water plays a major part in weight loss as it helps the body metabolize stored fat. If you find yourself getting hungry quickly, try drinking a pint of water to curb your appetite.
8. Avoid eating before bed
Our energy levels plummet whilst we sleep hence it is harder for our bodies to burn the excess calories eaten during the late evening. Save your food for when you're awake!
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - HEALTH
Andrew Pigott
Andrew, from Sheffield, in the last six years has faced and beaten cancer and has had to manage epilepsy and atrial fibrillation. Then in July 2009 Andrew had a routine operation to repair a prolapsed disk. An MRI scan showed that Andrew had suffered massive damage to the nerves running from the bottom of his spinal chord. This left him paralysed from the waist down and he told the devastating news that he would be wheelchair bound for life. With help from Fitness First and his physiotherapy team, Andrew’s progression has been phenomenal and he has recently entered into the Edinburgh marathon. Andrew had been a keen runner and cyclist before the operation, so this is great news.
Strength
Have you hit a wall in your strength training or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Here are 5 top tips to help break that wall down!
1. Variation is the key!! Your body will eventually adapt to all exercises so make sure you change them regularly.
2. Own body weight exercises are very important to improving your strength. Make sure pull ups and press ups are part of your workout.
3. A strong core = a strong body! Make sure abdominal exercises are a major part of your workout and you will see improvements in all other muscle groups
4. Try and find yourself a training partner. Someone motivating you through your exercises and helping you with those last couple of reps will help you improve in a shorter space of time
5. Muscles are made up of protein so to get the best out of them ensure you have a high protein meal or a shake after your workout as this will aid the recovery process.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - STRENGTH
David Downes
David, from Basildon, was heavily overweight at 21 stone, but the loss of his father to diabetes was the wake up call he needed. His goal was to climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro, in order to raise money for Diabetes UK, in memory of his father. With the help of Fitness First and his determination to reach the summit, he lost a total of 8 stone. David quotes “Getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing I have ever done, it was not only tough but required physical strength as well as a determined mind. The biggest achievement is raising over £9000 for Diabetes UK and increasing the awareness of the disease.”
FITNESS TIPS
Top tips to get you looking and feeling great!
Shape
1. Invigorated by crisp air? If so, take your workout outside. Try one of our bootcamp sessions or running clubs.
2. If you exercise outdoors, keep the following in mind: Dress in layers. When exercising in cooler temperatures, it is important not to overdress or under-dress. By wearing layers, you can remove clothes when you heat up, and put them back on when you cool down. Avoid wearing cotton or other materials that trap perspiration. Instead, look for materials specifically designed to wick perspiration away from the skin. Take advantage of your FIRST CLUB 10% discount at JJB Sports to treat yourself to a new kit!
3. Gather your friends or family and participate in a sport like football or netball once a week. This will give you something to look forward to during the autumn months, before the snow covers your playing area.
4. Adjust your lifestyle - one major component of your lifestyle is what you eat. Your diet is an extremely important aspect of getting in shape.
5. In order for your body to become more toned and efficient it is essential to eat lots of organic foods, fruits and vegetables, less saturated fat and preservatives and drink approximately 2 litres of water daily.
6. Get active! This doesn't mean walking to work occasionally, getting up off the couch for a drink, or typing all day on your computer, it means cardiovascular exercise, exercise that boosts your heart rate.
7. In order to lose weight and stay fit, cardio exercise burns calories and also keeps your heart in shape.
8. In addition to working your heart, it is critical to also work your muscles with weight training. It helps improve your resting breathing rate, metabolism, and muscle definition.
9. Relax and use imagery each day to get a feel for victory. See yourself, having already reached your goal, slipping into a smaller-sized outfit or pair of jeans. Or imagine feeling proud as you step on your bathroom scale and see the numbers. Pretending it’s already true enlists the support of your subconscious mind to make it really happen.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SHAPE
Nosheen Ahmed
Nosheen has battled through severe obesity, eating disorders, bullying, abuse, chronic depression and illnesses which could have killed her. With the help of Fitness First and a personal trainer, Nosheen has lost an incredible 14 stone in one year, going from 27 stone to 13 stone. Not only has Nosheen changed her life, she now works to help others around the country to achieve their dreams. Nosheen said “I have learnt the hard way that if you put your mind to something, then your body will follow and you can achieve anything!”
Sport
1. Never miss an opportunity to get involved in sports. Get involved in activities and sports requiring running, strength and quick reflexes wherever possible.
2. Stretch to become flexible - Stretching is the most neglected part of sports training. Stretching helps you become flexible and helps prevent injuries.
3. Train with weights for strength – Weight training exercises can be done using exercise equipment like dumbbells, barbells or resistance based machines. Your sporting discipline will dictate how many reps and sets will suit best, for further information, speak to a Personal Trainer today. Bodyweight exercises like push ups, pull ups, lunges and squats are excellent.
4. Train for speed - Almost every sport requires you to have quick reflexes to move and change directions quickly. Speed training uses speed drills which will help you build sharp reflexes. Simple speed drills like sprinting, running fast and turning around, stop & move drills and relays are excellent for developing speed and reflexes.
5. Train for aerobic endurance - You may have great power, your reflexes may be lightening but without your heart supplying enough oxygen you will fail on the field. You can use treadmills, skipping ropes, bikes, cross trainers or any aerobic exercise machine and the results will ultimately be the same. This will improve your aerobic endurance considerably.
6. Get sport specific - Different sports require different skills. Skills required in football are different than those required in tennis. Therefore break your sporting discipline down and look at which aspects you need to work on!
7. Get quality nutrition - Nutrition is often neglected and the common excuse is time. Remember without proper diet all your efforts in the gym and on the field will be a waste.
8. Competitions are great motivators - competitions, leagues and matches are an excellent motivation to train hard and win. They will provide you the additional impetus to give your best preparing for the competition.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SPORT
Max Exton
Max, from Godalming, was involved in a horrific motorcycling accident in July 2008 which nearly cost him his life. A scan revealed a bleed deep in his brain, which was inoperable. Max was attached to a life support machine and his family warned to expect the worst. Miraculously Max was breathing for himself within 24 hrs but was paralysed down the right side of his body and Doctors told him he would never walk again. However with intense physiotherapy and sheer determination, Max was walking within one month of the accident. Max then decided to join Fitness First to aid with his rehabilitation. With Max’s commendable level of commitment to his training, he is close to achieving his goal of getting back on his bike.
Health
It takes a lot of hard work and discipline to achieve a healthy, toned body. But with some basic nutritional knowledge you could achieve your goals faster than you thought. Getting the right balance of food, exercise and dedication may seem a hard task but putting your mind to it is the first hurdle. For starters, try following these essential nutritional tips
1. Eat more often
By spacing out your meals to every 2.5 - 3 hours you will actually help yourself lose weight. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, divide this into 6 smaller meals. Not only will the more regular flow of nutrients into your body help raise your metabolism and burn more fat in the long-run, you will also feel less hungry.
2. Don't skip breakfast
Research has shown that people who miss breakfast find it harder to lose weight. Breakfast, in short, is the most important meal of the day and is essential for getting your metabolism fired up.
3. Take your time
It can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full after you have finished eating. Don't rush your food and savour every mouthful, the more slowly you eat, the fuller you're going to feel.
4. Eat protein in every meal
Foods high in protein make you feel fuller quicker and for longer. Choose meats such as chicken, turkey, low fat mince or any type of fish. Protein is also essential for muscle growth and repair
5. Cutting the calories
To lose a pound of body fat, you must burn the equivalent of 3500 calories. If you cut your daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day (i.e. a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps), you'll be losing 1 pound a week. Do this for 3 months and you've lost almost a stone! You don't need to become a calorie counting junkie- just remove foods from your diet you don't really need. Increasing the amount of cardiovascular exercise will also help burn the fat. Start of slow and build up - try running for 30 minutes 3 times a week and if you've got more energy, try longer/more regular intervals.
6. Carbs are good
As much as you may have heard, carbohydrates are NOT the enemy. We need carbohydrates for energy whether for short bursts or long-sustained energy sources. Without carbohydrates our bodies find it hard to adjust to this inherent energy deficit. Stick to complex carbohydrates like vegetables, whole grains and beans which take a long time to digest and have a more prolonged release of energy.
7. Drink Enough Water
Water is a fundamental part of our lives. Aside from aiding in digestion and absorption of food, water regulates body temperature and blood circulation, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, and removes toxins and other wastes. Among its other benefits, water plays a major part in weight loss as it helps the body metabolize stored fat. If you find yourself getting hungry quickly, try drinking a pint of water to curb your appetite.
8. Avoid eating before bed
Our energy levels plummet whilst we sleep hence it is harder for our bodies to burn the excess calories eaten during the late evening. Save your food for when you're awake!
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - HEALTH
Andrew Pigott
Andrew, from Sheffield, in the last six years has faced and beaten cancer and has had to manage epilepsy and atrial fibrillation. Then in July 2009 Andrew had a routine operation to repair a prolapsed disk. An MRI scan showed that Andrew had suffered massive damage to the nerves running from the bottom of his spinal chord. This left him paralysed from the waist down and he told the devastating news that he would be wheelchair bound for life. With help from Fitness First and his physiotherapy team, Andrew’s progression has been phenomenal and he has recently entered into the Edinburgh marathon. Andrew had been a keen runner and cyclist before the operation, so this is great news.
Strength
Have you hit a wall in your strength training or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Here are 5 top tips to help break that wall down!
1. Variation is the key!! Your body will eventually adapt to all exercises so make sure you change them regularly.
2. Own body weight exercises are very important to improving your strength. Make sure pull ups and press ups are part of your workout.
3. A strong core = a strong body! Make sure abdominal exercises are a major part of your workout and you will see improvements in all other muscle groups
4. Try and find yourself a training partner. Someone motivating you through your exercises and helping you with those last couple of reps will help you improve in a shorter space of time
5. Muscles are made up of protein so to get the best out of them ensure you have a high protein meal or a shake after your workout as this will aid the recovery process.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - STRENGTH
David Downes
David, from Basildon, was heavily overweight at 21 stone, but the loss of his father to diabetes was the wake up call he needed. His goal was to climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro, in order to raise money for Diabetes UK, in memory of his father. With the help of Fitness First and his determination to reach the summit, he lost a total of 8 stone. David quotes “Getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing I have ever done, it was not only tough but required physical strength as well as a determined mind. The biggest achievement is raising over £9000 for Diabetes UK and increasing the awareness of the disease.”
EXERCISE AND...
Blood is carried from the heart around your body in vessels called arteries. Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of these arteries. Every time the heart beats (roughly 60-70 times a minute at rest), it pumps out blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is at it’s highest as the heart beats, pumping the blood around the body. This is called Systolic pressure. When the heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is known as the Diastolic pressure, and is measured in millimetres of Mercury.
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
BLOOD PRESSURE HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
A reading over 140/90 or above is generally considered as high. High blood pressure is referred to as Hypertension and is a considered as a coronary heart disease risk.
Although it is rare for high blood pressure to cause an immediate risk, its longterm damage to the body is widespread and serious. The greatest risks are death due to stroke or heart disease. High blood pressure may affect the following areas of the body in particular: -
• The Heart - In some people, usually after a few years, the main pumping chamber of the heart (the left ventricle) will enlarge and therefore weaken. Heart failure may follow, causing fatigue and breathlessness
• Stroke – around a third of all strokes are linked to high blood pressure
• Kidneys - may be damaged by constantly raised blood pressure. This may affect the process of the body getting rid of unwanted substances that may lead to ill health and kidney failure
• The Eyes – Eyesight may be affected and may even be permanently damaged
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
BLOOD PRESSURE WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
Blood pressure fluctuates during the day. It is at its lowest when you sleep and rises when you get up. It can also rise when you are excited, nervous, anxious or active. For most of the day, your blood pressure stays pretty much the same particularly when you are sitting or standing still. An acceptable level is 120/80. When blood pressure reaches 140/90 or higher, this is regarded as hypertension. With high blood pressure, the heart is forced to work harder, much like the effort required to blow hard through a straw is higher than that needed to blow through a larger tube.
Anything that lowers blood pressure in turn reduces the workload of the heart. Research indicates that regular activity will contribute to the lowering of blood pressure. In addition studies show that regular activity helps to maintain the elasticity of the blood vessels as one goes through the stages of the aging process.
Some people even have problems when the blood pressure is too low. Ever, bent down to do your shoelace up, stood up too quickly and felt a little dizzy? Or maybe you’ve been working hard on a treadmill, and stopped suddenly, and felt a little unbalanced? These symptoms could be (among other things, like low blood sugar) due to low blood pressure. As long as you are aware of the potential small risks, and you get exercise advice from a member of the Fitness Team, you shouldn’t have any problem!
Regular physical activity teaches the body to effectively distribute blood to the working muscles throughout the period of exercise encouraging blood flow to where the body needs it.
With regular activity there will be an adaptation that increases the blood flow throughout the body that enhances the performance of both the heart and skeletal system. These changes serve to lower the heart rate and blood pressure during physical activity in turn reducing the stress placed on the body.
Changes in blood pressure can also be the consequence of weight loss or reduced stress, both of which are known outcomes of physical activity.
If you want to find out more on how blood pressure, or the heart helps you exercise, book in for our “Healthy on the Inside - Blood Pressure and the Heart” Workshop - speak to a member of the Fitness First team for details!
Depression and You
Top Tips
Depression affects 1 in every 10 people in the UK at some time, but no-one should ever feel they have to cope with it on their own.
The understanding and support of others is vital.
Exercise is particularly beneficial too. It boosts “happy hormone” endorphins in the brain to lift mood and generate energy. It reduces anxiety and helps us sleep.
Share your feelings with a good friend. A problem shared is a problem halved.
Make a list of your daily tasks beginning with the most important.
Exercise gently but regularly to boost your happy hormones and for reduced anxiety and sounder sleep.
Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders in the UK with 1 in 10 of us touched by it at some time. Typical symptoms include low mood, general lack of interest in life, low energy levels and poor concentration and sleep quality.
At Fitness First, no matter what cruel blow life has recently dealt you, that feeling of being part of a family unit and of belonging to a welcoming and caring fitness club is likely to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Dr Hilary Jones M.B.B.S
Medical Advisor to Fitness First
Pick up a leaflet or ask a member of the fitness team for more information
Posters feb 08[2].indd 1 5/2/08 14:26:34
Brain Function in Depression
Did you know?
The brain is the “command centre” of the human body. It controls the basic functions of our bodies, our movements, and our thoughts and emotions. Researchers studying clinical depression tend to look at several aspects of brain function including the structures of
the limbic system and the function of neurotransmitters within neurons.
Limbic System
This is the area of the brain that regulates activities such as the stress response. The hypothalamus is a small structure located at the base of the brain. It is responsible for many basic functions such as body temperature, sleep, appetite, sexual drive, stress reaction, and the regulation of other activities. The hypothalamus also controls the function of the pituitary gland which in turn regulates key hormones. Other structures within the limbic system
that are associated with emotional reaction are the amygdala and hippocampus. The activities of the limbic are so important and complex that disturbances in any part of it, including how neurotransmitters function, could affect your mood and behaviour.
Neurotransmitters and Neurons
Within the brain, there are special chemicals called neurotransmitters that carry out many very important functions. Essentially, they help transfer messages throughout structures of the brain’s nerve cells. These nerve cells, called neurons, are organised to control specialised activities. We each have somewhere between 10-100 billion neurons within our brains. Whenever we do anything, react, feel emotions, think, our neurons transmit messages in the form of electrical impulses from one cell to another.
Pick up a leaflet or ask a member of the fitness team for more information
Posters feb 08[2].indd 2
5/2/08
14:26:37
Prevention of Depression
Top Tips
The last thing you will feel like doing when you’re depressed is exercise, so you must set a plan of action and stick to it.
Get a personal trainer to help you design a plan, if you have a plan you are much more likely to stick to it.
Be consistent, regular exercise will keep depression at bay so build it into your day.
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself about what kind of training you are doing.
Both aerobic training and weight training have been shown to have a positive effect on depression.
Get some good music on an mp3 player, it can really motivate you and get you through the workouts.
Don’t listen to that voice that says you just can’t be bothered or you feel tired, remember you will always feel better after exercise.
Exercise may not completely alleviate your symptoms, so make sure you have some medical support and let them know you are using exercise
1t0o dAelawl awyitshdtoheydoeuprrecsasriodnio. after your weight session not before
Depression is becoming more of a problem in our society and it is being dealt mostly through medication, this has many negative implications as anti- depressant medication can have many unwanted side effects and can also become addictive.
There is a more positive way of dealing with depression as research has proven that regular physical activity is just as effective in the treatment of depression and anxiety as medication, without all of the unwanted side effects.
Angie Dowds
Personal Training Advisor to Fitness First
EXERCISE AND...
You may be saying to yourself, “It’s obvious!” But, there’s more to consider about healthy eating than you may first think... A healthy diet consists of foods and drinks that primarily enable your body to perform essential functions, like digesting food, thinking, speaking, and even breathing! Secondary to these, we need food to perform movement- whether it’s getting out of bed, doing a hundred press-ups, or running a marathon, your body needs extra energy that comes
from foods and drinks. The energy that is used comes in the form of calories, and calories come in many guises! Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals, Water and more, need to be taken in a careful balance to ensure we can fulfil our body’s incredible potential!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HEALTHY EATING HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
If you take on more calories than you need on a daily basis, regardless of what form they come in, the excess will either be stored or excreted! Depending on the type of food (usually carbohydrates and fats), storage is the first option the body takes. If too many carbohydrates are taken on (for example; pastas, breads, cereals, sugar, fruit and vegetables) the body breaks the food down into a form that it can use for energy- glucose! If your body doesn’t need it for energy, the carbohydrate will be broken down into a storable form- glycogen, which is stored in the liver and muscles. If you take on too much fat, you’re asking for trouble! Although fat has more than twice as much energy (per gram, for example) than carbohydrates, our bodies find it very difficult to break it down and use it for energy. So, any excess will simply be put in storage for a rainy day! In an ideal world, our body would like a constant intake of “good” calories throughout the day, as and when it needs it. But this would require non-stop nibbling- not a practical solution! So, with regular, small, balanced meals, you are maximising your body’s chance of using what you intake, and minimising the chances of storing too much of what it can’t use!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HEALTHY EATING WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
Ever been ill, so you have to stay in bed all day, or on holiday, lazing around doing not a lot? Do you also remember not feeling that hungry at these times? Simply, the amount of food you take on should reflect the amount of energy you expend! The more exercise and activity you do, the more calories your body burns up to produce energy to use for your workouts. If you don’t have enough readily available glycogen to use, or if you are still exercising and have almost run out of this source, your body will turn to another. Usually this is stores of fat, but as we’ve said, this is not easily broken down and you will find that your mental and physical performance is reduced dramatically if your carbohydrate (glycogen) stores are depleted severely. This forms a strong case against “low-carb” diets like the Atkins Diet, where low/no intake of Carbohydrates can lead to increased fat breakdown, but because the brain’s preferred food is glucose, is not good for the sharpness
of concentration!
You’re probably thinking, “I’ll just eat less than I need and I’m bound to lose weight!” Think again! The body tends to hang on to fat and other stores if you simply don’t give it enough to function- this is a safety mechanism, as your body goes into self-preservation mode. The key to healthy eating revolves around the Energy Balance; the amount that goes in versus the amount that goes out! A drastic imbalance will lead to the self-preservation mode at one end of the spectrum, to dramatic weight gain at the other end! An equal balance will be the best for weight maintenance; an imbalance slightly in favour of energy ‘out’ will favour safe weight loss; and an imbalance (of the right kinds of foods) in favour of energy ‘in’ will favour safe weight gain.
