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Daily Cardio Exercise - It's More than Just a Healthy Heart

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  Can I Engage in Cardio Exercise Every Day? Daily Cardio exercise offers you more than just cardiovascular health. There are many benefits to performing some form of cardio activity every day. Cardio workouts improve your heart and your lung capacity by increasing your oxygen intake and the circulation of oxygen around your body. Additional benefits for this type of exercise is the reduction of many health diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, heart conditions, strokes and high blood pressure. Adding some weight bearing activity to your cardio exercise such as walking or a  circuit class  will also reduce the risk of brittle bone disease and osteoporosis.  Cardio exercise can also help you to lose those unwanted pounds. Cardio activity combined with a  healthy lifestyle  will help you achieve your weight-loss goals. It is all about movement, trying to cut down on 'sitting' time and moving more. The more you move and the more vigorous your cardio activity is, the more cal

How to Train Yourself to Balance your Diet, Lose Weight and Stay Healthy for Life

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  Improve your Eating Habits - Find the Right Balance for you. Finding your balance to good eating habits is a slow process. This is about your individual eating patterns, choice of food and sustainability. We all like to read books or follow preset diets or try diets that seem to work for famous celebrities. But this will not set you up for life. After some time eating a diet that is not set for your individual needs will end in failure. This is why the diet industry is a multi-million pound business. The first step is to find the right mindset by being focused on our health.  We need   inspiration and motivation  to  help push us in the right direction .  The next step is to set a goal and then a plan of action on how to arrive at your desired result. Make sure these goals are obtainable and a little challenging to make your journey interesting but reachable. Writing down your goals and your plans will help, whether on paper or an app, they just need to be a visual daily reminder.  I

Stress Awareness Month - April 2024

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  Being Aware of Stress - Self Help  April is 'stress awareness' month bringing attention to the negative impact of stress. Managing the stress in our lives is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.   Stress  is the key to our own survival. But too much stress is damaging to our health. Emotional stress and mental stress that stay with us for weeks, months or even years, will weaken our immune system and cause health problems such as fatigue, depression, high blood pressure, anxiety and even heart health problems. Life can be very overwhelming at times bringing anxiety into our everyday lives. We need to find the tools and learn how to implement them, helping us manage our stress levels that lead to a healthier and less stressful life. Here are five helpful tips on how to manage stress: Putting aside a few minutes a day to practice mindful breathing, will give you clarity and the tools to deal with stress and anxiety. With practice it will help to bring you back to the prese

How Effective is Aqua Fitness? The Benefits of Water for Health, Strength and Wellbeing

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  The Advantage and Effectiveness of Aqua Exercise Water fitness is a great way to stay in shape. Not only is it a good form of cardio exercise but the natural resistance of the water will help to make you stronger and tone up some of those 'wobbly' bits. Aqua classes are extremely popular and usually run with a full class. It's a fabulous way to socialise and connect with others whilst making it a perfect method to boost your mental health and wellbeing.  Water fitness usually takes place in the shallow end of a swimming pool with music playing to make the exercises more fun. The beat of the tunes should be slow enough for your limbs to move through the water's natural resistance in time to the rhythm.  Water fitness is gentle on the joints as you move through the workout. You can jump, lunge, run and hop without causing any stress to the bones, something that you cannot do on land. This low impact activity is ideal for those with joint or bone issues and for those wh

Ageing and Wellness - Balance, Mobility and Flexibility are the Key

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  Balance, Mobility and Flexibility The key elements of ageing well and all-round fitness are balance, mobility and flexibility training and often this is overlooked or neglected. We are aware of the need to add cardio and strength activities to our well-being programme but do not realise the benefits of these essential components of physical fitness.  Maintaining or improving balance, mobility and flexibility help you to move well, feel better and look more youthful as you age. Balance training is essential in later life for fall prevention and mobility/flexibility training will help to prevent injury to your joints and muscles. This type of training also increases core strength and stability.  Good balance is required for just about everything we do such as walking, standing still, getting out of a chair and bending over just to pick something up from the floor.  Balance skills  may not come naturally to some and this skill needs to be worked on with consistency. Balance training str

RLSS UK Lifeguard Training - Qualifying for a NPLQ (National Pool Lifeguard Qualification)

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  RLSS - National Pool Lifeguard Course The NPLQ (National Pool Lifeguard Qualification) is the most widely recognised lifeguard qualification in the UK. Successfully completing this course will qualify you to work as a Pool Lifeguard. The course is physically demanding and covers all elements of pool rescue techniques, CPR, first aid, lifeguarding theory, swimming to set times and number of lengths (swimming both front and back strokes continuously), lifting casualties and diving to the deep end of the pool.  The course requires a minimum of 36 hours (normally 5 full days) and requires 100% attendance. You will be expected to be mentally alert and self-disciplined as well as physically fit. As a prerequisite of the NPLQ course you must be able to: Jump or dive into deep water Swim 50 meters in less than 60 seconds Swim 100 meters on both front and back continuously Tread water for 30 seconds Surface dive to the bottom of the pool Climb out of the pool unaided (without using steps/ladd

Low Impact Functional Fitness - How Does this Improve Strength and the Quality of Life?

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  What is Low Impact Functional Fitness? Low impact functional fitness is strength training exercises that enhance your mobility and movement creating a more effective functional body for your every day tasks. Low impact means the joints and muscles will not endure any stress during these workouts. Functional movements will take our joints through their full range of motion, whilst working the stabilising muscles at the same time. This is so important in preventing injury and promoting healthy movement back into our bodies. Functional workouts do not isolate any particular one muscle but work several muscles all in one go. Working on your functional fitness will improve your quality of life. Building strength and increasing mobility will tweak certain tasks such as carrying heavy shopping bags from the supermarket to your car. You will be able to carry heavier loads for a longer space of time, lift bulkier objects above your head to place on high shelving and lift your own body weight