Top Tips To Get Fit - Part 2

The following blog entry is the second part of 'Top Tips To Get Fit'. The first part offered five key tips to help achieve our fitness goals. This post will offer another five tips to help us further.

Make it Fun

A major key to getting the most from exercise is to make it fun. If we enjoy our training than we are far more likely to do it, and this will lead to us getting good results. Many people find team sports a great way of getting exercise as they get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Anything is better than Nothing!

Any exercise is better than nothing. A ten minute walk with our dog means we are beating the guy who is spread across the couch! Everyone needs to start somewhere, so it is important that we do not worry when we are not doing 5 mile runs right away.

Sneak extra exercise

Try things like taking the stairs instead of the lift/elevator, or getting off the bus an extra stop early in order to get extra exercise in!

Make friends with other fitness people

If we get to make friends with like-minded people, who have similar fitness aspirations, this can really help to keep us motivated.

Eat Correctly

This is possibly the most important piece of advice out there. We cannot out exercise a bad diet, so we must ensure that our eating is right. 

Top Tips To Get Fit - Part 1

The following blog entry will look into some top tips for us to incorporate into our lives in order to get fit. This is to the first part of two, so be sure to come back again for more great tips.

Make keeping fit a part of your routine

If we make fitness and exercise an intrinsic part of our lives it will be far easier for us to stick to our regimes and far less likely for us to miss sessions. In keeping it as an 'optional extra', we are likely to fall short in our fitness quest.

Set Goals

Setting goals is a fantastic tip for keeping fit. With goals to aim for we are more likely to stick to our regimes and also have something to measure our progress by. It is important that the goals we set stretch and challenge us, but are also achievable. If we set unrealistic targets we are likely to fall flat!

Be Flexible

This is very important. It is important not to be too regimented, as our lives require us to flexible. If we miss a session, it is important not to worry about it, just put more into the next session.

Do Not Overdo It

Over training is a common mistake that people make. All sorts of problems can come from this. Injuries, fatigue and ill feeling towards training can all stem from over doing it. In turn, each of these factors can contribute to us not wanting to train.

Do Not Expect An Overnight Change

This is another key thing. Often people expect to see major results after three sessions! This is simply not reality. Patience is the key, and if we stick to our diet and exercise plans, results will come.

These are five key tips that should be used when looking to get fit. Make sure to check back next week for part two of 'Top Tips To Get Fit'. 

The Importance of a Strong Core

This article will discuss what the core is, why it is important to build a strong core and also look at some key exercises to help to develop a strong core.

What is our core?

I would suggest, from personal experience, that many people believe our core to be the abdominal muscles. And this is partly true. However, there is much more to the core than just our abs. The muscles in the lower back, pelvis and hips also make up our core. 

Why is it important to build a strong core?

Our core is so vital to most of our movement that it is important to develop a strong core for a number of reasons. 

• A strong core can help with our balance and stability.
• A strong core can help to reduce our chances of injury. Developing our core leads to a greater range of motion for us and thus makes us far less likely to get injured. 
• We need a strong core to help us with daily tasks. Bending, reaching and twisting are all aided with a strong, healthy core and these are things that we do every single day. 
• Developing our core is a major thing with sports. Athletes of all levels should look to build their core as it can lead to an improved performance. We can swing better, run faster and kick further.

Some key exercises to develop our core

There are many exercises that can be used to develop and strengthen our core muscles. At a beginners level there are simple exercises that will start building our core. As we progress we can change these exercises, making them harder to improve our core even further. 

Sit-ups and crunches, planks (bridges), push-ups, squats and leg raises are some of the basic exercises that we can do to develop and strengthen our core muscles. Once we master these, we can advance upon them. For example, we can start adding side planks, one armed push-ups and pistol squats into our routines. 

Conclusion

It is clear that the core is vital to our everyday lives, but it can also help us steer clear of injury and enhance our sports performance. There are many exercises we can do to strengthen the core, including crunches and planks. 

Push Up/Squat/Core Circuit for Beginners

Today we will look at a small circuit that will tone and strengthen our core, as well as our arms and legs. This circuit is designed for beginners but can be adjusted to suit your own needs. As we get better at this circuit, we can increase the reps for each exercise.

There are only three exercises in this circuit, but the key to getting the most from it is to not stop exercising. This circuit is excellent when combined with half an hour of pure cardio (think 30mins of jogging).

The Circuit

10 push-ups

12 squats

20 abdominal crunches

12 push-ups

15 squats

25 abdominal crunches

15 push-ups

20 squats

30 abdominal crunches

Note: ensure proper form is executed with each exercise. 