If weight gain is your goal, it is probably because you want to gain muscle mass! Healthy Eating has a massive part to play in this goal, as muscles will need proteins to build stronger and bigger. When you perform any vigorous exercise, say several sets of bicep curls, you are actually breaking down the muscle tissue. What determines the success of the workout is what you give the muscle to help rebuild it after you finish lifting. A combination of carbohydrates (to replace lost glycogen and blood sugar) with a safe amount of protein, as soon as possible, will enable the tissue you have just broken down to grow back stronger and more efficient! Don’t be fooled into taking on too much though (possibly in the form of too many “Protein Shakes”), as the excess protein that the body does not need is excreted and can actually damage the kidneys if continued for a long space of time.
So, if the Energy Balance mindset can be adopted, you’ll never go far wrong! And don’t just think about energy expenditure in your workouts- there’s 168 hours in a week, and 4 workouts barely makes a dent! Combine great gym work with an active lifestyle and a healthy diet, and your Energy Balance will look after itself!
EXERCISE AND...
Our bodies are made up of about 50-60% water, we drink it or eat food that contains it every day, and every health related report in the media says we need to drink more of it! But what does it do?
Water regulates body temperature, transports nutrients and oxygen, carries away waste, helps detoxify the kidney and liver, dissolves vitamins and minerals and cushions the body from injury! But this comes at a cost; every day you lose on average 10-12 cups of water, which needs to be replaced to maintain your body’s important fluid balance.
Water is best, but milk, juices and other beverages are about 90% water, so they can help meet your hydration needs. Caffeinated beverages and alcohol act as diuretics and increase fluid loss, so they don’t count! In fact, have an extra glass of water for each cup
of these liquids that you drink!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HYDRATION HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
Many experts believe that if you wait until you are thirsty, you are already slightly dehydrated. Drink a glass of water when you wake up in the morning and another glass before you go to sleep. Because water is so important to all our bodily functions, a reduction in it can have a huge affect on our physical and mental performance. Just 2% dehydration can lead to a 10% reduction in exercise performance! Dehydration will also affect your mental sharpness and therefore your productivity!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HYDRATION WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
To prevent dehydration while exercising and perspiring, you must replace water at a faster rate than it is being lost. The American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends at least two cups of fluids two hours before exertion, followed by another two cups of water approximately 15-20 minutes before endurance exercises. During exercise replenish fluids every 15-20 minutes.
If you don’t take in fluids at least 15 minutes before endurance exercise this is just 1 factor in the contributor to STITCH as it takes this amount of time for your small intestines to absorb the fluid. If you don’t have the right amount of fluid balance in the stomach and the intestines an abdominal lining called the Parietal Peritoneum will start to rub and cause some discomfort that is a cause of stitch. This is also apparent if you have taken too much food on and the stomach will push the outer wall together which again will cause friction if the fluid balance isn’t correct.
If you notice unexplained increases in thirst and urination, consult your doctor to determine the cause. Increased thirst and urination (both in volume and frequency) can be symptoms of some illnesses, including various forms of diabetes.
When in doubt, fill your glass again! Eight 8-ounces glasses of water daily is the standard rule of thumb, but you may require more, especially if you exercise. You will also need to drink extra amounts of water in dehydration conditions such as hot, humid or cold weather or high altitudes. You should drink more if you have a cold or the flu, and even more if you have a fever. Additionally, some weight management experts believe that drinking a glass of water before meals can
help reduce cravings and aid digestion.
The importance of water cannot be underestimated- it is the essence of our cells, and our cells are what form together to make us! So, drink and be happy!
Lose weight Want to lose weight and feel in top shape?
Dump the diet
Remember, any exercise routine you enjoy and can stick to is your best option for weight loss.
Forget about dieting, pill popping or calorie counting; the key to successful weight loss is to combine regular exercise with a healthy balanced eating plan. The following successful slimming strategies may not be quick-fix solutions, but they will get results.
Consume fewer calories than you burn each day If the most exercise you’ve done all day is to walk from your front door to the car, then you don’t need to eat as much as you would if you had done a gym workout. Remember, if you eat more calories than you burn off, the excess calories must be stored somewhere – most commonly they are stored as fat.
Reduce your fat intake
Not all calories are equal – there are more calories in fat (9 calories per gram) than there are in protein (meat, poultry, dairy products) or carbohydrate (fruits, vegetables), which have 4 calories per gram. This means that fat calories are the most fattening, so should be eaten sparingly. There’s no need to cut them out altogether, just cut them down.
Cut your portion size
You may be eating low-fat, but if your portion sizes are too big, you’ll still be consuming too many calories. Carbohydrate and protein can be turned to fat if eaten in large quantities over an extended period,
so think about reducing the amount you eat.
This doesn’t mean cutting out foods and going hungry, it just means getting in tune with whether you are eating for hunger or because it’s there. Remember that any healthy weight loss plan needs to include at least 1,200 calories a day.
Know when to stop
You know that uncomfortable feeling you get when you eat too much, well that’s what you need to avoid. There is a delay between your brain registering that your stomach is full, and your stomach actually being full. Stop eating before you reach that bloated, uncomfortable stage. A good way to avoid getting really hungry and overeating at mealtime is to graze on small meals or snacks throughout the day rather than eating three large meals a day.
Just as dieting alone isn’t the best way to lose weight, an exercise programme needs to be combined with healthy eating to be successful.
Crash diets may help you look lighter on the scales, but the sad truth is that they do more harm than good. With most diets you’ll dump a few kilos of body fluid, which will account for a drop in weight on the scales, but you won’t lose any significant amount of body fat that will stay off over the long term.
When you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits, not only do you regain the fat stores you’ve just lost, but you may even gain a bit extra! This is because whenever you cut back on energy intake you’ll experience a drop in your metabolism, which reduces your body’s ability to burn fat (metabolism refers to the chemical reaction that takes place in your body involving the use and generation of energy). This slow-down means that your pre-diet eating habits represent an excess in calories, so more of what you eat will be stored as fat.
Even worse news...a lowered metabolic rate will increase your hunger signals, so you’ll start to crave high energy foods loaded with fats and sugars – the exact foods you are trying to do without!
Start with one extra gym session and two less fatty meals per week and gradually work towards a lifelong plan for achieving your best weight. Setting goals is an excellent way to keep yourself on track, but make sure your goals are specific and realistic. You’re much more likely to achieve a weight loss goal of 1 to 2 pounds a week, for example, than the huge weekly losses that many fad diets promote (and fail to deliver!).
Build muscle, burn fat
Make sure you incorporate strength training into your exercise routine if you’re trying to lose weight, because the more muscle you build, the more fat you’ll lose. As you build muscles from strength training, your metabolic rate increases, so you’ll burn more calories all day long. In fact, for each pound of muscle you gain, you’ll burn 35 to 50 more calories daily. Even when you are sitting around or sleeping, your muscle will continue burning calories!
If you’re female and afraid of getting bulky muscles, don’t be. The truth is that women typically don’t gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle build-up.
When you change the way you eat or exercise to lose weight, make sure it is a routine you can stick to. A good starting point is to become more active and begin thinking in moderation in all you eat and do.
A successful life is about balance, think about it!
What’s the best type of exercise for weight loss? It’s a common misconception that you’ll burn more fat if you exercise longer at a lower intensity, but the truth is that you’ll burn more fat the more intensely you exercise. The faster
you walk, step or run, for example, the more calories you use per minute.
Don’t worry if you’re just starting out and find high-intensity exercise difficult to sustain – simply begin at a lower intensity and slowly increase the level of difficulty as your fitness improves. Remember you’re only competing with yourself, so lay down a personal challenge to do a bit more!
A good starting point is our Weight Loss Circuit programme, available to members free-of-charge, and designed specifically to target body fat loss (ask your fitness team for details). Another great option is a Personal Trainer, who will advise you of the best way to achieve your weight loss goals in the gym.
TIP: Muscle weighs more than fat, so don’t be discouraged if you’re working out and not shedding a lot of weight. Pay attention to how you look in the mirror instead of what the scales say.
Look Good Feel Great Increase your muscle tone and strength...
4
Increase your muscle
tone and strength
Plan for progress
You’ll feel and notice improvements in strength and muscle tone soon after you begin strength training, but don’t be discouraged if these results slow down after a period of training. It’s only natural that improvements will come at a slightly slower pace as your strength increases, so remember to make an appointment with your fitness team every 6-8 weeks for a programme review. Variety not only helps overcome training plateaus, it also reduces boredom, helps prevent injury and stimulates muscle growth. If you’re feeling bored by exercise, just keep in mind the feeling of fulfillment and achievement that comes with sticking with a regular exercise routine. It’s worth it!
Ways to kick-start your training:
One of the biggest myths about strength training is that you have to spend hours lifting heavy weights in order to achieve results. For the majority of us who don’t want to have as many muscles as Schwarzenegger, a 15-minute strength training programme, 2 to 3 times per week is more than sufficient to achieve gains in muscle growth, strength, endurance and weight loss.
It’s not how long you spend training that counts, it’s the quality of training. Put the following components together and you have the makings of an effective, time-efficient programme that can be adapted to suit either the beginner, intermediate or advanced exerciser.
One set of 8 to 12 reps
In the past you would have been told to lift weights for three sets of around 20 repetitions (reps), but sports scientists have realised the same results can be achieved in a lot less time. It is now accepted wisdom that you need only perform one set of 8 to12 reps to cover all health related benefits of weight training, making sure you work the muscle to the point of fatigue on the last rep (see below). There’s nothing wrong with weight training that involves more sets and repetitions, but it’s normally advanced weight trainers who choose this as a form of training.
Constant progress
If you don’t challenge your muscles, you won’t benefit from strength training, so it’s important to always aim for an increase in the amount of weight you lift. Start your strength training programme with a weight that you can lift only 8 times and keep using that weight until you become strong enough to lift it 12 times. When you’re able to perform 12 repetitions correctly (without cheating!), progress by adding more weight.
Slow and controlled
You’re cheating your muscles if you speed through each repetition or use momentum to move the weight. Lift with a slow controlled movement to a count of two, then lower to a count of three to four. It’s important to concentrate not only on the contraction that occurs during the lifting phase, but also on the contraction that occurs as you’re returning the weight to the starting point.
2 to3 times a week
Try to train 2 to 3 times a week, and leave a day free between sessions - your muscles need 48 hours recovery between workouts. Insufficient rest is a sure route to muscle strain because muscle fibres need time to rejuvenate in order to grow bigger and stronger. If your muscles ache for more than a
few days after your workout it means you’ve overdone it, so give yourself some extra time to recover and ease back into your programme with a lighter weight.
As you build muscles from strength training, your metabolic rate increases, so you’ll burn more calories all day long. Even when you’re standing around or sleeping, your muscle cells stay busy eating up calories (see ‘Build muscle, burn fat’ on page 7).
Don’t lift weights without first warming up. Hop on the bike or treadmill for 5 to 10 minutes to warm up your muscles before weight training.
Use it, or lose it
When astronauts return to earth after a mission, their muscles are often so weak from the weightlessness of space they have trouble performing the simplest of physical activities. For those of us who are not astronauts, the same principle applies...we need weight bearing exercise to build strong muscles. Around a half pound of muscle is lost every year after the age of 20 unless we strength train. The good news is that it’s never too late to build muscle mass, and even an increase in muscle that’s too small to be visible to the eye can be all it takes to improve strength and power.
Benefit Your Bones
By the time you leave school, you have established all the bone mineral density you’ll ever have... unless you strength train. Research has found that lifting weights can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13% in just six months – a significant statistic when it comes to the battle against osteoporosis, which affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men. Refer to ‘Extend your youth’ on page 24-25 to find out more about osteoporosis.
Unsure about how to use the weights equipment? Ask our friendly fitness staff for a hand – there’s someone on the gym floor at all times to help you out. Simply look for the red t-shirt that says ‘free to help’.
Do you want 'Arms like Popeye' or 'Buns of Steel'? Ask about our range of free fitness programmes aimed at strengthening specific
body parts, or our all-in-one programmes for all-over strength.
Find a training partner Try our free strength training fitness programmes Join a Body Pump class Get a Personal Trainer Increase the resistance load Add in new exercises Set goals for each workout Reward your achievements (no, not chocolate!) Monitor your progress Experiment with exercise order Alternate machine exercises with free weights.
Look Good Feel Great Improve your heart and cardio fitness...
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Improve your heart
and cardio fitness
Heart disease claims many lives each year, so looking after your heart makes perfect sense if you plan to lead a long and active life. You've only got one life; live it well! Aerobic exercise (exercise that gets your heart pumping and your blood moving) is one of the best ways to improve your cardiovascular health and guard against heart disease.
Heart rate fitness
How exercise keeps your heart healthy
1. Lowers blood pressure
High blood pressure causes blood to push against the wall of the arteries with higher-than-normal force, which if untreated can lead to serious health problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attack. Fortunately, regular aerobic exercise can help keep blood pressure normal by paving the way for blood to more easily circulate around your arteries and veins.
2. Controls cholesterol
Regular exercise isn’t just good for high blood pressure, it also plays an important role in controlling cholesterol. There are two types of cholesterol – the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. Regular exercise and a low-fat balanced diet help to increase our ‘good’ cholesterol, which lowers the risk of heart disease.
3. Helps smokers quit
Smoking doubles your risk of heart attack, but fortunately this risk falls as soon as you quit. A regular exercise habit has been shown to help smokers quit and stay off permanently. An inactive lifestyle is actually even more dangerous to your health than smoking, so even if you can’t give up smoking, make sure you exercise.
4. Manages stress
Stress can have the unfortunate long term effect of raising blood pressure and contributing to heart disease. Exercise is good for stress management because it promotes relaxation and produces ‘feel-good’ hormones that are guaranteed to lift you out of the dumps (see ‘Manage your stress’ on page 28-29).
Did you know? Heart disease is almost twice as likely to develop in inactive people. Other risk factors for heart disease include cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and being overweight. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of getting heart disease, but regular exercise will reduce this risk.
To find out whether your fitness level is improving, make a note of your resting heart rate before you start your exercise programme and every month thereafter. The higher your fitness level, the lower your heart rate will be, so if your resting heart rate has dropped over the month that means you've succeeded in making your heart more efficient at pumping blood.
Heart rate monitors
These measure your resting heart rate are available on the gym floor of all Fitness First clubs. Measure your heart rate before your exercise session (i.e. resting heart rate), make a note of the figure, and then re-measure in a month’s time.
Why monitor your heart rate?
Keeping a track of your heart rate during exercise is a great way to monitor how hard you’re working and whether your fitness level is improving. Your target heart rate is what your heart rate should be while exercising. So, staying within this heart rate zone can help you have safe, effective workouts. Follow these calculations to find your target heart rate:
Estimate your maximum heart rate
Take 220 – age = _________ this is your maximum (Example: if you’re 42 years old, subtract 42 from 220 to get 178)
Determine your lower-limit exercise heart rate
By multiplying your maximum heart rate by 0.6. (Example, multiply 178 by 0.6 to get 107)
Determine your upper limit exercise heart rate
by multiplying your maximum heart rate by 0.8. ( Example, multiply 178 by 0.8 to get 142)
If you’re just beginning an aerobic programme you should aim for the lower end of your heart rate zone and pick up the intensity as you become more comfortable with your workouts. If you’re already fairly fit and training for competitive events, you might want to aim for the higher end of your zone.
Keep in mind that the target heart rate zone is recommended for people without any health problems, so if you are on medication that alters your heart rate, consult your doctor to ensure you are working at the appropriate intensity.
Your target heart rate zone is between your upper and lower limits. Using the example on the left, the target heart rate of a 42 year-old is between 107 and 142 beats per minute.
Match your zone to your goals To determine what heart rate range is best for you, think about what exercise goal(s) you are trying to achieve and choose a zone accordingly.
Improve aerobic capacity and athletic performance Aim for an intensity of 70% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. Example: 133 to 152 beats/minute
for a 30 year old.
Lose weight
The intensity should be at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. Example: 114 to 133 beats/minute for a 30 year old.
Starting out gradually
This is 50% to 60% of your maximum heart rate, and is a gentle way to give your heart a workout if you are new to exercise.
Example: 95 to 114 beats/minute for a 30 year old.
Heart smart eating
Three of the risk factors for a heart attack – high blood pressure, high cholesterol and too much body fat - can be reduced simply by eating a healthy diet. Base your diet on foods that are low in saturated fat such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruit, legumes (beans and lentils), lean meats, poultry, fish, reduced-fat dairy products and polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils and margarines. Watch the amount of fat in your diet and try to limit your intake of foods high in saturated fat such as fatty meats, full cream dairy products, biscuits, pastry and deep-fried takeaways.
Just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you’re fit.You need to exercise on a regular basis to develop and maintain cardiovascular fitness, and a lack of body fat doesn’t mean you can’t have high cholesterol and blood pressure. Have your blood pressure, body fat and heart health checked for free at your club. Come along to one of our health testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Have your blood pressure, body fat and heart health checked for free at your club. Come along to one of our health testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Try our free ‘Lungs like an olympian’ fitness programmeme to boost your cardio fitness and take your heart and lungs to the next level.
Ask your fitness team for details.
TIP: Treadmills, stationary cycles and other cardiovascular equipment have heart rate sensors, which are a convenient way to monitor your heart rate. If your heart beat is higher than the upper limit of your target zone, you’re probably overdoing it. Slow down!
Look Good Feel Great Get a flatter stomach...
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Get a flatter
stomach
The secret to a firmer, flatter tummy is to combine abdominal exercise with a sensible low-fat diet. No matter how many stomach crunches you do, if you’re carrying too much weight around your mid-section, the fat will hide any improvements you have made in muscle definition. So while stomach crunches alone won’t do the trick, you’ll soon start to see results if you combine abdominal exercise with a general increase in physical activity and a healthy diet.
Need some practice using the stability ball? Check out a Fit 'n' functional class - you'll learn how to exercise with the ball and have lots of fun while you're at it! For some handy gym floor exercises using the ball, ask our fitness team for the ‘Core blimey’ fitness programme that targets the abdominals and lower back.
Which abdominal exercises are the best? There is no single abdominal exercise that is better than the other. For the best results, mix up your routine with exercises that target the various muscles that make up the abdominal region.
To tone and strengthen your upper abdominals, the basic crunch is your best choice. Perform this exercise with your knees bent and back flat on the floor. Raise your chest and shoulders several inches from the ground, exhaling as you come up and inhaling as you release.
To work the obliques, the muscles on the side of the stomach, perform the crunch at alternating angles, reaching with the shoulder (not the elbow) across the body to the opposite knee. Repeat on the other side.
To work the lower abdominals, bring the knees up towards the chest, forming a 90o angle with the body. Using only the lower abdominals and not the legs or hip, bring the knees slightly towards the chest as you exhale. Return to the starting position. Remember this is a very small movement, so don’t try to bring the knees up to the face.
Start with 10 repetitions of each exercise and gradually increase your repetitions to 25 as your abdominals become more conditioned.
Be a tortoise, not a hare
When it comes to abdominal exercises, the slower tortoise always wins the race. Crunches performed slowly and with control provide better results than fast repetitions or quick pulsing movements. Remember these golden rules when exercising your abs:
Do’s...
Do use a slow controlled pace Do make every repetition count Do let your abdominals do the work Do lift your shoulder blades off the ground Do keep your back flat against the floor Do exhale as you come up; inhale as you release
Dont’s...
Don’t arch your back Don’t hold your breath Don’t pull with your neck Don’t use a jerking motion Don’t lift your back off the ground
Unlike other muscles, the abdominals can be exercised every day. They don’t need a rest day in between workouts because they are not as prone to fatigue or injury, and there is no fear of them getting too big.
Abs on the ball
If you’ve ever done a stomach crunch on a stability ball (also called Swiss or fit ball) you’ll know that it hits the spot! You can feel your abdominal muscles working right away and that’s because the small, movable surface of the ball challenges your deep abdominal muscles to stabilise the spine in a way that can’t be done on the floor. Up to 30% more abdominal movement can be achieved by doing your crunches on the ball, but remember to ease yourself into it - start out with just a few and work your way up from there.
