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Exercising Over 40
If you have always exercised then continuing to do so after the age of 40 should be no big deal. Your body will be accustomed to the strain and stresses of exercise and therefore should be able to cope with familiar workouts with relative ease. However even seasoned exercises that...
CORE STRENGTH & STABILITY IN ADULTS
What is Core Stability? Core stability should not be confused with ripped abs or a 6 pack. Core stability actually refers to keeping our bodies stable and balanced, allowing us to perform every day tasks and movements without harming our spine or its surrounding muscles and tissue. Therefore it includes...
12 Reasons every adult should strength train
1 Avoid Muscle Loss On average adults who do not strength train lose between 2 and 3.5kg of muscle every 10 years. Although cardiovascular exercise is great for fitness it does not prevent loss of skeletal muscle tissue. Only strength training can maintain your overall muscle mass and strength throughout...
10 Fitness facts
The average man exercises for 115 days per year for around 25-30 minutes at a time, which equates to two sessions a week. This sounds great, but when you actually add it all up it’s about 48 hours in total or just two whole days out of 365. Most men...
Can exercise lower cholesterol?
The jury is still out on whether exercise lowers overall cholesterol. Whether it does or not can often comes down to the interpretation of the research. A study may show that the effect is statistically significant, but clinically, it may drop only a few percentage points and not enough to...
Fitness equipment for kids
You only need to look in any school playground today and you will see some overweight kids. Study after study has reported on the inactivity and lack of exercise our kids undertake today and how its leading to record levels of childhood obesity. Buying Fitness & Gym Equipment You may therefore...
Do personal trainers work?
46 women, strength training in a health club were split into two groups. Half of the women trained with a personal trainer and the other half worked out on their own. The study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research was for a period of 3 months. Those that...
Heart Basics – What everyone should know when starting to exercise
This article is designed to give a very simple description on the heart, how it works and how to look after it when starting to exercise. It is intended for those who have very little knowledge of the human body but realise that it is in their interest to know...
Free weights explained
Weight Plates or Discs These are individual weights designed to fit onto the end of barbells and dumbbell bars. There are two types, standard plates and Olympic plates. Standard plates have a 1’ (2.54cm) hole in the middle of the plate to slide on to a 1” circumference bar. Olympic plates have a 2” (5.08cm)...
Fitness tips
It’s not easy keeping up a regular exercise programme so you can never have to many tips to keep you moving in the right direction. Fitness Tip 1 Listen to your body. It does not matter whether you are an experienced exerciser or a raw beginner, everyone from time to...
Safer exercise for overweight people
The fitness and weight loss industry is huge business with millions of pounds being spent on health club membership, diets and home fitness equipment. Yet the industries marketing is almost exclusively geared towards the already-fit populace. You never see overweight or obese people bouncing in an aerobics class or using...
Pilates and baby boomers: A perfect match – By Ken Endelman
There are now 77 million baby boomers in America. Born between the years 1946 and 1964, boomers represent nearly 27 percent of the entire population. This demographic has always been physically active. The national fitness craze of the late 1970s began with the boomers starting aerobics, spin, and other group...
Stretching to Improve Flexibility.
Flexibility is when a joint can move through its full range of motion without discomfort or pain. Some people are naturally more flexible than others as genetics can play a large part. It can come down to many things including elasticity in muscles and tendons, joint structure, age, previous injuries,...
Spot reducing weight loss – can you do it?
Everyone has ‘trouble spots’, extra fat under the arms, belly fat, a double chin. But can you lose it just in those areas? The simple answer is no. When you lose weight you lose it all over. So you have to treat your body as a whole. In most cases...
Smith machines
If you enjoy using free weights and want to continue to experience the feel of free weights but you want the safety of a multi gym then the Smith Machine is one of the safest self-spotting machines on the market. Spotting is the term used for your training partner who...
Should you stop working out when sick?
Here are a few guidelines to determine whether you should continue to train when feeling a little under the weather. These guidelines are for common illnesses such as a cold virus or a mild tummy bug and should not be used if you are suffering from a more serious condition....
The minds role in reaching goals
Even the best training and nutrition programme is not much help if you struggle to change your behaviour or bad habits. The great thing about the human mind is that if you set your end goal, in other words only programme your mind to concentrate on the final outcome, your...
The mind's role in reaching goals
Even the best training and nutrition programme is not much help if you struggle to change your behaviour or bad habits. The great thing about the human mind is that if you set your end goal, in other words only programme your mind to concentrate on the final outcome, your...
Weight training benefits
Diet and cardiovascular exercise are extremely important, but to transform your body shape there is nothing better than weight training. Weight training will also strengthen your bones and increase muscular endurance. In addition, your muscles will grow/tone and larger or more toned muscles burn more calories and your overall metabolism...
We can turn back time
American and Canadian researchers have been studying 25 senior citizens as they carried out a six-month strength-training programme and the results were more surprising than they expected. The participants had an average age of 70 years and they were given an exercise programme that lasted one hour, twice a week,...