When doing abdominal work on the ball, make sure you choose the right size ball: when sitting on it, your knees and hips should align at a 900 angle. A basic rule of thumb is that if you are taller than 5’8” choose a 65cm ball, and if you’re shorter choose a 55cm ball. Also make sure your back is in the right position: the ball should be positioned beneath the centre of your back. The easiest way to achieve this is to sit on the edge of the ball and roll the ball forward with your body as you lower onto it.
Look Good Feel Great Combine fitness with your sport...
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Combine fitness
with your sport
Fit ‘n’ functional
The large rubber balls you’ll see around the gym might look more suited to the beach, but they’re actually effective exercise tools. Known as stability balls (or Swiss or fit balls), they help develop power, balance and strength – skills that are especially important in the sports arena. Training on the stability ball forces you to use your deepest muscles layers – the core muscles – to stabilise your body. Strengthening these muscles gives you a solid foundation for all sports movement, whether reaching to hit a tennis ball, sprinting to cross a finish line, or jumping to catch a football.
Whether you’re trying to out-do the competition, or simply cross the finish line in one piece, working out at the gym is the perfect accompaniment to any sport. Developing your strength, stamina and flexibility in the gym will not only improve your sporting performance, it’ll also reduce the risk of muscle soreness and injury.
Sports specific training
Sports specific training means focusing on the various skills associated with your sport, and combining these in a training programme. Our golf and ski specific fitness programmes are available to members free-of-charge and are a great way to improve your golf game or boost your prowess on the ski slopes.
From football to tenpin bowling, you can apply sports specific training to any type of activity. Speak to your Personal Trainer about what kind
of training is best for your sport.
Cross training
Every time you do a physical activity that’s different from your chosen sport you’re cross training. Not only does cross training add variety to your workouts, it distributes the load of training amongst various body parts, thus reducing the risk of injury.
One of the easiest ways to start cross training is to alternate between activities – a group fitness class one day, cardiovascular equipment the next. Or you can alternate activities within a single workout, spending
10 minutes on a treadmill, 10 minutes on a stationary cycle and 10 minutes on a cross trainer.
Our gym floor classes are a great way to cross train because the workouts vary from class-to-class and week-to- week. You might find yourself doing a rowing challenge, a 15-minute ab blast
or a boot camp circuit. The classes are held by the Fitness Team at various times and days... so watch out and expect the unexpected!
Intervals
Interval training is a way to increase the intensity of your workout and boost your fitness level without burning yourself out. It involves alternating short bursts of intense aerobic activity (intervals) with a less intense form of the same exercise (recovery).
When you start out, your interval to recovery ratio should be about 1:3, so if you walk fast uphill for 20 seconds, alternate this with walking at a slower pace or lesser incline for the next minute. As you improve, decrease your recovery periods slowly so that your interval and recovery times are the same.
Also increase the intensity and the number of short bursts you do.
Circuits
Circuit classes are a good choice for sports training because they combine interval and cross training. In a circuit class you’ll move rapidly from one strength or cardiovascular exercise to the next within specific time intervals. Besides keeping you on your toes, circuits are a great way to improve mobility, and build strength and stamina. Check out the group fitness timetable to find out what circuit classes are held at your gym.
Virtual cycling
Imagine competing in a ‘virtual’ cycle road race where you get to cross the finish line first! You can do just that in an RPM indoor cycling class at your gym, where instructors lead participants on cycling journeys complete with hills, valleys and finish lines. No cycling experience is required and each bike is fitted with a resistance dial that you can adjust throughout the class to cater for your level of fitness. Try it once and you’ll be hooked!
Stay flexible for sport
Think about how many times you hit shots in tennis using the same arm, or how many times you kick with the same foot in football. Each time you use the same muscle repeatedly in sport, you’re overdeveloping that muscle and placing it under more stress than the opposing muscle. That’s where flexibility training becomes important because it reduces tension and resistance in muscle tissue, thereby maintaining balance and reducing the risk of injury. Seek advice from your Personal Trainer about developing a flexibility programme that focuses on the parts of your body used most in your sport.
SPORT = STRENGTH
Researchers have discovered a strong link between athletic ability and strength training. Whatever your choice of sport, strength training may not only improve your proficiency, but also decrease your risk of injury. Refer to ‘Improve your muscle tone and strength’ on pages 8-9, and use our sport-specific fitness programmes (such as ‘Ski Fit’ or ‘Golf Fit’) to increase strength for your sport. Speak to our Personal Trainers about developing a strength training programme that will make you the envy of your sports field opponents!
Treat yourself to a regular sports massage, they don’t just make you feel good after a big workout, they can enhance athletic performance, prevent injury and promote recovery – available at your local sports medicine facility and most Fitness First clubs.
Look out for classes on the group fitness timetable called Fit ‘n’ Functional – it means stability balls are used in the class. For tips on exercising with stability balls, turn to ‘Abs on the ball’ on page 13.
Look Good Feel Great Time line to fitness...
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13
Day1
Excited and eager to get started.Your fitness induction has shown you the ropes and given you a great exercise programme to follow. Now you're keen to attend a Studio Taster Session and maybe even book in with a Personal Trainer to help kick-start your routine.
It's easy to make the decision to get fit, but harder to put good intentions into practice. The first six weeks are a crucial part of your fitness journey...
Week 1
You've been busy trying classes, meeting new people, using different equipment and discovering muscles you never knew existed. It feels great to be getting fit and you feel comfortable and right at home in the gym. Your Club Guide is a handy reference tool for learning about the facilities and services at your club, and you're already taking advantage of the free video/dvd rental and the chance to relax with a drink in the member lounge.
... if you stick with exercise in these early days, you have a much better chance of creating a habit
of exercise that will continue well into the future.
Week 3
The benefits of exercise are already showing - you feel in a great mood after a workout and sleep like a baby. A friend has started working out with you, and you've found that having an exercise buddy is great motivation for sticking with your fitness routine.You also know that if you need help with your programme or are unsure about how the equipment works, there's always someone on hand to ask -
talk to a member of the fitness team, in their distinctive red 'free to help' t-shirts or a Personal Trainer on the gym floor!
Week 4
Not only do you have less shortness of breath during your workouts, but you also feel stronger and more energised. That nagging occasional ache in your back has disappeared and you haven't had a tension headache since you started exercising - you know what you're doing must definitely be making a difference! You really enjoyed your personal training session and are amazed at what you achieved with the support and motivation of your trainer.
Week 5
You look forward to your favourite classes and you love being able to catch up on a bit of TV while doing your cardio workout. The sauna and steam room have become a favourite way to finish up a workout, and you're sure
it must be one of the reasons why you are feeling so much more relaxed and able to cope with daily pressures.Your partner has seen your transformation and is considering joining too.
Week 6
The exercise programme that seemed tough on day one is now feeling easy - you're eager to challenge yourself further, so it's time to book in for a free fitness review and programme update.Your gym visits are a regular part of your weekly routine and you make regular exercise one of your priorities because you know how good it makes you feel.Your family and friends have commented on how great you look - you are secretly pleased, knowing that it's only the start of what you can achieve. Wait until they see you in six months!
At 6 months
After sticking with your exercise programme for six months, the results speak for themselves. You are fit and strong and living an active, healthy lifestyle. Your energy levels have quadrupled, and you feel confident and comfortable with the new you. Now that you've built up your fitness, all you have to do is maintain it, and that's easy when regular workouts are so much a part of your lifestyle. To celebrate completing your 6 month Fitness Journey, you'll be invited to a Members' Evening where you will be presented with your free Fitness First jacket!
6 months onward
The effects of exercise don't stop at 6 months, you continue to progress every day. Your blood pressure is on the decrease, your posture and flexibility have improved out of sight, and you continue to slim down and tone up. There are always different classes to try, people to meet, and extra challenges to keep you interested. It's hard to believe how much your life has transformed since you started on your fitness journey, and there's no question that you're going to keep moving along the path to fitness, well into the future.
Choose from our 20 new programmes to help you achieve your health and fitness goals...
TOP 20 PROGRAMMES - AVAILABLE IN YOUR CLUB
01 1stepatatime A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME FOR THOSE RETURNING TO EXERCISE
02 afirmshoulder2cryon A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE SHOULDER REGION
03 allin1 A 30-40 MINUTE WHOLE BODY WORKOUT
04 armslikepopeye A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE BICEPS AND TRICEPS
05 backontrack A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL AREAS OF UPPER AND LOWER BACK
06 body4thefuture A FULL 1 HOUR PROGRAMME TARGETING THE WHOLE BODY
07 bodystrength A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL OVER STRENGTH
08 bodytoning A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING SHAPING AND TONING
09 bunsofsteel A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE UPPER LEGS AND BUTTOCKS
10 climbeverymountain A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING HILL WALKING ENDURANCE
11 coreblimey A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE ABS AND LOWER BACK
12 going4gold PROGRAMMES BASED ON THE ROWING MACHINE AND ITS ALL OVER BODY BENEFITS
13 golffit-the19thhole A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETED AT IMPROVING YOUR GOLF GAME
14 healthyheart A 30-60 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE HEART AND LUNGS
15 lungslikeanolympian A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS
16 pecs2die4 A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL AREAS OF THE CHEST
17 skifit-downhilldemon A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME BASED ON ALL THE FITNESS COMPONENTS OF SKIING
18 stilltime2eat A 20-30 MINUTE WHOLE BODY AEROBIC PROGRAMME WITH POST-WORKOUT EATING TIPS
19 train4yourlifestyle NOT QUITE A 1 HOUR PROGRAMME BUT STILL TARGETING THE WHOLE BODY
20 weightloss A 30-45 MINUTE CIRCUIT TARGETING BODY FAT LOSS
WHAT’S YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOAL?
Achieve your health and fitness goals by following the programmes that meet your needs. Ask a member of the fitness team for more advice.
LOSE INCREASE WEIGHT YOUR
MUSCLE TONE AND STRENGTH
INCREASE YOUR HEART HEALTH AND CARDIO FITNESS
GET A FLATTER STOMACH
COMBINE FITNESS WITH YOUR SPORT
BOOST YOUR FLEXIBILITY
TONE UP AFTER A BABY
EXTEND YOUR YOUTH
KEEP FIT IN RETIREMENT
MANAGE YOUR STRESS
HAVE FUN AND MEET PEOPLE
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Boost your flexibility
Some people are more naturally flexible than others, but anyone can improve their flexibility with regular training. The most common factor affecting flexibility is the inability of the muscles surrounding a joint to stretch to their full capacity. Through regular stretching, the muscle's capacity to extend is increased, thus allowing the joint a greater range of motion. Adding a 5 minute stretch routine to the end of your exercise sessions is a good start, but you'll achieve better results if you can devote at least 30 minutes to flexibility training three times a week.
Before stretching, take 5 to 10 minutes to warm up, as stretching cold muscles can cause injury. Begin with a simple low-intensity warm-up like walking on-the-spot, or a light jog or cycle. Another good time to stretch is just after a hot shower or bath because the hot water raises the temperature of your muscles, making them pliable for stretching.
To help integrate regular stretching into your fitness routine, it's a good idea to schedule a regular flexibility class into your week. Have a look on the group fitness timetable for Yoga, Pilates and Body Balance - these classes will have you twisting like a pretzel in no time!
Noticeable increases in flexibility can be achieved within 2 to 3 weeks of starting a regular stretching programme. Decreases can occur almost as quickly, so make sure it's a habit you can keep up over the long term.
Test Your Flexibility
Being able to bend at the waist from a standing position and touch your toes without bending your knees is a sign of good flexibility (alternatively, sit with your legs stretched straight out in front and reach your toes). If you can't make it all the way yet, use this as a test to measure how your flexibility is progressing.Your Fitness Review is also a good opportunity to measure your flexibility, and to find out how you have progressed from the ‘Sit and Reach’ test held when you first joined the gym. Book in with your fitness team for a free 6-8 weekly Fitness Review.
Know your tight spots
Many of us hold tension in the shoulders, chest, hamstrings and hips, but you may be tight in other areas, depending on your history of injuries and muscle imbalances. If you play a lot of sport you might also experience tightness in some muscles more than others. Your Personal Trainer will be able to tailor a flexibility programme to these strengths and weaknesses, so don't run the risk of stretching overstretched muscles or missing areas that need training.
Remember, the more time and attention you give to flexibility training, the more benefits you'll experience.
Staying Limber...
• Improves posture
• Helps prevent back pain
• Releases muscle tension and soreness
• Boosts athletic performance • Increases range of motion • Reduces risk of injury • Aids relaxation
• Improves functional fitness
• Enhances balance and co-ordination
As we grow older we tend to lose flexibility, but this is normally just the result of inactivity. The less active you are, the less flexible you are likely to be.
Stretching Do’s and Dont’s
Do’s
Do warm up first Do start each stretch gently Do exhale as you move deeper into the stretch Do hold each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds Do ease up if the stretch hurts Do concentrate on relaxing the area being stretched
Dont’s
Don’t use a bouncing or jerking movement Don’t hold your breath Don’t stretch a cold muscle Don’t strain into the stretch
Don’t push the stretch until you feel pain
Use towels, stability
TIP: If your body is relaxed it will be more responsive to flexibility training. Listening to music and focusing on your breathing can help you relax as you stretch.
balls and resistant bands to
add variety and interest to your
flexibility training
Look Good Feel Great Tone up after a baby...
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Tone up after a baby
Benefits of exercise
for new mums
• Boosts energy • Combats stress • Helps you sleep • Makes you feel good • Assists with weight loss • Relieves back pain • Guarantees time to yourself
If you've had a caesarean section your body will need more time to recover, so start slowly and use caution when exercising, especially with your abdominal muscles. Your doctor and Personal Trainer will be able to help you develop a safe exercise programme.
Avoid 'high impact' exercises like running and jumping until at least 5 months after the birth to allow the effects of the hormone relaxin to lessen. Relaxing loosens the ligaments to allow the baby to come through the pelvis and birth canal more easily, but it also makes it easy to over-extend joints and become injured.
You've just had a baby and now you want to get back in shape and shed the weight that didn't disappear when the baby was born. Those last 3 to 5 kgs can be hard to get rid of, but consistent safe exercise will do the trick.
The added bonus is that a regular exercise routine will boost your energy levels and give you the sanity to cope with those endless nappy changes and sleepless nights!
First 6 weeks
Getting back to exercise after the birth of your child should be a gradual process, starting with pelvic floor exercises and short, slow walks. A full return to exercise should only happen after you've had the doctor's go-ahead, at around the 6 week mark. Even then it's important you ease back into exercise slowly and carefully.
Pelvic floor
As a new mum you've probably already been practising pelvic floor exercises, but are you doing enough of them? These exercises are an essential part of regaining your continence, bladder and bowel control, and it is essential that you strengthen these muscles before attempting any other exercise. Practice pelvic floor exercises in various positions and aim to complete a minimum of 5 contractions 4 times a day.
Cross train your pelvic floor, sometimes practising long holds and sometimes short, strong contractions. Eventually you should be able to do 10 repetitions, holding each for 10 counts, morning and night.
Tighter abdominals
You're probably keen to tone your mid-section, but it's important to start with the right type of abdominal exercises so as not to overstress your muscles. Begin with gentle abdominal bracing and pelvic tilt exercises, and only when your pelvic floor becomes stronger should you progress to curl-up exercises. Ensure your rectus abdominal muscles have come back together before you do any kind of abdominal work other than bracing - ask your doctor or Personal Trainer to show you how to check these muscles.
Back strength
It's common for new mums to experience lower back pain, as the abdominal wall is too loose to adequately support the lower back. Range of motion movements and lower-back exercises will help with this, especially exercises that incorporate the stability ball. You might also experience upper-back strain caused by fatigue and breast weight - shrugging the shoulders and performing flexibility exercises for the chest and back should help with this.
Eating right
Don't be tempted to cut your calories to speed up weight loss because breastfeeding mums actually need to take in an additional 500 calories a day to provide baby with the proper vitamins and minerals. If you skimp on calories you'll be depriving yourself and your baby of important nutrients.
3 Do’s
Do take it easy Do listen to your body Do start off slowly and build up gradually Do give priority to strengthening Do pelvic floor and abdominal muscles
Don’t
Don’t push yourself too soon or too hard Don’t return to exercise sooner than 6 weeks after giving birth Don’t start exercise until you have the doctor's go-ahead
Don’t lift weights or do high impact exercise until the pelvic floor and abdominals are strong
TIP: Keep exercise slow and steady. It takes 6 to 12 weeks to fully recover from childbirth, and up to a year for your body to return to the way it was pre-pregnancy. Listen to your body and go at your own pace.
...not to mention that
everyone will tell you
how great you look!
Look Good Feel Great Extend your youth...
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Extend your
youth
You can't choose your genes or undo the health and lifestyle choices you made when you were younger, but you'd be surprised at how many factors that contribute to a long life are still within your control.
Regular physical activity can help prevent many conditions associated with ageing, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. Incorporating exercise into your life will actually make it easier to kick-start a healthier lifestyle because exercise helps you sleep better, manage stress better and gives you more energy to enjoy work and play.
Getting fit is easier than you think. In fact, just 30 minutes of activity a day can boost your health. It's not about training for marathons, it's just about moving and having fun: stretching your muscles, working your lungs and heart, warming up your joints.
If you begin at a pace that's comfortable for you, with an activity that you enjoy, you'll feel the benefits right away.
Bone health
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Most of our bone mass is formed prior to adolescence, reaching a peak when we're around 30 years old. Then gradually with age, the breakdown outpaces the build up, and by late middle age our bone density will start to lessen unless we do something to halt the decline.
The loss of bone can over time lead to osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become porous and susceptible to breaks. This is a serious problem, especially for post-menopausal women. Each year after menopause a woman typically loses 1% of her bone mass - even more during the first 5 post- menopausal years. This bone weakening means that a woman of 70 faces 30% odds that she will break her hip during the next 15 to 20 years.
Although there is no cure for osteoporosis, there are steps you can take to prevent or slow its progress.
Here’s how: Start weight-bearing exercise Like muscles, bones suffer if they are not used. They need regular weight- bearing exercise that exerts a loading impact and stretches and contracts the muscles, stimulating bones to strengthen. The best types of exercise are those where your bones and muscles are working against gravity, including brisk walking, jogging, stair climbing, dancing, skipping and strength training. If you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, weight-bearing exercise, impact activities and twisting motions should be avoided, depending on the severity of your condition.
Boost calcium intake
A daily intake of calcium is needed to build strong bones. If you are post-menopausal, you should be consuming at least 1,200 mg calcium per day. The most readily available sources of calcium are milk and dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt. Don't worry if you are watching your weight as low fat varieties usually contain just as much calcium as their full-fat counterparts. If you don't eat many dairy products, you should still be able to get enough calcium from non-dairy sources like green leafy vegetables, baked beans, bony fish and dried fruit.
Seek out sunlight
Without an adequate intake of Vitamin D, your body cannot absorb the calcium you consume. Vitamin D can be found in fortified fluid and dried milk and cereals, and your body can make its own supply when your skin is exposed to sunshine. For this reason it's important to get out in the sun on a regular basis (with sunscreen of course!).
Quit smoking
Smoking has a toxic effect on bone and can cause women to have an earlier menopause, as well as increase the risk of hip fracture after the age of forty.
Drink in moderation
A little alcohol is fine, but more than two drinks a day can interfere with calcium metabolism, which is damaging to bone growth.
Are you at risk?
High blood pressure occurs most often in people over the age of 35, but there are no immediate symptoms, so it's easy to go years without realising you even suffer from it.
Age, heredity factors and race all play a part in why some people develop high blood pressure, but there are other controllable factors that contribute to the condition - like being overweight, not exercising regularly, and having high stress levels. The more risk factors you have, the greater the health complications. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high cholesterol levels or diabetes, for example, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times.
If you have high blood pressure and you start a regular exercise routine, it's usually during the first 10 weeks that you'll experience a marked drop in blood pressure. To maintain these benefits you need to remain active over the long term.
Heart smart
Advancing age is one of the many risk factors for heart disease and heart attack. About 4 out of 5 people who
die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older, so it's during middle age that it pays to concentrate on building a healthy heart for the future.
Regular exercise is one of the best defences against heart disease because it helps control many of the risk factors, like cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and blood pressure. Even moderate amounts of physical activity - 30 minutes a day - can contribute to a healthier heart. Refer to 'Improve your heart health and cardio fitness' on pages 10 and 11 to find out how exercise can help keep your heart healthy.
Reducing your risk of heart attack can be as simple as becoming more fit and active. According to a recent study, a group of women aged 40 who started walking briskly for 30 minutes a day,
4 days a week, enjoy almost the same low risk of heart attack as women who have exercised consistently their entire lives.
Our trained Fitness Team can perform a blood pressure, body fat percentage and peak flow test in a matter of minutes. Come along to one of our free testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Look Good Feel Great Keep fit in retirement...
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Keep fit in
retirement
Better balance
You've paid off the mortgage, the kids have long left home, you're winding down your career, and looking forward to spending more time enjoying yourself and doing all those things you've long put off. It's the perfect time to be fit and healthy - not only to preserve a high quality of life, but also to slow down some of the physiological changes that otherwise come with ageing.
Here's what a regular exercise routine can do to ensure you retain your independence, energy and vitality long into the future.
Functional strength
Typically we lose between 20% and 40% of muscle tissue as we grow older, but this loss has more to do with inactivity than it does with age. As we become increasingly sedentary and start to do less and less of the everyday activities that use muscle power, our muscles literally waste away. Studies have found strength training - if done regularly - can easily reverse this decline, providing more functional strength for day-to-day tasks like walking, lifting and climbing stairs. Regular strength training has the added advantage of building bone mass and protecting against osteoporosis.
Less huff and puff
Another effect of ageing is reduced aerobic capacity - in other words, the ability of your heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver adequate oxygen to your muscles during physical activity. Aerobic capacity generally peaks at around age 20, and then decreases by about 1% each subsequent year (the fitter you are, the less decline you'll experience). By the time you are 80 years old, your aerobic capacity is about half of what it was at age 20.
The good news is that no matter what age you start to exercise, it's never too late to improve your aerobic capacity. Any physical activity that makes you warm and increases your rate of breathing will have benefits if done for 30 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. If you can't be active for 30 minutes all at once, get at least 10 minutes of physical activity at a time, making sure you've achieved a total of 30 minutes by the end of the day.
Flexibility and balance
The elasticity of our joints and ligaments decrease as we age, causing a gradual decline in flexibility, range of motion and balance. Falling - the result of deteriorated balance - becomes a significant hazard later in life, especially if our bones are weak. By increasing your activity level and incorporating stretching and strength training into your daily routine, you can increase your flexibility and protect against the risk of a fall.
When exercising, keep these safety tips in mind:
The elasticity of our joints and ligaments decreases with age, which causes a gradual decline in flexibility, range of motion and balance. The changes happen so slowly you may not notice it until you're in your seventies. But falling - the result of deteriorated balance - becomes a significant hazard later in life, especially if bones are weak.
The good news is that we don't need to lose balance as we age - it is a skill that can be trained. By increasing your activity level and incorporating stretching, balance and strength training into your daily routine, you can increase your reflexes and flexibility, as well as giving yourself enough leg strength to prevent a stumble turning into a fall.
No excuse is a good excuse
'Too old' or 'too frail' aren't good excuses to give up exercise, because even medical conditions like stroke, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes have been found to benefit from regular physical activity. Combining dietary changes and controlled exercise activity with medication can be more effective in the treatment of many health conditions, than just relying on medication alone. Your Personal Trainer will be able to tailor a training programme to your specific health condition, so seek their advice before starting a vigorous exercise routine.
Where to start?
Whether it's carrying groceries, walking to the shops or climbing a set of stairs, regular exercise will help you more easily cope with the demands of everyday living.
How much exercise depends on what you want to achieve. Your goal might be as simple as strengthening your muscles enough to lift your grandchildren, or building your endurance enough to walk around the block without puffing. Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, your starting point should be to improve from wherever you are right now and work your way up gradually.
The secret to longevity?
According to the findings of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest, most comprehensive examination of ageing ever conducted, people who move successfully through middle age into their 80s have the following factors in common: they exercise regularly, keep a healthy weight, avoid cigarettes, have good adjustment or coping skills, maintain strong stable relationships and pursue education.
The bad news
A women of seventy faces 30% odds that she will break her hip if she lives another twenty years.
The good news
Strength training dramatically cuts the risk of fractures by building bone and improving strength and balance to help prevent falls.
Start slowly
Build up your activities and effort level gradually. Doing too much too soon can cause discomfort or even injury, especially if you have been inactive for a while. Try our '1 Step at a Time' fitness programme, designed for first-time exercisers or those returning to exercise after a break.
Avoid breath holding
When lifting weights, for example, breathe out while lifting, and breathe in while lowering. This is especially important if you have heart disease, diabetes or glaucoma.
Keep up your fluid intake The sensation of thirst declines as we age, so even though you may not feel like a drink, your body
needs as much fluid as it always did.
Bend from the hips
When you bend forward, bend from the hips, not the waist. If you let your back 'hump' when you bend, it's a sign you're probably bending from the waist.
Warm up first
Make sure your muscles have warmed up before you stretch.
Exercise at a comfortable pace Stiffness after exercise is normal, but if you're in pain most of the following day or have swollen joints, it's a sign you've pushed yourself too hard. Always stop exercising if you experience sharp pain, as this may be a signal of something more serious. If your bone, joint or muscle pain is severe, seek the advice of a doctor.
Look Good Feel Great Manage your stress...
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25
Manage your
stress
Feeling stressed?
Overworked?
Under tension?
A dose of exercise is the best stress-busting drug there is. Every time you exercise, your brain produces feel- good hormones called endorphins, which are guaranteed to lift your mood and leave you feeling relaxed. Researchers have found that each exercise session produces around 90 to 120 minutes worth of endorphins, so you'll be feeling good long after your workout has finished.
So what's a good stress busting exercise? Any exercise that takes your mind off your worries is a good place to start, whether a group fitness class, strength training session or circuit routine. Researchers have found that regular yoga sessions can reduce anxiety, release tension and even lower blood pressure. A yoga class at the gym is a great way to unwind after a busy day and it will teach you how to use deep breathing, relaxed movement and concentration as a way to alleviate stress.
The stress roller coaster
We need a certain amount of stress to keep us on our toes, but too much stress can lead to all sorts of nasty symptoms, ranging from irritability and tension, to headaches, stomach upsets and insomnia. Stress disturbs the body's internal balance and if you don't make adjustments to counter the effects it can contribute to even more serious health problems like high blood pressure and heart disease. Don't kid yourself that you don't suffer from stress, everyone does, but we all cope differently.
Feel-good factor
One of the most common reasons people give for why they exercise is that it makes them feel good. Phrases such as 'feeling better', 'sense of achievement' and 'enjoyment' are frequently used by regular exercisers to explain why they have the motivation to stick with their exercise programme.
The next time you're feeling stressed, make a conscious effort to give yourself some 'me-time'. Book in for a relaxing massage, tanning treatment or beauty therapy, or put your feet up in a steam room. Check out the therapy treatments available at your club and give yourself permission to give them a go!
Too stressed to sleep?
Stress has a nasty habit of causing insomnia, but regular exercise can help give you some shut-eye. People who exercise regularly fall asleep quicker, awake less often in the middle of the night and sleep longer and better. Working out relieves muscle tension and wears you out physically, so it's much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Not to mention that exercise revamps your sex life - another good way of improving your sleep pattern!
While it's not always possible to avoid stressful situations, you can learn to manage stress so that it no longer rules your life. Here's what experts recommend as the best ways to step off the stress roller coaster.
Make exercise a regular habit. It relieves tension and provides a 'time-out' from stressful situations.
Simplify your life. Cut out activities or delegate tasks.
Get enough sleep. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events.
Establish a support network. It helps when you can talk to someone about your troubles.
Keep a positive attitude. View negative situations as positive and a chance to improve your life.
Practice relaxation techniques. Fit regular yoga or meditation sessions into your weekly routine.
Learn to say no. If you are overwhelmed by having too much to do, eliminate tasks that aren't necessary.
Make time for hobbies. Schedule time to indulge in things you enjoy doing.
Go easy with criticism. Don't expect perfection from yourself or others.
Eat for health. Good nutrition makes a difference, especially limiting your intake of caffeine and alcohol.
Accept the things you cannot
change and have the courage
to change the things you can
Look Good Feel Great Have fun and meet people....
26
Have fun and meet people Here's how to get the maximum fun from your fitness...
Add variety
to your routine
Going to the gym isn't just about burning calories and building muscle, it's also a great place to let your hair down, make friends and have some fun!
The added bonus is that the more you enjoy yourself and look forward to your workouts, the more likely you are to stick with your exercise programme.
Find an exercise buddy
Exercising with someone else can add fun and laughter to even the dullest exercise routine. It's also a great incentive for keeping a 'date' with exercise if you know you'd be letting someone else down by cancelling. If you don't yet know anyone at your gym, suggest a friend takes out a membership with you, or ask around at the gym for a buddy.
Join a group fitness class
The buzz and motivation of
working out in a group can't be beaten, so if you've never taken part in a group fitness class before, now is the time to start. Our Studio Taster Sessions are the perfect introduction to group fitness, allowing you to experience up to eight different class styles in an hour. From Body Pump and Circuit, to Spin and Relaxation, there are classes that cater for all levels of interest and fitness. You don't have to be co-ordinated (or female!) to do a class, you just have to be prepared to have fun!
Doing the same workout day-in, day-out isn't any fun To keep yourself entertained and physically challenged, change your routine often.
Come along to the club socials BBQs, fitness challenges, nightclub evenings and special theme classes are just some of the social activities your club runs for members. To find out what's coming up next, ask the reception staff or keep an eye out for the promotions posted around the gym.
Variety is the spice of life - the more you change your routine, the more you'll boost both your fitness and motivation. Regularly try new classes and equipment, experiment with different exercises, and vary the intensity and duration of your workouts (in consultation with your Personal Trainer or a member of the Fitness Team). If you're on the treadmill, for example, don't just maintain the same pace, mix it up by varying the pace and incline. Watch out for our gym floor classes, they're guaranteed fun and a great way to challenge your fitness.
Try personal training
Having your own Personal Trainer is a sure way to keep your routines fresh and fun. A trainer can advise you of the best way to achieve your goals, and provide the professional guidance and motivation to get you there! Ask your club about the range of affordable Personal Training options available, from 30 minute sessions to group sessions where you can workout with a friend.
Do what you enjoy
If you've found an exercise or sport you really enjoy, make sure you incorporate it into your fitness routine. Whether it's skipping, dancing, sprinting, or boxing that turns you on, find a group fitness class that contains these elements or think about how you can add them into your regular workout.
Ease into fitness
The best way to avoid muscle soreness and injury is to start off gradually, increasing your intensity and duration in small increments. Do less than you think you are able to at first, and challenge yourself one step at a time as your fitness increases.
TIP: Use exercise as a daily vacation and a way to spend time with friends
Look Good Feel Great How your health benefits from exercise...
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Discover better health
We all know that exercise is good for our health, but you might be surprised at just how good it is! Burn a mere 500-1,000 kcals each week through exercise (equivalent to around 3-4 group fitness classes) and you can reduce your risk of premature death by an amazing 20 to 30%).
Cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and arthritis are just a few of the health conditions that a regular exercise programme can help protect you against. In fact, as little as 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise on five or more days of the week is all it takes to start improving your health.
Fit and active people have a 40-50% lower risk of colon cancer than the unfit and inactive. The same goes for women (post-menopausal) who exercise regularly - they have a 30% lower risk of breast cancer than the least active.
Good for your heart
The heart responds to exercise by becoming stronger and more efficient. Regular exercise can help prevent heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering blood pressure, raising your HDL ('good') cholesterol levels, reducing your LDL ('bad') cholesterol levels, and increasing your heart's working capacity.
Helps control weight
Being overweight doubles the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, and is a major risk factor for diabetes, cancer and osteoarthritis. Regular exercise helps to reduce body fat by building muscle mass and improving the body's ability to burn calories.
Take it to heart
Take it to heart
Inactivity is responsible for around 37% of coronary heart disease. By becoming active you can achieve a 10% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease - that's a similar reduction to what you'd get if you lowered other major risk factors like cholesterol or blood pressure.
Strengthens bones
Just as muscles grow stronger when physically stressed, so too bones respond by getting stronger. Regular weight bearing exercise increases bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis, the condition in which bones lose density, weaken and become very porous and fragile.
Up to the age of 30 our bone-forming cells continue to work faster than our bone destroying cells. After that the trend reverses and our bones start to thin. As a female, you can lose up to 20% of your bone mass in the 5 to 7 years following menopause if you remain inactive.
Manages diabetes
Regular exercise helps normalise glucose levels for people with type II diabetes by assisting muscles to take up glucose from the bloodstream and use it for energy.
Losing weight through exercise can also help prevent and control this type of diabetes.
Did you know?
If you are inactive and unfit, you put yourself in the same category as a smoker when it comes to contracting coronary heart disease.
Helps prevent cancer
Exercise speeds digested food through the colon, denying it the opportunity to sit in one place, ferment, and cause irritations that can grow into cancer. There is also evidence to suggest that exercise lowers the risk of cancers of the prostrate, breast and endometrium.
Affects arthritis
Flexibility training, cardiovascular exercise and strength training have been shown to improve range of motion and reduce joint stiffness in arthritic patients. Exercise also helps reduce the psychological and emotional pain that often accompanies arthritis.
Relieves back pain
Low back pain accounts for 150 million lost working days each year, and affects an astonishing 80% of the population. By increasing muscle strength and endurance, and improving flexibility and posture, regular exercise helps prevent back pain.
Reduces anxiety
Every time you exercise, your brain produces feel-good hormones called endorphins, which have been shown to reduce depression and bring on feelings of euphoria, well being and relaxation. Researchers have now found that regular exercise can be as effective for treating depression as psychotherapy, and in some cases it can be as successful as medication.
Nutritional tips that help you get the body you want
1. Diets Don’t Solve the Problem
Most people try to get in shape think that dieting solves problems - it doesn’t. Diets often make you feel that you are starving yourself whilst eating celery and lettuce or following the latest fad diet. However as soon as your ‘diet’ is over and you’ve reached your magic weight you start eating as normal and wonder why the weight piles on again - don’t be surprised, this is what happens!
2. Calories Consumption
If you feel that you are out of shape it’s because you have eaten more calories than your body needs. If you are underweight you are not eating enough calories. It’s that simple!
3. Eating for Success
You are what you eat. If you snack on all types of junk food then expect to look no better than the food you are eating. Eating the correct food to build a great body doesn’t always mean you have to sacrifice great tasting food, it just means you have to become a little more selective to ensure that what you do eat is healthy, useful and full of nutrients.
4. Eating Regularly throughout the day
It is important that you try to avoid missing meals. The fewer meals you eat daily, the more your metabolism slows down. Eating smaller meals more regularly or snacking every 3 hours results in a fast metabolism, lean muscle gain (increased tone) and a decrease in body fat, not to mention an enhanced mood and feeling of well being. You will be sharper at work and more interactive.
5. Food Supplements
To assist in your effort to eat regularly throughout the day there are a number of food supplements, (also known as sports nutrition) which are a convenient form of nutrition. The supplements often come in the form of powders, bars and drinks and assist in the achievement of a goal you may have.
6. What are…
Carbohydrates
Carbs are the chief source of fuel for activity and are broken down into simple sugars called glucose. Glucose is stored in the muscles as glycogen and is used to provide energy (Milk, Vegetables, fruit, bread etc)
Proteins
Protein is made up of amino acids which the body uses for repairing and building muscles, enzymes and most other living cells in the body. It also defends your body against disease by supporting immune system (Fish, Poultry, Meat)
Fats
Fats are the most concentrated form of energy. Our body taps into fat stores when glycogen sources are low. All fats are not equal and our body needs essential fatty acids to promote good health while other fats including saturated fats increase the risk of the bad form of cholesterol and heart disease.
Vitamins and minerals
These are vital nutrients that the body cannot produce hence they must be included in your diet. These nutrients help to support energy production, hormone construction and bone development.
7. Supplements Can Help
Muscle tone / shape and strength
A number of studies show that increasing protein consumption will help build muscle faster and prevents your body from using existing muscle tissue as a source of fuel. Increased protein intake prevents muscle loss whilst trying to lose weight and is essential for any man or woman who wants to increase muscle size or just tone up. Good sources of protein are whey protein / chicken / fish / lean red meat / cottage cheese.
High quality protein can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Fat Burning / Weight Loss
These products are designed to support and optimise your metabolism to help increase your body’s fat burning capacity. Often these products contain extract of green tea, guarana, caffeine, vitamin B5 and l’carnatine
Safe and effective fat burning and weight loss products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Recovery
In order to accelerate your recovery after training it is important to re fuel the body with nutrient rich food stuff. Most recovery products contain a mixture of carbohydrate and protein and accelerate the recovery phase of any training regime. The combination of carbs and protein provides essential amino acids which assists in repair and growth of muscles post exercise.
A range of recovery products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Hydration
Whatever your exercise goals you need to perform at your best. Just a 2% drop in body weight as a result of sweating can lead to a decrease in performance. Dehydration can make you feel as though you’re working harder than you are and can put a strain on the body. Ideally drink 200 - 500ml shortly before training / 120 - 150ml every 15 - 20 minutes during and at least 500ml after training.
A range of recovery products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
Energy
It is important to always to have a pre-training meal, snack or drink. Training on an empty stomach will result in a lack of energy and a bad workout. Ideally consume a snack in the hour before training. If you are feeling low in energy before training there are a number of options that will provide you with an instant energy kick and keep you going throughout your workout.
A range of energy products can be found in the Fitness First Nutrition range available at reception or online at www.fitnessfirstnutrition.com
8. Other Useful Tips
o Breakfast is most important meal of the day
o If your are not losing body fat then reduce your calories
o Have a small protein snack before you go to bed
o Reward yourself one day at the weekend by eating what you want
o Avoid margarine and other food stuff containing hydrogenated fats and oils.
o Limit your intake of alcohol to a few glasses on the weekend or special occasions.
A final word
Supplements or Sports Nutrition work far better when you combine with an effective exercise programme. Nothing comes easy, you can’t expect to pop a pill and have the body you have always dreamed of. However with a sensible eating programme coupled with nutrient filled supplements and a regular, enjoyable exercise plan you will get the beach body that you have always wanted.
GET RESULTS QUICKLY
Personal Trainers provide the member with all the motivation and support they need to achieve their goals. Many members don’t know the benefits of Personal Training until they experience it. Group Personal Training will provide the member with the opportunity to take part in scheduled Personal Training sessions with like minded members. Working in a small group allows for great interaction and motivation as well as loads of fun. Ask about Personal Training in club if you want to get results quickly!
WORK OUT TOGETHER
Group Exercise is a great way to get fit in an environment that is fun and motivating. If you have never attended a Group Exercise class you are missing out!
As part of our Group Exercise offering themed classes will take place on the gym floor with a Sport, Strength, Health or Shape focus.
Find a training buddy! Our Health & Fitness Manager can partner you up with members who have like minded goals and fitness levels. Let our Health & Fitness Manager act as the ‘match maker’ and bring together members who don’t want to work out alone.
INSPIRING & ENERGETIC
Challenge Yourself! Fitness First has partnered with Men’s Fitness magazine to bring the Fit Brit challenge to our clubs. You will be able to take part in this challenge at any time with the UK final taking place in September. You will be able to record and track your results on the leaflets available in club.
FITNESS TIPS
Top tips to get you looking and feeling great!
Shape
1. Invigorated by crisp air? If so, take your workout outside. Try one of our bootcamp sessions or running clubs.
2. If you exercise outdoors, keep the following in mind: Dress in layers. When exercising in cooler temperatures, it is important not to overdress or under-dress. By wearing layers, you can remove clothes when you heat up, and put them back on when you cool down. Avoid wearing cotton or other materials that trap perspiration. Instead, look for materials specifically designed to wick perspiration away from the skin. Take advantage of your FIRST CLUB 10% discount at JJB Sports to treat yourself to a new kit!
3. Gather your friends or family and participate in a sport like football or netball once a week. This will give you something to look forward to during the autumn months, before the snow covers your playing area.
4. Adjust your lifestyle - one major component of your lifestyle is what you eat. Your diet is an extremely important aspect of getting in shape.
5. In order for your body to become more toned and efficient it is essential to eat lots of organic foods, fruits and vegetables, less saturated fat and preservatives and drink approximately 2 litres of water daily.
6. Get active! This doesn't mean walking to work occasionally, getting up off the couch for a drink, or typing all day on your computer, it means cardiovascular exercise, exercise that boosts your heart rate.
7. In order to lose weight and stay fit, cardio exercise burns calories and also keeps your heart in shape.
8. In addition to working your heart, it is critical to also work your muscles with weight training. It helps improve your resting breathing rate, metabolism, and muscle definition.
9. Relax and use imagery each day to get a feel for victory. See yourself, having already reached your goal, slipping into a smaller-sized outfit or pair of jeans. Or imagine feeling proud as you step on your bathroom scale and see the numbers. Pretending it’s already true enlists the support of your subconscious mind to make it really happen.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SHAPE
Nosheen Ahmed
Nosheen has battled through severe obesity, eating disorders, bullying, abuse, chronic depression and illnesses which could have killed her. With the help of Fitness First and a personal trainer, Nosheen has lost an incredible 14 stone in one year, going from 27 stone to 13 stone. Not only has Nosheen changed her life, she now works to help others around the country to achieve their dreams. Nosheen said “I have learnt the hard way that if you put your mind to something, then your body will follow and you can achieve anything!”
Sport
1. Never miss an opportunity to get involved in sports. Get involved in activities and sports requiring running, strength and quick reflexes wherever possible.
2. Stretch to become flexible - Stretching is the most neglected part of sports training. Stretching helps you become flexible and helps prevent injuries.
3. Train with weights for strength – Weight training exercises can be done using exercise equipment like dumbbells, barbells or resistance based machines. Your sporting discipline will dictate how many reps and sets will suit best, for further information, speak to a Personal Trainer today. Bodyweight exercises like push ups, pull ups, lunges and squats are excellent.
4. Train for speed - Almost every sport requires you to have quick reflexes to move and change directions quickly. Speed training uses speed drills which will help you build sharp reflexes. Simple speed drills like sprinting, running fast and turning around, stop & move drills and relays are excellent for developing speed and reflexes.
5. Train for aerobic endurance - You may have great power, your reflexes may be lightening but without your heart supplying enough oxygen you will fail on the field. You can use treadmills, skipping ropes, bikes, cross trainers or any aerobic exercise machine and the results will ultimately be the same. This will improve your aerobic endurance considerably.
6. Get sport specific - Different sports require different skills. Skills required in football are different than those required in tennis. Therefore break your sporting discipline down and look at which aspects you need to work on!
7. Get quality nutrition - Nutrition is often neglected and the common excuse is time. Remember without proper diet all your efforts in the gym and on the field will be a waste.
8. Competitions are great motivators - competitions, leagues and matches are an excellent motivation to train hard and win. They will provide you the additional impetus to give your best preparing for the competition.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SPORT
Max Exton
Max, from Godalming, was involved in a horrific motorcycling accident in July 2008 which nearly cost him his life. A scan revealed a bleed deep in his brain, which was inoperable. Max was attached to a life support machine and his family warned to expect the worst. Miraculously Max was breathing for himself within 24 hrs but was paralysed down the right side of his body and Doctors told him he would never walk again. However with intense physiotherapy and sheer determination, Max was walking within one month of the accident. Max then decided to join Fitness First to aid with his rehabilitation. With Max’s commendable level of commitment to his training, he is close to achieving his goal of getting back on his bike.
Health
It takes a lot of hard work and discipline to achieve a healthy, toned body. But with some basic nutritional knowledge you could achieve your goals faster than you thought. Getting the right balance of food, exercise and dedication may seem a hard task but putting your mind to it is the first hurdle. For starters, try following these essential nutritional tips
1. Eat more often
By spacing out your meals to every 2.5 - 3 hours you will actually help yourself lose weight. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, divide this into 6 smaller meals. Not only will the more regular flow of nutrients into your body help raise your metabolism and burn more fat in the long-run, you will also feel less hungry.
2. Don't skip breakfast
Research has shown that people who miss breakfast find it harder to lose weight. Breakfast, in short, is the most important meal of the day and is essential for getting your metabolism fired up.
3. Take your time
It can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full after you have finished eating. Don't rush your food and savour every mouthful, the more slowly you eat, the fuller you're going to feel.
4. Eat protein in every meal
Foods high in protein make you feel fuller quicker and for longer. Choose meats such as chicken, turkey, low fat mince or any type of fish. Protein is also essential for muscle growth and repair
5. Cutting the calories
To lose a pound of body fat, you must burn the equivalent of 3500 calories. If you cut your daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day (i.e. a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps), you'll be losing 1 pound a week. Do this for 3 months and you've lost almost a stone! You don't need to become a calorie counting junkie- just remove foods from your diet you don't really need. Increasing the amount of cardiovascular exercise will also help burn the fat. Start of slow and build up - try running for 30 minutes 3 times a week and if you've got more energy, try longer/more regular intervals.
6. Carbs are good
As much as you may have heard, carbohydrates are NOT the enemy. We need carbohydrates for energy whether for short bursts or long-sustained energy sources. Without carbohydrates our bodies find it hard to adjust to this inherent energy deficit. Stick to complex carbohydrates like vegetables, whole grains and beans which take a long time to digest and have a more prolonged release of energy.
7. Drink Enough Water
Water is a fundamental part of our lives. Aside from aiding in digestion and absorption of food, water regulates body temperature and blood circulation, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, and removes toxins and other wastes. Among its other benefits, water plays a major part in weight loss as it helps the body metabolize stored fat. If you find yourself getting hungry quickly, try drinking a pint of water to curb your appetite.
8. Avoid eating before bed
Our energy levels plummet whilst we sleep hence it is harder for our bodies to burn the excess calories eaten during the late evening. Save your food for when you're awake!
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - HEALTH
Andrew Pigott
Andrew, from Sheffield, in the last six years has faced and beaten cancer and has had to manage epilepsy and atrial fibrillation. Then in July 2009 Andrew had a routine operation to repair a prolapsed disk. An MRI scan showed that Andrew had suffered massive damage to the nerves running from the bottom of his spinal chord. This left him paralysed from the waist down and he told the devastating news that he would be wheelchair bound for life. With help from Fitness First and his physiotherapy team, Andrew’s progression has been phenomenal and he has recently entered into the Edinburgh marathon. Andrew had been a keen runner and cyclist before the operation, so this is great news.
Strength
Have you hit a wall in your strength training or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Here are 5 top tips to help break that wall down!
1. Variation is the key!! Your body will eventually adapt to all exercises so make sure you change them regularly.
2. Own body weight exercises are very important to improving your strength. Make sure pull ups and press ups are part of your workout.
3. A strong core = a strong body! Make sure abdominal exercises are a major part of your workout and you will see improvements in all other muscle groups
4. Try and find yourself a training partner. Someone motivating you through your exercises and helping you with those last couple of reps will help you improve in a shorter space of time
5. Muscles are made up of protein so to get the best out of them ensure you have a high protein meal or a shake after your workout as this will aid the recovery process.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - STRENGTH
David Downes
David, from Basildon, was heavily overweight at 21 stone, but the loss of his father to diabetes was the wake up call he needed. His goal was to climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro, in order to raise money for Diabetes UK, in memory of his father. With the help of Fitness First and his determination to reach the summit, he lost a total of 8 stone. David quotes “Getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing I have ever done, it was not only tough but required physical strength as well as a determined mind. The biggest achievement is raising over £9000 for Diabetes UK and increasing the awareness of the disease.”
FITNESS TIPS
Top tips to get you looking and feeling great!
Shape
1. Invigorated by crisp air? If so, take your workout outside. Try one of our bootcamp sessions or running clubs.
2. If you exercise outdoors, keep the following in mind: Dress in layers. When exercising in cooler temperatures, it is important not to overdress or under-dress. By wearing layers, you can remove clothes when you heat up, and put them back on when you cool down. Avoid wearing cotton or other materials that trap perspiration. Instead, look for materials specifically designed to wick perspiration away from the skin. Take advantage of your FIRST CLUB 10% discount at JJB Sports to treat yourself to a new kit!
3. Gather your friends or family and participate in a sport like football or netball once a week. This will give you something to look forward to during the autumn months, before the snow covers your playing area.
4. Adjust your lifestyle - one major component of your lifestyle is what you eat. Your diet is an extremely important aspect of getting in shape.
5. In order for your body to become more toned and efficient it is essential to eat lots of organic foods, fruits and vegetables, less saturated fat and preservatives and drink approximately 2 litres of water daily.
6. Get active! This doesn't mean walking to work occasionally, getting up off the couch for a drink, or typing all day on your computer, it means cardiovascular exercise, exercise that boosts your heart rate.
7. In order to lose weight and stay fit, cardio exercise burns calories and also keeps your heart in shape.
8. In addition to working your heart, it is critical to also work your muscles with weight training. It helps improve your resting breathing rate, metabolism, and muscle definition.
9. Relax and use imagery each day to get a feel for victory. See yourself, having already reached your goal, slipping into a smaller-sized outfit or pair of jeans. Or imagine feeling proud as you step on your bathroom scale and see the numbers. Pretending it’s already true enlists the support of your subconscious mind to make it really happen.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SHAPE
Nosheen Ahmed
Nosheen has battled through severe obesity, eating disorders, bullying, abuse, chronic depression and illnesses which could have killed her. With the help of Fitness First and a personal trainer, Nosheen has lost an incredible 14 stone in one year, going from 27 stone to 13 stone. Not only has Nosheen changed her life, she now works to help others around the country to achieve their dreams. Nosheen said “I have learnt the hard way that if you put your mind to something, then your body will follow and you can achieve anything!”
Sport
1. Never miss an opportunity to get involved in sports. Get involved in activities and sports requiring running, strength and quick reflexes wherever possible.
2. Stretch to become flexible - Stretching is the most neglected part of sports training. Stretching helps you become flexible and helps prevent injuries.
3. Train with weights for strength – Weight training exercises can be done using exercise equipment like dumbbells, barbells or resistance based machines. Your sporting discipline will dictate how many reps and sets will suit best, for further information, speak to a Personal Trainer today. Bodyweight exercises like push ups, pull ups, lunges and squats are excellent.
4. Train for speed - Almost every sport requires you to have quick reflexes to move and change directions quickly. Speed training uses speed drills which will help you build sharp reflexes. Simple speed drills like sprinting, running fast and turning around, stop & move drills and relays are excellent for developing speed and reflexes.
5. Train for aerobic endurance - You may have great power, your reflexes may be lightening but without your heart supplying enough oxygen you will fail on the field. You can use treadmills, skipping ropes, bikes, cross trainers or any aerobic exercise machine and the results will ultimately be the same. This will improve your aerobic endurance considerably.
6. Get sport specific - Different sports require different skills. Skills required in football are different than those required in tennis. Therefore break your sporting discipline down and look at which aspects you need to work on!
7. Get quality nutrition - Nutrition is often neglected and the common excuse is time. Remember without proper diet all your efforts in the gym and on the field will be a waste.
8. Competitions are great motivators - competitions, leagues and matches are an excellent motivation to train hard and win. They will provide you the additional impetus to give your best preparing for the competition.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - SPORT
Max Exton
Max, from Godalming, was involved in a horrific motorcycling accident in July 2008 which nearly cost him his life. A scan revealed a bleed deep in his brain, which was inoperable. Max was attached to a life support machine and his family warned to expect the worst. Miraculously Max was breathing for himself within 24 hrs but was paralysed down the right side of his body and Doctors told him he would never walk again. However with intense physiotherapy and sheer determination, Max was walking within one month of the accident. Max then decided to join Fitness First to aid with his rehabilitation. With Max’s commendable level of commitment to his training, he is close to achieving his goal of getting back on his bike.
Health
It takes a lot of hard work and discipline to achieve a healthy, toned body. But with some basic nutritional knowledge you could achieve your goals faster than you thought. Getting the right balance of food, exercise and dedication may seem a hard task but putting your mind to it is the first hurdle. For starters, try following these essential nutritional tips
1. Eat more often
By spacing out your meals to every 2.5 - 3 hours you will actually help yourself lose weight. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, divide this into 6 smaller meals. Not only will the more regular flow of nutrients into your body help raise your metabolism and burn more fat in the long-run, you will also feel less hungry.
2. Don't skip breakfast
Research has shown that people who miss breakfast find it harder to lose weight. Breakfast, in short, is the most important meal of the day and is essential for getting your metabolism fired up.
3. Take your time
It can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full after you have finished eating. Don't rush your food and savour every mouthful, the more slowly you eat, the fuller you're going to feel.
4. Eat protein in every meal
Foods high in protein make you feel fuller quicker and for longer. Choose meats such as chicken, turkey, low fat mince or any type of fish. Protein is also essential for muscle growth and repair
5. Cutting the calories
To lose a pound of body fat, you must burn the equivalent of 3500 calories. If you cut your daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day (i.e. a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps), you'll be losing 1 pound a week. Do this for 3 months and you've lost almost a stone! You don't need to become a calorie counting junkie- just remove foods from your diet you don't really need. Increasing the amount of cardiovascular exercise will also help burn the fat. Start of slow and build up - try running for 30 minutes 3 times a week and if you've got more energy, try longer/more regular intervals.
6. Carbs are good
As much as you may have heard, carbohydrates are NOT the enemy. We need carbohydrates for energy whether for short bursts or long-sustained energy sources. Without carbohydrates our bodies find it hard to adjust to this inherent energy deficit. Stick to complex carbohydrates like vegetables, whole grains and beans which take a long time to digest and have a more prolonged release of energy.
7. Drink Enough Water
Water is a fundamental part of our lives. Aside from aiding in digestion and absorption of food, water regulates body temperature and blood circulation, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, and removes toxins and other wastes. Among its other benefits, water plays a major part in weight loss as it helps the body metabolize stored fat. If you find yourself getting hungry quickly, try drinking a pint of water to curb your appetite.
8. Avoid eating before bed
Our energy levels plummet whilst we sleep hence it is harder for our bodies to burn the excess calories eaten during the late evening. Save your food for when you're awake!
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - HEALTH
Andrew Pigott
Andrew, from Sheffield, in the last six years has faced and beaten cancer and has had to manage epilepsy and atrial fibrillation. Then in July 2009 Andrew had a routine operation to repair a prolapsed disk. An MRI scan showed that Andrew had suffered massive damage to the nerves running from the bottom of his spinal chord. This left him paralysed from the waist down and he told the devastating news that he would be wheelchair bound for life. With help from Fitness First and his physiotherapy team, Andrew’s progression has been phenomenal and he has recently entered into the Edinburgh marathon. Andrew had been a keen runner and cyclist before the operation, so this is great news.
Strength
Have you hit a wall in your strength training or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Here are 5 top tips to help break that wall down!
1. Variation is the key!! Your body will eventually adapt to all exercises so make sure you change them regularly.
2. Own body weight exercises are very important to improving your strength. Make sure pull ups and press ups are part of your workout.
3. A strong core = a strong body! Make sure abdominal exercises are a major part of your workout and you will see improvements in all other muscle groups
4. Try and find yourself a training partner. Someone motivating you through your exercises and helping you with those last couple of reps will help you improve in a shorter space of time
5. Muscles are made up of protein so to get the best out of them ensure you have a high protein meal or a shake after your workout as this will aid the recovery process.
2010 New You Achievement Award winner - STRENGTH
David Downes
David, from Basildon, was heavily overweight at 21 stone, but the loss of his father to diabetes was the wake up call he needed. His goal was to climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro, in order to raise money for Diabetes UK, in memory of his father. With the help of Fitness First and his determination to reach the summit, he lost a total of 8 stone. David quotes “Getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing I have ever done, it was not only tough but required physical strength as well as a determined mind. The biggest achievement is raising over £9000 for Diabetes UK and increasing the awareness of the disease.”
EXERCISE AND...
Blood is carried from the heart around your body in vessels called arteries. Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of these arteries. Every time the heart beats (roughly 60-70 times a minute at rest), it pumps out blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is at it’s highest as the heart beats, pumping the blood around the body. This is called Systolic pressure. When the heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is known as the Diastolic pressure, and is measured in millimetres of Mercury.
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
BLOOD PRESSURE HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
A reading over 140/90 or above is generally considered as high. High blood pressure is referred to as Hypertension and is a considered as a coronary heart disease risk.
Although it is rare for high blood pressure to cause an immediate risk, its longterm damage to the body is widespread and serious. The greatest risks are death due to stroke or heart disease. High blood pressure may affect the following areas of the body in particular: -
• The Heart - In some people, usually after a few years, the main pumping chamber of the heart (the left ventricle) will enlarge and therefore weaken. Heart failure may follow, causing fatigue and breathlessness
• Stroke – around a third of all strokes are linked to high blood pressure
• Kidneys - may be damaged by constantly raised blood pressure. This may affect the process of the body getting rid of unwanted substances that may lead to ill health and kidney failure
• The Eyes – Eyesight may be affected and may even be permanently damaged
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
BLOOD PRESSURE WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
Blood pressure fluctuates during the day. It is at its lowest when you sleep and rises when you get up. It can also rise when you are excited, nervous, anxious or active. For most of the day, your blood pressure stays pretty much the same particularly when you are sitting or standing still. An acceptable level is 120/80. When blood pressure reaches 140/90 or higher, this is regarded as hypertension. With high blood pressure, the heart is forced to work harder, much like the effort required to blow hard through a straw is higher than that needed to blow through a larger tube.
Anything that lowers blood pressure in turn reduces the workload of the heart. Research indicates that regular activity will contribute to the lowering of blood pressure. In addition studies show that regular activity helps to maintain the elasticity of the blood vessels as one goes through the stages of the aging process.
Some people even have problems when the blood pressure is too low. Ever, bent down to do your shoelace up, stood up too quickly and felt a little dizzy? Or maybe you’ve been working hard on a treadmill, and stopped suddenly, and felt a little unbalanced? These symptoms could be (among other things, like low blood sugar) due to low blood pressure. As long as you are aware of the potential small risks, and you get exercise advice from a member of the Fitness Team, you shouldn’t have any problem!
Regular physical activity teaches the body to effectively distribute blood to the working muscles throughout the period of exercise encouraging blood flow to where the body needs it.
With regular activity there will be an adaptation that increases the blood flow throughout the body that enhances the performance of both the heart and skeletal system. These changes serve to lower the heart rate and blood pressure during physical activity in turn reducing the stress placed on the body.
Changes in blood pressure can also be the consequence of weight loss or reduced stress, both of which are known outcomes of physical activity.
If you want to find out more on how blood pressure, or the heart helps you exercise, book in for our “Healthy on the Inside - Blood Pressure and the Heart” Workshop - speak to a member of the Fitness First team for details!
Depression and You
Top Tips
Depression affects 1 in every 10 people in the UK at some time, but no-one should ever feel they have to cope with it on their own.
The understanding and support of others is vital.
Exercise is particularly beneficial too. It boosts “happy hormone” endorphins in the brain to lift mood and generate energy. It reduces anxiety and helps us sleep.
Share your feelings with a good friend. A problem shared is a problem halved.
Make a list of your daily tasks beginning with the most important.
Exercise gently but regularly to boost your happy hormones and for reduced anxiety and sounder sleep.
Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders in the UK with 1 in 10 of us touched by it at some time. Typical symptoms include low mood, general lack of interest in life, low energy levels and poor concentration and sleep quality.
At Fitness First, no matter what cruel blow life has recently dealt you, that feeling of being part of a family unit and of belonging to a welcoming and caring fitness club is likely to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Dr Hilary Jones M.B.B.S
Medical Advisor to Fitness First
Pick up a leaflet or ask a member of the fitness team for more information
Posters feb 08[2].indd 1 5/2/08 14:26:34
Brain Function in Depression
Did you know?
The brain is the “command centre” of the human body. It controls the basic functions of our bodies, our movements, and our thoughts and emotions. Researchers studying clinical depression tend to look at several aspects of brain function including the structures of
the limbic system and the function of neurotransmitters within neurons.
Limbic System
This is the area of the brain that regulates activities such as the stress response. The hypothalamus is a small structure located at the base of the brain. It is responsible for many basic functions such as body temperature, sleep, appetite, sexual drive, stress reaction, and the regulation of other activities. The hypothalamus also controls the function of the pituitary gland which in turn regulates key hormones. Other structures within the limbic system
that are associated with emotional reaction are the amygdala and hippocampus. The activities of the limbic are so important and complex that disturbances in any part of it, including how neurotransmitters function, could affect your mood and behaviour.
Neurotransmitters and Neurons
Within the brain, there are special chemicals called neurotransmitters that carry out many very important functions. Essentially, they help transfer messages throughout structures of the brain’s nerve cells. These nerve cells, called neurons, are organised to control specialised activities. We each have somewhere between 10-100 billion neurons within our brains. Whenever we do anything, react, feel emotions, think, our neurons transmit messages in the form of electrical impulses from one cell to another.
Pick up a leaflet or ask a member of the fitness team for more information
Posters feb 08[2].indd 2
5/2/08
14:26:37
Prevention of Depression
Top Tips
The last thing you will feel like doing when you’re depressed is exercise, so you must set a plan of action and stick to it.
Get a personal trainer to help you design a plan, if you have a plan you are much more likely to stick to it.
Be consistent, regular exercise will keep depression at bay so build it into your day.
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself about what kind of training you are doing.
Both aerobic training and weight training have been shown to have a positive effect on depression.
Get some good music on an mp3 player, it can really motivate you and get you through the workouts.
Don’t listen to that voice that says you just can’t be bothered or you feel tired, remember you will always feel better after exercise.
Exercise may not completely alleviate your symptoms, so make sure you have some medical support and let them know you are using exercise
1t0o dAelawl awyitshdtoheydoeuprrecsasriodnio. after your weight session not before
Depression is becoming more of a problem in our society and it is being dealt mostly through medication, this has many negative implications as anti- depressant medication can have many unwanted side effects and can also become addictive.
There is a more positive way of dealing with depression as research has proven that regular physical activity is just as effective in the treatment of depression and anxiety as medication, without all of the unwanted side effects.
Angie Dowds
Personal Training Advisor to Fitness First
EXERCISE AND...
You may be saying to yourself, “It’s obvious!” But, there’s more to consider about healthy eating than you may first think... A healthy diet consists of foods and drinks that primarily enable your body to perform essential functions, like digesting food, thinking, speaking, and even breathing! Secondary to these, we need food to perform movement- whether it’s getting out of bed, doing a hundred press-ups, or running a marathon, your body needs extra energy that comes
from foods and drinks. The energy that is used comes in the form of calories, and calories come in many guises! Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals, Water and more, need to be taken in a careful balance to ensure we can fulfil our body’s incredible potential!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HEALTHY EATING HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
If you take on more calories than you need on a daily basis, regardless of what form they come in, the excess will either be stored or excreted! Depending on the type of food (usually carbohydrates and fats), storage is the first option the body takes. If too many carbohydrates are taken on (for example; pastas, breads, cereals, sugar, fruit and vegetables) the body breaks the food down into a form that it can use for energy- glucose! If your body doesn’t need it for energy, the carbohydrate will be broken down into a storable form- glycogen, which is stored in the liver and muscles. If you take on too much fat, you’re asking for trouble! Although fat has more than twice as much energy (per gram, for example) than carbohydrates, our bodies find it very difficult to break it down and use it for energy. So, any excess will simply be put in storage for a rainy day! In an ideal world, our body would like a constant intake of “good” calories throughout the day, as and when it needs it. But this would require non-stop nibbling- not a practical solution! So, with regular, small, balanced meals, you are maximising your body’s chance of using what you intake, and minimising the chances of storing too much of what it can’t use!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HEALTHY EATING WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
Ever been ill, so you have to stay in bed all day, or on holiday, lazing around doing not a lot? Do you also remember not feeling that hungry at these times? Simply, the amount of food you take on should reflect the amount of energy you expend! The more exercise and activity you do, the more calories your body burns up to produce energy to use for your workouts. If you don’t have enough readily available glycogen to use, or if you are still exercising and have almost run out of this source, your body will turn to another. Usually this is stores of fat, but as we’ve said, this is not easily broken down and you will find that your mental and physical performance is reduced dramatically if your carbohydrate (glycogen) stores are depleted severely. This forms a strong case against “low-carb” diets like the Atkins Diet, where low/no intake of Carbohydrates can lead to increased fat breakdown, but because the brain’s preferred food is glucose, is not good for the sharpness
of concentration!
You’re probably thinking, “I’ll just eat less than I need and I’m bound to lose weight!” Think again! The body tends to hang on to fat and other stores if you simply don’t give it enough to function- this is a safety mechanism, as your body goes into self-preservation mode. The key to healthy eating revolves around the Energy Balance; the amount that goes in versus the amount that goes out! A drastic imbalance will lead to the self-preservation mode at one end of the spectrum, to dramatic weight gain at the other end! An equal balance will be the best for weight maintenance; an imbalance slightly in favour of energy ‘out’ will favour safe weight loss; and an imbalance (of the right kinds of foods) in favour of energy ‘in’ will favour safe weight gain.
If weight gain is your goal, it is probably because you want to gain muscle mass! Healthy Eating has a massive part to play in this goal, as muscles will need proteins to build stronger and bigger. When you perform any vigorous exercise, say several sets of bicep curls, you are actually breaking down the muscle tissue. What determines the success of the workout is what you give the muscle to help rebuild it after you finish lifting. A combination of carbohydrates (to replace lost glycogen and blood sugar) with a safe amount of protein, as soon as possible, will enable the tissue you have just broken down to grow back stronger and more efficient! Don’t be fooled into taking on too much though (possibly in the form of too many “Protein Shakes”), as the excess protein that the body does not need is excreted and can actually damage the kidneys if continued for a long space of time.
So, if the Energy Balance mindset can be adopted, you’ll never go far wrong! And don’t just think about energy expenditure in your workouts- there’s 168 hours in a week, and 4 workouts barely makes a dent! Combine great gym work with an active lifestyle and a healthy diet, and your Energy Balance will look after itself!
EXERCISE AND...
Our bodies are made up of about 50-60% water, we drink it or eat food that contains it every day, and every health related report in the media says we need to drink more of it! But what does it do?
Water regulates body temperature, transports nutrients and oxygen, carries away waste, helps detoxify the kidney and liver, dissolves vitamins and minerals and cushions the body from injury! But this comes at a cost; every day you lose on average 10-12 cups of water, which needs to be replaced to maintain your body’s important fluid balance.
Water is best, but milk, juices and other beverages are about 90% water, so they can help meet your hydration needs. Caffeinated beverages and alcohol act as diuretics and increase fluid loss, so they don’t count! In fact, have an extra glass of water for each cup
of these liquids that you drink!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HYDRATION HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
EXERCISE AND...
Many experts believe that if you wait until you are thirsty, you are already slightly dehydrated. Drink a glass of water when you wake up in the morning and another glass before you go to sleep. Because water is so important to all our bodily functions, a reduction in it can have a huge affect on our physical and mental performance. Just 2% dehydration can lead to a 10% reduction in exercise performance! Dehydration will also affect your mental sharpness and therefore your productivity!
WHAT IS IT?
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
HYDRATION WHAT EFFECT WILL EXERCISE HAVE ON IT?
EXERCISE AND...
To prevent dehydration while exercising and perspiring, you must replace water at a faster rate than it is being lost. The American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends at least two cups of fluids two hours before exertion, followed by another two cups of water approximately 15-20 minutes before endurance exercises. During exercise replenish fluids every 15-20 minutes.
If you don’t take in fluids at least 15 minutes before endurance exercise this is just 1 factor in the contributor to STITCH as it takes this amount of time for your small intestines to absorb the fluid. If you don’t have the right amount of fluid balance in the stomach and the intestines an abdominal lining called the Parietal Peritoneum will start to rub and cause some discomfort that is a cause of stitch. This is also apparent if you have taken too much food on and the stomach will push the outer wall together which again will cause friction if the fluid balance isn’t correct.
If you notice unexplained increases in thirst and urination, consult your doctor to determine the cause. Increased thirst and urination (both in volume and frequency) can be symptoms of some illnesses, including various forms of diabetes.
When in doubt, fill your glass again! Eight 8-ounces glasses of water daily is the standard rule of thumb, but you may require more, especially if you exercise. You will also need to drink extra amounts of water in dehydration conditions such as hot, humid or cold weather or high altitudes. You should drink more if you have a cold or the flu, and even more if you have a fever. Additionally, some weight management experts believe that drinking a glass of water before meals can
help reduce cravings and aid digestion.
The importance of water cannot be underestimated- it is the essence of our cells, and our cells are what form together to make us! So, drink and be happy!
Lose weight Want to lose weight and feel in top shape?
Dump the diet
Remember, any exercise routine you enjoy and can stick to is your best option for weight loss.
Forget about dieting, pill popping or calorie counting; the key to successful weight loss is to combine regular exercise with a healthy balanced eating plan. The following successful slimming strategies may not be quick-fix solutions, but they will get results.
Consume fewer calories than you burn each day If the most exercise you’ve done all day is to walk from your front door to the car, then you don’t need to eat as much as you would if you had done a gym workout. Remember, if you eat more calories than you burn off, the excess calories must be stored somewhere – most commonly they are stored as fat.
Reduce your fat intake
Not all calories are equal – there are more calories in fat (9 calories per gram) than there are in protein (meat, poultry, dairy products) or carbohydrate (fruits, vegetables), which have 4 calories per gram. This means that fat calories are the most fattening, so should be eaten sparingly. There’s no need to cut them out altogether, just cut them down.
Cut your portion size
You may be eating low-fat, but if your portion sizes are too big, you’ll still be consuming too many calories. Carbohydrate and protein can be turned to fat if eaten in large quantities over an extended period,
so think about reducing the amount you eat.
This doesn’t mean cutting out foods and going hungry, it just means getting in tune with whether you are eating for hunger or because it’s there. Remember that any healthy weight loss plan needs to include at least 1,200 calories a day.
Know when to stop
You know that uncomfortable feeling you get when you eat too much, well that’s what you need to avoid. There is a delay between your brain registering that your stomach is full, and your stomach actually being full. Stop eating before you reach that bloated, uncomfortable stage. A good way to avoid getting really hungry and overeating at mealtime is to graze on small meals or snacks throughout the day rather than eating three large meals a day.
Just as dieting alone isn’t the best way to lose weight, an exercise programme needs to be combined with healthy eating to be successful.
Crash diets may help you look lighter on the scales, but the sad truth is that they do more harm than good. With most diets you’ll dump a few kilos of body fluid, which will account for a drop in weight on the scales, but you won’t lose any significant amount of body fat that will stay off over the long term.
When you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits, not only do you regain the fat stores you’ve just lost, but you may even gain a bit extra! This is because whenever you cut back on energy intake you’ll experience a drop in your metabolism, which reduces your body’s ability to burn fat (metabolism refers to the chemical reaction that takes place in your body involving the use and generation of energy). This slow-down means that your pre-diet eating habits represent an excess in calories, so more of what you eat will be stored as fat.
Even worse news...a lowered metabolic rate will increase your hunger signals, so you’ll start to crave high energy foods loaded with fats and sugars – the exact foods you are trying to do without!
Start with one extra gym session and two less fatty meals per week and gradually work towards a lifelong plan for achieving your best weight. Setting goals is an excellent way to keep yourself on track, but make sure your goals are specific and realistic. You’re much more likely to achieve a weight loss goal of 1 to 2 pounds a week, for example, than the huge weekly losses that many fad diets promote (and fail to deliver!).
Build muscle, burn fat
Make sure you incorporate strength training into your exercise routine if you’re trying to lose weight, because the more muscle you build, the more fat you’ll lose. As you build muscles from strength training, your metabolic rate increases, so you’ll burn more calories all day long. In fact, for each pound of muscle you gain, you’ll burn 35 to 50 more calories daily. Even when you are sitting around or sleeping, your muscle will continue burning calories!
If you’re female and afraid of getting bulky muscles, don’t be. The truth is that women typically don’t gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle build-up.
When you change the way you eat or exercise to lose weight, make sure it is a routine you can stick to. A good starting point is to become more active and begin thinking in moderation in all you eat and do.
A successful life is about balance, think about it!
What’s the best type of exercise for weight loss? It’s a common misconception that you’ll burn more fat if you exercise longer at a lower intensity, but the truth is that you’ll burn more fat the more intensely you exercise. The faster
you walk, step or run, for example, the more calories you use per minute.
Don’t worry if you’re just starting out and find high-intensity exercise difficult to sustain – simply begin at a lower intensity and slowly increase the level of difficulty as your fitness improves. Remember you’re only competing with yourself, so lay down a personal challenge to do a bit more!
A good starting point is our Weight Loss Circuit programme, available to members free-of-charge, and designed specifically to target body fat loss (ask your fitness team for details). Another great option is a Personal Trainer, who will advise you of the best way to achieve your weight loss goals in the gym.
TIP: Muscle weighs more than fat, so don’t be discouraged if you’re working out and not shedding a lot of weight. Pay attention to how you look in the mirror instead of what the scales say.
Look Good Feel Great Increase your muscle tone and strength...
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Increase your muscle
tone and strength
Plan for progress
You’ll feel and notice improvements in strength and muscle tone soon after you begin strength training, but don’t be discouraged if these results slow down after a period of training. It’s only natural that improvements will come at a slightly slower pace as your strength increases, so remember to make an appointment with your fitness team every 6-8 weeks for a programme review. Variety not only helps overcome training plateaus, it also reduces boredom, helps prevent injury and stimulates muscle growth. If you’re feeling bored by exercise, just keep in mind the feeling of fulfillment and achievement that comes with sticking with a regular exercise routine. It’s worth it!
Ways to kick-start your training:
One of the biggest myths about strength training is that you have to spend hours lifting heavy weights in order to achieve results. For the majority of us who don’t want to have as many muscles as Schwarzenegger, a 15-minute strength training programme, 2 to 3 times per week is more than sufficient to achieve gains in muscle growth, strength, endurance and weight loss.
It’s not how long you spend training that counts, it’s the quality of training. Put the following components together and you have the makings of an effective, time-efficient programme that can be adapted to suit either the beginner, intermediate or advanced exerciser.
One set of 8 to 12 reps
In the past you would have been told to lift weights for three sets of around 20 repetitions (reps), but sports scientists have realised the same results can be achieved in a lot less time. It is now accepted wisdom that you need only perform one set of 8 to12 reps to cover all health related benefits of weight training, making sure you work the muscle to the point of fatigue on the last rep (see below). There’s nothing wrong with weight training that involves more sets and repetitions, but it’s normally advanced weight trainers who choose this as a form of training.
Constant progress
If you don’t challenge your muscles, you won’t benefit from strength training, so it’s important to always aim for an increase in the amount of weight you lift. Start your strength training programme with a weight that you can lift only 8 times and keep using that weight until you become strong enough to lift it 12 times. When you’re able to perform 12 repetitions correctly (without cheating!), progress by adding more weight.
Slow and controlled
You’re cheating your muscles if you speed through each repetition or use momentum to move the weight. Lift with a slow controlled movement to a count of two, then lower to a count of three to four. It’s important to concentrate not only on the contraction that occurs during the lifting phase, but also on the contraction that occurs as you’re returning the weight to the starting point.
2 to3 times a week
Try to train 2 to 3 times a week, and leave a day free between sessions - your muscles need 48 hours recovery between workouts. Insufficient rest is a sure route to muscle strain because muscle fibres need time to rejuvenate in order to grow bigger and stronger. If your muscles ache for more than a
few days after your workout it means you’ve overdone it, so give yourself some extra time to recover and ease back into your programme with a lighter weight.
As you build muscles from strength training, your metabolic rate increases, so you’ll burn more calories all day long. Even when you’re standing around or sleeping, your muscle cells stay busy eating up calories (see ‘Build muscle, burn fat’ on page 7).
Don’t lift weights without first warming up. Hop on the bike or treadmill for 5 to 10 minutes to warm up your muscles before weight training.
Use it, or lose it
When astronauts return to earth after a mission, their muscles are often so weak from the weightlessness of space they have trouble performing the simplest of physical activities. For those of us who are not astronauts, the same principle applies...we need weight bearing exercise to build strong muscles. Around a half pound of muscle is lost every year after the age of 20 unless we strength train. The good news is that it’s never too late to build muscle mass, and even an increase in muscle that’s too small to be visible to the eye can be all it takes to improve strength and power.
Benefit Your Bones
By the time you leave school, you have established all the bone mineral density you’ll ever have... unless you strength train. Research has found that lifting weights can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13% in just six months – a significant statistic when it comes to the battle against osteoporosis, which affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men. Refer to ‘Extend your youth’ on page 24-25 to find out more about osteoporosis.
Unsure about how to use the weights equipment? Ask our friendly fitness staff for a hand – there’s someone on the gym floor at all times to help you out. Simply look for the red t-shirt that says ‘free to help’.
Do you want 'Arms like Popeye' or 'Buns of Steel'? Ask about our range of free fitness programmes aimed at strengthening specific
body parts, or our all-in-one programmes for all-over strength.
Find a training partner Try our free strength training fitness programmes Join a Body Pump class Get a Personal Trainer Increase the resistance load Add in new exercises Set goals for each workout Reward your achievements (no, not chocolate!) Monitor your progress Experiment with exercise order Alternate machine exercises with free weights.
Look Good Feel Great Improve your heart and cardio fitness...
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Improve your heart
and cardio fitness
Heart disease claims many lives each year, so looking after your heart makes perfect sense if you plan to lead a long and active life. You've only got one life; live it well! Aerobic exercise (exercise that gets your heart pumping and your blood moving) is one of the best ways to improve your cardiovascular health and guard against heart disease.
Heart rate fitness
How exercise keeps your heart healthy
1. Lowers blood pressure
High blood pressure causes blood to push against the wall of the arteries with higher-than-normal force, which if untreated can lead to serious health problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attack. Fortunately, regular aerobic exercise can help keep blood pressure normal by paving the way for blood to more easily circulate around your arteries and veins.
2. Controls cholesterol
Regular exercise isn’t just good for high blood pressure, it also plays an important role in controlling cholesterol. There are two types of cholesterol – the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. Regular exercise and a low-fat balanced diet help to increase our ‘good’ cholesterol, which lowers the risk of heart disease.
3. Helps smokers quit
Smoking doubles your risk of heart attack, but fortunately this risk falls as soon as you quit. A regular exercise habit has been shown to help smokers quit and stay off permanently. An inactive lifestyle is actually even more dangerous to your health than smoking, so even if you can’t give up smoking, make sure you exercise.
4. Manages stress
Stress can have the unfortunate long term effect of raising blood pressure and contributing to heart disease. Exercise is good for stress management because it promotes relaxation and produces ‘feel-good’ hormones that are guaranteed to lift you out of the dumps (see ‘Manage your stress’ on page 28-29).
Did you know? Heart disease is almost twice as likely to develop in inactive people. Other risk factors for heart disease include cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and being overweight. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of getting heart disease, but regular exercise will reduce this risk.
To find out whether your fitness level is improving, make a note of your resting heart rate before you start your exercise programme and every month thereafter. The higher your fitness level, the lower your heart rate will be, so if your resting heart rate has dropped over the month that means you've succeeded in making your heart more efficient at pumping blood.
Heart rate monitors
These measure your resting heart rate are available on the gym floor of all Fitness First clubs. Measure your heart rate before your exercise session (i.e. resting heart rate), make a note of the figure, and then re-measure in a month’s time.
Why monitor your heart rate?
Keeping a track of your heart rate during exercise is a great way to monitor how hard you’re working and whether your fitness level is improving. Your target heart rate is what your heart rate should be while exercising. So, staying within this heart rate zone can help you have safe, effective workouts. Follow these calculations to find your target heart rate:
Estimate your maximum heart rate
Take 220 – age = _________ this is your maximum (Example: if you’re 42 years old, subtract 42 from 220 to get 178)
Determine your lower-limit exercise heart rate
By multiplying your maximum heart rate by 0.6. (Example, multiply 178 by 0.6 to get 107)
Determine your upper limit exercise heart rate
by multiplying your maximum heart rate by 0.8. ( Example, multiply 178 by 0.8 to get 142)
If you’re just beginning an aerobic programme you should aim for the lower end of your heart rate zone and pick up the intensity as you become more comfortable with your workouts. If you’re already fairly fit and training for competitive events, you might want to aim for the higher end of your zone.
Keep in mind that the target heart rate zone is recommended for people without any health problems, so if you are on medication that alters your heart rate, consult your doctor to ensure you are working at the appropriate intensity.
Your target heart rate zone is between your upper and lower limits. Using the example on the left, the target heart rate of a 42 year-old is between 107 and 142 beats per minute.
Match your zone to your goals To determine what heart rate range is best for you, think about what exercise goal(s) you are trying to achieve and choose a zone accordingly.
Improve aerobic capacity and athletic performance Aim for an intensity of 70% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. Example: 133 to 152 beats/minute
for a 30 year old.
Lose weight
The intensity should be at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. Example: 114 to 133 beats/minute for a 30 year old.
Starting out gradually
This is 50% to 60% of your maximum heart rate, and is a gentle way to give your heart a workout if you are new to exercise.
Example: 95 to 114 beats/minute for a 30 year old.
Heart smart eating
Three of the risk factors for a heart attack – high blood pressure, high cholesterol and too much body fat - can be reduced simply by eating a healthy diet. Base your diet on foods that are low in saturated fat such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruit, legumes (beans and lentils), lean meats, poultry, fish, reduced-fat dairy products and polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oils and margarines. Watch the amount of fat in your diet and try to limit your intake of foods high in saturated fat such as fatty meats, full cream dairy products, biscuits, pastry and deep-fried takeaways.
Just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you’re fit.You need to exercise on a regular basis to develop and maintain cardiovascular fitness, and a lack of body fat doesn’t mean you can’t have high cholesterol and blood pressure. Have your blood pressure, body fat and heart health checked for free at your club. Come along to one of our health testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Have your blood pressure, body fat and heart health checked for free at your club. Come along to one of our health testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Try our free ‘Lungs like an olympian’ fitness programmeme to boost your cardio fitness and take your heart and lungs to the next level.
Ask your fitness team for details.
TIP: Treadmills, stationary cycles and other cardiovascular equipment have heart rate sensors, which are a convenient way to monitor your heart rate. If your heart beat is higher than the upper limit of your target zone, you’re probably overdoing it. Slow down!
Look Good Feel Great Get a flatter stomach...
8
Get a flatter
stomach
The secret to a firmer, flatter tummy is to combine abdominal exercise with a sensible low-fat diet. No matter how many stomach crunches you do, if you’re carrying too much weight around your mid-section, the fat will hide any improvements you have made in muscle definition. So while stomach crunches alone won’t do the trick, you’ll soon start to see results if you combine abdominal exercise with a general increase in physical activity and a healthy diet.
Need some practice using the stability ball? Check out a Fit 'n' functional class - you'll learn how to exercise with the ball and have lots of fun while you're at it! For some handy gym floor exercises using the ball, ask our fitness team for the ‘Core blimey’ fitness programme that targets the abdominals and lower back.
Which abdominal exercises are the best? There is no single abdominal exercise that is better than the other. For the best results, mix up your routine with exercises that target the various muscles that make up the abdominal region.
To tone and strengthen your upper abdominals, the basic crunch is your best choice. Perform this exercise with your knees bent and back flat on the floor. Raise your chest and shoulders several inches from the ground, exhaling as you come up and inhaling as you release.
To work the obliques, the muscles on the side of the stomach, perform the crunch at alternating angles, reaching with the shoulder (not the elbow) across the body to the opposite knee. Repeat on the other side.
To work the lower abdominals, bring the knees up towards the chest, forming a 90o angle with the body. Using only the lower abdominals and not the legs or hip, bring the knees slightly towards the chest as you exhale. Return to the starting position. Remember this is a very small movement, so don’t try to bring the knees up to the face.
Start with 10 repetitions of each exercise and gradually increase your repetitions to 25 as your abdominals become more conditioned.
Be a tortoise, not a hare
When it comes to abdominal exercises, the slower tortoise always wins the race. Crunches performed slowly and with control provide better results than fast repetitions or quick pulsing movements. Remember these golden rules when exercising your abs:
Do’s...
Do use a slow controlled pace Do make every repetition count Do let your abdominals do the work Do lift your shoulder blades off the ground Do keep your back flat against the floor Do exhale as you come up; inhale as you release
Dont’s...
Don’t arch your back Don’t hold your breath Don’t pull with your neck Don’t use a jerking motion Don’t lift your back off the ground
Unlike other muscles, the abdominals can be exercised every day. They don’t need a rest day in between workouts because they are not as prone to fatigue or injury, and there is no fear of them getting too big.
Abs on the ball
If you’ve ever done a stomach crunch on a stability ball (also called Swiss or fit ball) you’ll know that it hits the spot! You can feel your abdominal muscles working right away and that’s because the small, movable surface of the ball challenges your deep abdominal muscles to stabilise the spine in a way that can’t be done on the floor. Up to 30% more abdominal movement can be achieved by doing your crunches on the ball, but remember to ease yourself into it - start out with just a few and work your way up from there.
When doing abdominal work on the ball, make sure you choose the right size ball: when sitting on it, your knees and hips should align at a 900 angle. A basic rule of thumb is that if you are taller than 5’8” choose a 65cm ball, and if you’re shorter choose a 55cm ball. Also make sure your back is in the right position: the ball should be positioned beneath the centre of your back. The easiest way to achieve this is to sit on the edge of the ball and roll the ball forward with your body as you lower onto it.
Look Good Feel Great Combine fitness with your sport...
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Combine fitness
with your sport
Fit ‘n’ functional
The large rubber balls you’ll see around the gym might look more suited to the beach, but they’re actually effective exercise tools. Known as stability balls (or Swiss or fit balls), they help develop power, balance and strength – skills that are especially important in the sports arena. Training on the stability ball forces you to use your deepest muscles layers – the core muscles – to stabilise your body. Strengthening these muscles gives you a solid foundation for all sports movement, whether reaching to hit a tennis ball, sprinting to cross a finish line, or jumping to catch a football.
Whether you’re trying to out-do the competition, or simply cross the finish line in one piece, working out at the gym is the perfect accompaniment to any sport. Developing your strength, stamina and flexibility in the gym will not only improve your sporting performance, it’ll also reduce the risk of muscle soreness and injury.
Sports specific training
Sports specific training means focusing on the various skills associated with your sport, and combining these in a training programme. Our golf and ski specific fitness programmes are available to members free-of-charge and are a great way to improve your golf game or boost your prowess on the ski slopes.
From football to tenpin bowling, you can apply sports specific training to any type of activity. Speak to your Personal Trainer about what kind
of training is best for your sport.
Cross training
Every time you do a physical activity that’s different from your chosen sport you’re cross training. Not only does cross training add variety to your workouts, it distributes the load of training amongst various body parts, thus reducing the risk of injury.
One of the easiest ways to start cross training is to alternate between activities – a group fitness class one day, cardiovascular equipment the next. Or you can alternate activities within a single workout, spending
10 minutes on a treadmill, 10 minutes on a stationary cycle and 10 minutes on a cross trainer.
Our gym floor classes are a great way to cross train because the workouts vary from class-to-class and week-to- week. You might find yourself doing a rowing challenge, a 15-minute ab blast
or a boot camp circuit. The classes are held by the Fitness Team at various times and days... so watch out and expect the unexpected!
Intervals
Interval training is a way to increase the intensity of your workout and boost your fitness level without burning yourself out. It involves alternating short bursts of intense aerobic activity (intervals) with a less intense form of the same exercise (recovery).
When you start out, your interval to recovery ratio should be about 1:3, so if you walk fast uphill for 20 seconds, alternate this with walking at a slower pace or lesser incline for the next minute. As you improve, decrease your recovery periods slowly so that your interval and recovery times are the same.
Also increase the intensity and the number of short bursts you do.
Circuits
Circuit classes are a good choice for sports training because they combine interval and cross training. In a circuit class you’ll move rapidly from one strength or cardiovascular exercise to the next within specific time intervals. Besides keeping you on your toes, circuits are a great way to improve mobility, and build strength and stamina. Check out the group fitness timetable to find out what circuit classes are held at your gym.
Virtual cycling
Imagine competing in a ‘virtual’ cycle road race where you get to cross the finish line first! You can do just that in an RPM indoor cycling class at your gym, where instructors lead participants on cycling journeys complete with hills, valleys and finish lines. No cycling experience is required and each bike is fitted with a resistance dial that you can adjust throughout the class to cater for your level of fitness. Try it once and you’ll be hooked!
Stay flexible for sport
Think about how many times you hit shots in tennis using the same arm, or how many times you kick with the same foot in football. Each time you use the same muscle repeatedly in sport, you’re overdeveloping that muscle and placing it under more stress than the opposing muscle. That’s where flexibility training becomes important because it reduces tension and resistance in muscle tissue, thereby maintaining balance and reducing the risk of injury. Seek advice from your Personal Trainer about developing a flexibility programme that focuses on the parts of your body used most in your sport.
SPORT = STRENGTH
Researchers have discovered a strong link between athletic ability and strength training. Whatever your choice of sport, strength training may not only improve your proficiency, but also decrease your risk of injury. Refer to ‘Improve your muscle tone and strength’ on pages 8-9, and use our sport-specific fitness programmes (such as ‘Ski Fit’ or ‘Golf Fit’) to increase strength for your sport. Speak to our Personal Trainers about developing a strength training programme that will make you the envy of your sports field opponents!
Treat yourself to a regular sports massage, they don’t just make you feel good after a big workout, they can enhance athletic performance, prevent injury and promote recovery – available at your local sports medicine facility and most Fitness First clubs.
Look out for classes on the group fitness timetable called Fit ‘n’ Functional – it means stability balls are used in the class. For tips on exercising with stability balls, turn to ‘Abs on the ball’ on page 13.
Look Good Feel Great Time line to fitness...
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13
Day1
Excited and eager to get started.Your fitness induction has shown you the ropes and given you a great exercise programme to follow. Now you're keen to attend a Studio Taster Session and maybe even book in with a Personal Trainer to help kick-start your routine.
It's easy to make the decision to get fit, but harder to put good intentions into practice. The first six weeks are a crucial part of your fitness journey...
Week 1
You've been busy trying classes, meeting new people, using different equipment and discovering muscles you never knew existed. It feels great to be getting fit and you feel comfortable and right at home in the gym. Your Club Guide is a handy reference tool for learning about the facilities and services at your club, and you're already taking advantage of the free video/dvd rental and the chance to relax with a drink in the member lounge.
... if you stick with exercise in these early days, you have a much better chance of creating a habit
of exercise that will continue well into the future.
Week 3
The benefits of exercise are already showing - you feel in a great mood after a workout and sleep like a baby. A friend has started working out with you, and you've found that having an exercise buddy is great motivation for sticking with your fitness routine.You also know that if you need help with your programme or are unsure about how the equipment works, there's always someone on hand to ask -
talk to a member of the fitness team, in their distinctive red 'free to help' t-shirts or a Personal Trainer on the gym floor!
Week 4
Not only do you have less shortness of breath during your workouts, but you also feel stronger and more energised. That nagging occasional ache in your back has disappeared and you haven't had a tension headache since you started exercising - you know what you're doing must definitely be making a difference! You really enjoyed your personal training session and are amazed at what you achieved with the support and motivation of your trainer.
Week 5
You look forward to your favourite classes and you love being able to catch up on a bit of TV while doing your cardio workout. The sauna and steam room have become a favourite way to finish up a workout, and you're sure
it must be one of the reasons why you are feeling so much more relaxed and able to cope with daily pressures.Your partner has seen your transformation and is considering joining too.
Week 6
The exercise programme that seemed tough on day one is now feeling easy - you're eager to challenge yourself further, so it's time to book in for a free fitness review and programme update.Your gym visits are a regular part of your weekly routine and you make regular exercise one of your priorities because you know how good it makes you feel.Your family and friends have commented on how great you look - you are secretly pleased, knowing that it's only the start of what you can achieve. Wait until they see you in six months!
At 6 months
After sticking with your exercise programme for six months, the results speak for themselves. You are fit and strong and living an active, healthy lifestyle. Your energy levels have quadrupled, and you feel confident and comfortable with the new you. Now that you've built up your fitness, all you have to do is maintain it, and that's easy when regular workouts are so much a part of your lifestyle. To celebrate completing your 6 month Fitness Journey, you'll be invited to a Members' Evening where you will be presented with your free Fitness First jacket!
6 months onward
The effects of exercise don't stop at 6 months, you continue to progress every day. Your blood pressure is on the decrease, your posture and flexibility have improved out of sight, and you continue to slim down and tone up. There are always different classes to try, people to meet, and extra challenges to keep you interested. It's hard to believe how much your life has transformed since you started on your fitness journey, and there's no question that you're going to keep moving along the path to fitness, well into the future.
Choose from our 20 new programmes to help you achieve your health and fitness goals...
TOP 20 PROGRAMMES - AVAILABLE IN YOUR CLUB
01 1stepatatime A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME FOR THOSE RETURNING TO EXERCISE
02 afirmshoulder2cryon A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE SHOULDER REGION
03 allin1 A 30-40 MINUTE WHOLE BODY WORKOUT
04 armslikepopeye A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE BICEPS AND TRICEPS
05 backontrack A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL AREAS OF UPPER AND LOWER BACK
06 body4thefuture A FULL 1 HOUR PROGRAMME TARGETING THE WHOLE BODY
07 bodystrength A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL OVER STRENGTH
08 bodytoning A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING SHAPING AND TONING
09 bunsofsteel A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE UPPER LEGS AND BUTTOCKS
10 climbeverymountain A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING HILL WALKING ENDURANCE
11 coreblimey A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE ABS AND LOWER BACK
12 going4gold PROGRAMMES BASED ON THE ROWING MACHINE AND ITS ALL OVER BODY BENEFITS
13 golffit-the19thhole A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETED AT IMPROVING YOUR GOLF GAME
14 healthyheart A 30-60 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING THE HEART AND LUNGS
15 lungslikeanolympian A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS
16 pecs2die4 A 30-40 MINUTE PROGRAMME TARGETING ALL AREAS OF THE CHEST
17 skifit-downhilldemon A 30-45 MINUTE PROGRAMME BASED ON ALL THE FITNESS COMPONENTS OF SKIING
18 stilltime2eat A 20-30 MINUTE WHOLE BODY AEROBIC PROGRAMME WITH POST-WORKOUT EATING TIPS
19 train4yourlifestyle NOT QUITE A 1 HOUR PROGRAMME BUT STILL TARGETING THE WHOLE BODY
20 weightloss A 30-45 MINUTE CIRCUIT TARGETING BODY FAT LOSS
WHAT’S YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOAL?
Achieve your health and fitness goals by following the programmes that meet your needs. Ask a member of the fitness team for more advice.
LOSE INCREASE WEIGHT YOUR
MUSCLE TONE AND STRENGTH
INCREASE YOUR HEART HEALTH AND CARDIO FITNESS
GET A FLATTER STOMACH
COMBINE FITNESS WITH YOUR SPORT
BOOST YOUR FLEXIBILITY
TONE UP AFTER A BABY
EXTEND YOUR YOUTH
KEEP FIT IN RETIREMENT
MANAGE YOUR STRESS
HAVE FUN AND MEET PEOPLE
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Boost your flexibility
Some people are more naturally flexible than others, but anyone can improve their flexibility with regular training. The most common factor affecting flexibility is the inability of the muscles surrounding a joint to stretch to their full capacity. Through regular stretching, the muscle's capacity to extend is increased, thus allowing the joint a greater range of motion. Adding a 5 minute stretch routine to the end of your exercise sessions is a good start, but you'll achieve better results if you can devote at least 30 minutes to flexibility training three times a week.
Before stretching, take 5 to 10 minutes to warm up, as stretching cold muscles can cause injury. Begin with a simple low-intensity warm-up like walking on-the-spot, or a light jog or cycle. Another good time to stretch is just after a hot shower or bath because the hot water raises the temperature of your muscles, making them pliable for stretching.
To help integrate regular stretching into your fitness routine, it's a good idea to schedule a regular flexibility class into your week. Have a look on the group fitness timetable for Yoga, Pilates and Body Balance - these classes will have you twisting like a pretzel in no time!
Noticeable increases in flexibility can be achieved within 2 to 3 weeks of starting a regular stretching programme. Decreases can occur almost as quickly, so make sure it's a habit you can keep up over the long term.
Test Your Flexibility
Being able to bend at the waist from a standing position and touch your toes without bending your knees is a sign of good flexibility (alternatively, sit with your legs stretched straight out in front and reach your toes). If you can't make it all the way yet, use this as a test to measure how your flexibility is progressing.Your Fitness Review is also a good opportunity to measure your flexibility, and to find out how you have progressed from the ‘Sit and Reach’ test held when you first joined the gym. Book in with your fitness team for a free 6-8 weekly Fitness Review.
Know your tight spots
Many of us hold tension in the shoulders, chest, hamstrings and hips, but you may be tight in other areas, depending on your history of injuries and muscle imbalances. If you play a lot of sport you might also experience tightness in some muscles more than others. Your Personal Trainer will be able to tailor a flexibility programme to these strengths and weaknesses, so don't run the risk of stretching overstretched muscles or missing areas that need training.
Remember, the more time and attention you give to flexibility training, the more benefits you'll experience.
Staying Limber...
• Improves posture
• Helps prevent back pain
• Releases muscle tension and soreness
• Boosts athletic performance • Increases range of motion • Reduces risk of injury • Aids relaxation
• Improves functional fitness
• Enhances balance and co-ordination
As we grow older we tend to lose flexibility, but this is normally just the result of inactivity. The less active you are, the less flexible you are likely to be.
Stretching Do’s and Dont’s
Do’s
Do warm up first Do start each stretch gently Do exhale as you move deeper into the stretch Do hold each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds Do ease up if the stretch hurts Do concentrate on relaxing the area being stretched
Dont’s
Don’t use a bouncing or jerking movement Don’t hold your breath Don’t stretch a cold muscle Don’t strain into the stretch
Don’t push the stretch until you feel pain
Use towels, stability
TIP: If your body is relaxed it will be more responsive to flexibility training. Listening to music and focusing on your breathing can help you relax as you stretch.
balls and resistant bands to
add variety and interest to your
flexibility training
Look Good Feel Great Tone up after a baby...
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Tone up after a baby
Benefits of exercise
for new mums
• Boosts energy • Combats stress • Helps you sleep • Makes you feel good • Assists with weight loss • Relieves back pain • Guarantees time to yourself
If you've had a caesarean section your body will need more time to recover, so start slowly and use caution when exercising, especially with your abdominal muscles. Your doctor and Personal Trainer will be able to help you develop a safe exercise programme.
Avoid 'high impact' exercises like running and jumping until at least 5 months after the birth to allow the effects of the hormone relaxin to lessen. Relaxing loosens the ligaments to allow the baby to come through the pelvis and birth canal more easily, but it also makes it easy to over-extend joints and become injured.
You've just had a baby and now you want to get back in shape and shed the weight that didn't disappear when the baby was born. Those last 3 to 5 kgs can be hard to get rid of, but consistent safe exercise will do the trick.
The added bonus is that a regular exercise routine will boost your energy levels and give you the sanity to cope with those endless nappy changes and sleepless nights!
First 6 weeks
Getting back to exercise after the birth of your child should be a gradual process, starting with pelvic floor exercises and short, slow walks. A full return to exercise should only happen after you've had the doctor's go-ahead, at around the 6 week mark. Even then it's important you ease back into exercise slowly and carefully.
Pelvic floor
As a new mum you've probably already been practising pelvic floor exercises, but are you doing enough of them? These exercises are an essential part of regaining your continence, bladder and bowel control, and it is essential that you strengthen these muscles before attempting any other exercise. Practice pelvic floor exercises in various positions and aim to complete a minimum of 5 contractions 4 times a day.
Cross train your pelvic floor, sometimes practising long holds and sometimes short, strong contractions. Eventually you should be able to do 10 repetitions, holding each for 10 counts, morning and night.
Tighter abdominals
You're probably keen to tone your mid-section, but it's important to start with the right type of abdominal exercises so as not to overstress your muscles. Begin with gentle abdominal bracing and pelvic tilt exercises, and only when your pelvic floor becomes stronger should you progress to curl-up exercises. Ensure your rectus abdominal muscles have come back together before you do any kind of abdominal work other than bracing - ask your doctor or Personal Trainer to show you how to check these muscles.
Back strength
It's common for new mums to experience lower back pain, as the abdominal wall is too loose to adequately support the lower back. Range of motion movements and lower-back exercises will help with this, especially exercises that incorporate the stability ball. You might also experience upper-back strain caused by fatigue and breast weight - shrugging the shoulders and performing flexibility exercises for the chest and back should help with this.
Eating right
Don't be tempted to cut your calories to speed up weight loss because breastfeeding mums actually need to take in an additional 500 calories a day to provide baby with the proper vitamins and minerals. If you skimp on calories you'll be depriving yourself and your baby of important nutrients.
3 Do’s
Do take it easy Do listen to your body Do start off slowly and build up gradually Do give priority to strengthening Do pelvic floor and abdominal muscles
Don’t
Don’t push yourself too soon or too hard Don’t return to exercise sooner than 6 weeks after giving birth Don’t start exercise until you have the doctor's go-ahead
Don’t lift weights or do high impact exercise until the pelvic floor and abdominals are strong
TIP: Keep exercise slow and steady. It takes 6 to 12 weeks to fully recover from childbirth, and up to a year for your body to return to the way it was pre-pregnancy. Listen to your body and go at your own pace.
...not to mention that
everyone will tell you
how great you look!
Look Good Feel Great Extend your youth...
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Extend your
youth
You can't choose your genes or undo the health and lifestyle choices you made when you were younger, but you'd be surprised at how many factors that contribute to a long life are still within your control.
Regular physical activity can help prevent many conditions associated with ageing, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. Incorporating exercise into your life will actually make it easier to kick-start a healthier lifestyle because exercise helps you sleep better, manage stress better and gives you more energy to enjoy work and play.
Getting fit is easier than you think. In fact, just 30 minutes of activity a day can boost your health. It's not about training for marathons, it's just about moving and having fun: stretching your muscles, working your lungs and heart, warming up your joints.
If you begin at a pace that's comfortable for you, with an activity that you enjoy, you'll feel the benefits right away.
Bone health
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Most of our bone mass is formed prior to adolescence, reaching a peak when we're around 30 years old. Then gradually with age, the breakdown outpaces the build up, and by late middle age our bone density will start to lessen unless we do something to halt the decline.
The loss of bone can over time lead to osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become porous and susceptible to breaks. This is a serious problem, especially for post-menopausal women. Each year after menopause a woman typically loses 1% of her bone mass - even more during the first 5 post- menopausal years. This bone weakening means that a woman of 70 faces 30% odds that she will break her hip during the next 15 to 20 years.
Although there is no cure for osteoporosis, there are steps you can take to prevent or slow its progress.
Here’s how: Start weight-bearing exercise Like muscles, bones suffer if they are not used. They need regular weight- bearing exercise that exerts a loading impact and stretches and contracts the muscles, stimulating bones to strengthen. The best types of exercise are those where your bones and muscles are working against gravity, including brisk walking, jogging, stair climbing, dancing, skipping and strength training. If you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, weight-bearing exercise, impact activities and twisting motions should be avoided, depending on the severity of your condition.
Boost calcium intake
A daily intake of calcium is needed to build strong bones. If you are post-menopausal, you should be consuming at least 1,200 mg calcium per day. The most readily available sources of calcium are milk and dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt. Don't worry if you are watching your weight as low fat varieties usually contain just as much calcium as their full-fat counterparts. If you don't eat many dairy products, you should still be able to get enough calcium from non-dairy sources like green leafy vegetables, baked beans, bony fish and dried fruit.
Seek out sunlight
Without an adequate intake of Vitamin D, your body cannot absorb the calcium you consume. Vitamin D can be found in fortified fluid and dried milk and cereals, and your body can make its own supply when your skin is exposed to sunshine. For this reason it's important to get out in the sun on a regular basis (with sunscreen of course!).
Quit smoking
Smoking has a toxic effect on bone and can cause women to have an earlier menopause, as well as increase the risk of hip fracture after the age of forty.
Drink in moderation
A little alcohol is fine, but more than two drinks a day can interfere with calcium metabolism, which is damaging to bone growth.
Are you at risk?
High blood pressure occurs most often in people over the age of 35, but there are no immediate symptoms, so it's easy to go years without realising you even suffer from it.
Age, heredity factors and race all play a part in why some people develop high blood pressure, but there are other controllable factors that contribute to the condition - like being overweight, not exercising regularly, and having high stress levels. The more risk factors you have, the greater the health complications. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high cholesterol levels or diabetes, for example, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times.
If you have high blood pressure and you start a regular exercise routine, it's usually during the first 10 weeks that you'll experience a marked drop in blood pressure. To maintain these benefits you need to remain active over the long term.
Heart smart
Advancing age is one of the many risk factors for heart disease and heart attack. About 4 out of 5 people who
die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older, so it's during middle age that it pays to concentrate on building a healthy heart for the future.
Regular exercise is one of the best defences against heart disease because it helps control many of the risk factors, like cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and blood pressure. Even moderate amounts of physical activity - 30 minutes a day - can contribute to a healthier heart. Refer to 'Improve your heart health and cardio fitness' on pages 10 and 11 to find out how exercise can help keep your heart healthy.
Reducing your risk of heart attack can be as simple as becoming more fit and active. According to a recent study, a group of women aged 40 who started walking briskly for 30 minutes a day,
4 days a week, enjoy almost the same low risk of heart attack as women who have exercised consistently their entire lives.
Our trained Fitness Team can perform a blood pressure, body fat percentage and peak flow test in a matter of minutes. Come along to one of our free testing evenings or book in with our fitness team.
Look Good Feel Great Keep fit in retirement...
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Keep fit in
retirement
Better balance
You've paid off the mortgage, the kids have long left home, you're winding down your career, and looking forward to spending more time enjoying yourself and doing all those things you've long put off. It's the perfect time to be fit and healthy - not only to preserve a high quality of life, but also to slow down some of the physiological changes that otherwise come with ageing.
Here's what a regular exercise routine can do to ensure you retain your independence, energy and vitality long into the future.
Functional strength
Typically we lose between 20% and 40% of muscle tissue as we grow older, but this loss has more to do with inactivity than it does with age. As we become increasingly sedentary and start to do less and less of the everyday activities that use muscle power, our muscles literally waste away. Studies have found strength training - if done regularly - can easily reverse this decline, providing more functional strength for day-to-day tasks like walking, lifting and climbing stairs. Regular strength training has the added advantage of building bone mass and protecting against osteoporosis.
Less huff and puff
Another effect of ageing is reduced aerobic capacity - in other words, the ability of your heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver adequate oxygen to your muscles during physical activity. Aerobic capacity generally peaks at around age 20, and then decreases by about 1% each subsequent year (the fitter you are, the less decline you'll experience). By the time you are 80 years old, your aerobic capacity is about half of what it was at age 20.
The good news is that no matter what age you start to exercise, it's never too late to improve your aerobic capacity. Any physical activity that makes you warm and increases your rate of breathing will have benefits if done for 30 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. If you can't be active for 30 minutes all at once, get at least 10 minutes of physical activity at a time, making sure you've achieved a total of 30 minutes by the end of the day.
Flexibility and balance
The elasticity of our joints and ligaments decrease as we age, causing a gradual decline in flexibility, range of motion and balance. Falling - the result of deteriorated balance - becomes a significant hazard later in life, especially if our bones are weak. By increasing your activity level and incorporating stretching and strength training into your daily routine, you can increase your flexibility and protect against the risk of a fall.
When exercising, keep these safety tips in mind:
The elasticity of our joints and ligaments decreases with age, which causes a gradual decline in flexibility, range of motion and balance. The changes happen so slowly you may not notice it until you're in your seventies. But falling - the result of deteriorated balance - becomes a significant hazard later in life, especially if bones are weak.
The good news is that we don't need to lose balance as we age - it is a skill that can be trained. By increasing your activity level and incorporating stretching, balance and strength training into your daily routine, you can increase your reflexes and flexibility, as well as giving yourself enough leg strength to prevent a stumble turning into a fall.
No excuse is a good excuse
'Too old' or 'too frail' aren't good excuses to give up exercise, because even medical conditions like stroke, heart disease, arthritis and diabetes have been found to benefit from regular physical activity. Combining dietary changes and controlled exercise activity with medication can be more effective in the treatment of many health conditions, than just relying on medication alone. Your Personal Trainer will be able to tailor a training programme to your specific health condition, so seek their advice before starting a vigorous exercise routine.
Where to start?
Whether it's carrying groceries, walking to the shops or climbing a set of stairs, regular exercise will help you more easily cope with the demands of everyday living.
How much exercise depends on what you want to achieve. Your goal might be as simple as strengthening your muscles enough to lift your grandchildren, or building your endurance enough to walk around the block without puffing. Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, your starting point should be to improve from wherever you are right now and work your way up gradually.
The secret to longevity?
According to the findings of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest, most comprehensive examination of ageing ever conducted, people who move successfully through middle age into their 80s have the following factors in common: they exercise regularly, keep a healthy weight, avoid cigarettes, have good adjustment or coping skills, maintain strong stable relationships and pursue education.
The bad news
A women of seventy faces 30% odds that she will break her hip if she lives another twenty years.
The good news
Strength training dramatically cuts the risk of fractures by building bone and improving strength and balance to help prevent falls.
Start slowly
Build up your activities and effort level gradually. Doing too much too soon can cause discomfort or even injury, especially if you have been inactive for a while. Try our '1 Step at a Time' fitness programme, designed for first-time exercisers or those returning to exercise after a break.
Avoid breath holding
When lifting weights, for example, breathe out while lifting, and breathe in while lowering. This is especially important if you have heart disease, diabetes or glaucoma.
Keep up your fluid intake The sensation of thirst declines as we age, so even though you may not feel like a drink, your body
needs as much fluid as it always did.
Bend from the hips
When you bend forward, bend from the hips, not the waist. If you let your back 'hump' when you bend, it's a sign you're probably bending from the waist.
Warm up first
Make sure your muscles have warmed up before you stretch.
Exercise at a comfortable pace Stiffness after exercise is normal, but if you're in pain most of the following day or have swollen joints, it's a sign you've pushed yourself too hard. Always stop exercising if you experience sharp pain, as this may be a signal of something more serious. If your bone, joint or muscle pain is severe, seek the advice of a doctor.
Look Good Feel Great Manage your stress...
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Manage your
stress
Feeling stressed?
Overworked?
Under tension?
A dose of exercise is the best stress-busting drug there is. Every time you exercise, your brain produces feel- good hormones called endorphins, which are guaranteed to lift your mood and leave you feeling relaxed. Researchers have found that each exercise session produces around 90 to 120 minutes worth of endorphins, so you'll be feeling good long after your workout has finished.
So what's a good stress busting exercise? Any exercise that takes your mind off your worries is a good place to start, whether a group fitness class, strength training session or circuit routine. Researchers have found that regular yoga sessions can reduce anxiety, release tension and even lower blood pressure. A yoga class at the gym is a great way to unwind after a busy day and it will teach you how to use deep breathing, relaxed movement and concentration as a way to alleviate stress.
The stress roller coaster
We need a certain amount of stress to keep us on our toes, but too much stress can lead to all sorts of nasty symptoms, ranging from irritability and tension, to headaches, stomach upsets and insomnia. Stress disturbs the body's internal balance and if you don't make adjustments to counter the effects it can contribute to even more serious health problems like high blood pressure and heart disease. Don't kid yourself that you don't suffer from stress, everyone does, but we all cope differently.
Feel-good factor
One of the most common reasons people give for why they exercise is that it makes them feel good. Phrases such as 'feeling better', 'sense of achievement' and 'enjoyment' are frequently used by regular exercisers to explain why they have the motivation to stick with their exercise programme.
The next time you're feeling stressed, make a conscious effort to give yourself some 'me-time'. Book in for a relaxing massage, tanning treatment or beauty therapy, or put your feet up in a steam room. Check out the therapy treatments available at your club and give yourself permission to give them a go!
Too stressed to sleep?
Stress has a nasty habit of causing insomnia, but regular exercise can help give you some shut-eye. People who exercise regularly fall asleep quicker, awake less often in the middle of the night and sleep longer and better. Working out relieves muscle tension and wears you out physically, so it's much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Not to mention that exercise revamps your sex life - another good way of improving your sleep pattern!
While it's not always possible to avoid stressful situations, you can learn to manage stress so that it no longer rules your life. Here's what experts recommend as the best ways to step off the stress roller coaster.
Make exercise a regular habit. It relieves tension and provides a 'time-out' from stressful situations.
Simplify your life. Cut out activities or delegate tasks.
Get enough sleep. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events.
Establish a support network. It helps when you can talk to someone about your troubles.
Keep a positive attitude. View negative situations as positive and a chance to improve your life.
Practice relaxation techniques. Fit regular yoga or meditation sessions into your weekly routine.
Learn to say no. If you are overwhelmed by having too much to do, eliminate tasks that aren't necessary.
Make time for hobbies. Schedule time to indulge in things you enjoy doing.
Go easy with criticism. Don't expect perfection from yourself or others.
Eat for health. Good nutrition makes a difference, especially limiting your intake of caffeine and alcohol.
Accept the things you cannot
change and have the courage
to change the things you can
Look Good Feel Great Have fun and meet people....
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Have fun and meet people Here's how to get the maximum fun from your fitness...
Add variety
to your routine
Going to the gym isn't just about burning calories and building muscle, it's also a great place to let your hair down, make friends and have some fun!
The added bonus is that the more you enjoy yourself and look forward to your workouts, the more likely you are to stick with your exercise programme.
Find an exercise buddy
Exercising with someone else can add fun and laughter to even the dullest exercise routine. It's also a great incentive for keeping a 'date' with exercise if you know you'd be letting someone else down by cancelling. If you don't yet know anyone at your gym, suggest a friend takes out a membership with you, or ask around at the gym for a buddy.
Join a group fitness class
The buzz and motivation of
working out in a group can't be beaten, so if you've never taken part in a group fitness class before, now is the time to start. Our Studio Taster Sessions are the perfect introduction to group fitness, allowing you to experience up to eight different class styles in an hour. From Body Pump and Circuit, to Spin and Relaxation, there are classes that cater for all levels of interest and fitness. You don't have to be co-ordinated (or female!) to do a class, you just have to be prepared to have fun!
Doing the same workout day-in, day-out isn't any fun To keep yourself entertained and physically challenged, change your routine often.
Come along to the club socials BBQs, fitness challenges, nightclub evenings and special theme classes are just some of the social activities your club runs for members. To find out what's coming up next, ask the reception staff or keep an eye out for the promotions posted around the gym.
Variety is the spice of life - the more you change your routine, the more you'll boost both your fitness and motivation. Regularly try new classes and equipment, experiment with different exercises, and vary the intensity and duration of your workouts (in consultation with your Personal Trainer or a member of the Fitness Team). If you're on the treadmill, for example, don't just maintain the same pace, mix it up by varying the pace and incline. Watch out for our gym floor classes, they're guaranteed fun and a great way to challenge your fitness.
Try personal training
Having your own Personal Trainer is a sure way to keep your routines fresh and fun. A trainer can advise you of the best way to achieve your goals, and provide the professional guidance and motivation to get you there! Ask your club about the range of affordable Personal Training options available, from 30 minute sessions to group sessions where you can workout with a friend.
Do what you enjoy
If you've found an exercise or sport you really enjoy, make sure you incorporate it into your fitness routine. Whether it's skipping, dancing, sprinting, or boxing that turns you on, find a group fitness class that contains these elements or think about how you can add them into your regular workout.
Ease into fitness
The best way to avoid muscle soreness and injury is to start off gradually, increasing your intensity and duration in small increments. Do less than you think you are able to at first, and challenge yourself one step at a time as your fitness increases.
TIP: Use exercise as a daily vacation and a way to spend time with friends
Look Good Feel Great How your health benefits from exercise...
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Discover better health
We all know that exercise is good for our health, but you might be surprised at just how good it is! Burn a mere 500-1,000 kcals each week through exercise (equivalent to around 3-4 group fitness classes) and you can reduce your risk of premature death by an amazing 20 to 30%).
Cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and arthritis are just a few of the health conditions that a regular exercise programme can help protect you against. In fact, as little as 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise on five or more days of the week is all it takes to start improving your health.
Fit and active people have a 40-50% lower risk of colon cancer than the unfit and inactive. The same goes for women (post-menopausal) who exercise regularly - they have a 30% lower risk of breast cancer than the least active.
Good for your heart
The heart responds to exercise by becoming stronger and more efficient. Regular exercise can help prevent heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering blood pressure, raising your HDL ('good') cholesterol levels, reducing your LDL ('bad') cholesterol levels, and increasing your heart's working capacity.
Helps control weight
Being overweight doubles the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, and is a major risk factor for diabetes, cancer and osteoarthritis. Regular exercise helps to reduce body fat by building muscle mass and improving the body's ability to burn calories.
Take it to heart
Take it to heart
Inactivity is responsible for around 37% of coronary heart disease. By becoming active you can achieve a 10% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease - that's a similar reduction to what you'd get if you lowered other major risk factors like cholesterol or blood pressure.
Strengthens bones
Just as muscles grow stronger when physically stressed, so too bones respond by getting stronger. Regular weight bearing exercise increases bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis, the condition in which bones lose density, weaken and become very porous and fragile.
Up to the age of 30 our bone-forming cells continue to work faster than our bone destroying cells. After that the trend reverses and our bones start to thin. As a female, you can lose up to 20% of your bone mass in the 5 to 7 years following menopause if you remain inactive.
Manages diabetes
Regular exercise helps normalise glucose levels for people with type II diabetes by assisting muscles to take up glucose from the bloodstream and use it for energy.
Losing weight through exercise can also help prevent and control this type of diabetes.
Did you know?
If you are inactive and unfit, you put yourself in the same category as a smoker when it comes to contracting coronary heart disease.
Helps prevent cancer
Exercise speeds digested food through the colon, denying it the opportunity to sit in one place, ferment, and cause irritations that can grow into cancer. There is also evidence to suggest that exercise lowers the risk of cancers of the prostrate, breast and endometrium.
Affects arthritis
Flexibility training, cardiovascular exercise and strength training have been shown to improve range of motion and reduce joint stiffness in arthritic patients. Exercise also helps reduce the psychological and emotional pain that often accompanies arthritis.
Relieves back pain
Low back pain accounts for 150 million lost working days each year, and affects an astonishing 80% of the population. By increasing muscle strength and endurance, and improving flexibility and posture, regular exercise helps prevent back pain.
Reduces anxiety
Every time you exercise, your brain produces feel-good hormones called endorphins, which have been shown to reduce depression and bring on feelings of euphoria, well being and relaxation. Researchers have now found that regular exercise can be as effective for treating depression as psychotherapy, and in some cases it can be as successful as medication.
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