Salt

Many people do not realise that the amount of salt they consume on a daily basis could be putting their heart at risk. With that in mind, this blog entry will look into salt, looking at how much is too much, where salt is found and tips on how to reduce our salt intake. 

How Much is Too Much Salt

It is recommended, by health experts, that adults consume less than 6g of salt a day. A level teaspoon of salt is about 6g.

Currently, in the United Kingdom, the average intake of salt on a daily basis is above the recommended maximum allowance. 

Where Is The Salt?

Some of the main culprits of containing high levels of salt are processed foods, canned soups, take away foods and ready meals.

When we are out shopping it is important to look out for foods like baked beans, pizzas, pork pies and some breakfast cereals.

Effects of Too Much Salt

Consuming too much salt can have a negative impact upon our health. Too much salt can increase the risk of us developing high blood pressure, and this can lead to coronary heart disease.

Tips To Avoid Consuming Too Much Salt

Here are some tips to reduce the amount of salt in our diet:

• Remove the salt pot from the dinner table
• Check food labels when shopping
• Add herbs and spices as a salt replacement
• Switch salty snacks for fruits and veg
• Avoid generally salty foods such as bacon
• Be aware of cooking sauces as some are high in salt content

Salt is so easily over-consumed without the right knowledge and understanding. If we remain aware of how much salt we are allowed (maximum 6g per day) and we learn how to control our intake we will be fine.

Leave a comment, I look forward to your feedback.

A Mini Workout

I am a firm believer that there is no excuse to not exercise. However, it is also a reality that we have busy lives and sometimes it is difficult to fit everything in. This page will show a 5 minute exercise, to be used when we are really struggling to fit in a workout. Everyone can spare five minutes! This routine requires nothing but our own body weight, and so can be done anywhere. No excuses. 

Five exercise - five minutes

1 minute of jumping jacks (star jumps)

1 minute of push-ups (press ups; for more info, click here)

1 minute of squats

1 minute plank (for more info, click here)

1 minute of lunges

That's it. 

Remember, this is not to replace regular exercise, this is merely for when we are really short of time. Use sparingly!

Leave me your thoughts. 

The Most Important Thing About Exercise

We all know that exercise is an important aspect of our lives. It helps fight disease, keep our brains ticking over and keeps our body in tip top shape. But what are the most important parts of exercise? This blog entry will look into just that, examining what are the most important things to consider when we are exercising.

Form

Practicing correct form is such an important element to our training regimes. Whatever the exercise is, it is vital that we perform it correctly. Simply put, if we perform it right we are less likely to get injured and more likely to get something out of it. Proper form is a must for all exercise.

Continual growth

It is also crucial that we aim to progress constantly. If we can run for 5 miles, then we need to go for 6. If not, we are just training the body to do what it can already do. Continual growth will help us to see the best results. This means gradually increasing resistance and distance!

Mixing it up

By doing the same thing, over and over again, our bodies get used to it, and we are no longer able to grow. Therefore it is vital that we change the exercises we are doing regularly.

The Most Important Thing About Exercise

However, the one thing that trumps everything else mentioned is enjoying exercise. Once we enjoy the exercise we are doing, the rest will fall into place. When we enjoy exercising we will put 100% effort into it. It will become easier for us. We will be more likely to practice correct form. We will want to continually progress and grow. We will be able to mix things up a bit and keep ourselves interested. 

Easy Salad Dressings - Part 2

This is the second part of my blog posts on simple, yet affordable, salad dressings.

Note: These recipes were not created by me, but are adapted from Jamie’s Ministry of Food

Lemon Dressing

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Lemon
• Seas salt and black pepper

To create the dressing, we put the oil and the salt and pepper into a jar. We then squeeze in the lemon juice (all of it!) and mix together well. Easy!

Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt and black pepper

All we need to do is put all the ingredients into a jar and mix well. Simple, tasty and cheap. 

Each of the salad dressings in the two blog posts are simple and taste great. They are also far more affordable than what you buy in the shops.

Leave your comments and let me know what you think of each of the dressings!

Easy Salad Dressings - Part 1

When buying foods from the supermarket it is very important to look at what ingredients are in them. Many foods contain things that should not be in them, preservatives and the like, as well as other ingredients that just add to the calories.  With that in mind, this blog entry will show two different recipes for easy and cheap, but healthier, salad dressings. Another two recipes will follow next week in the second part of my Easy Salad Dressings. 

Note: These recipes were not created by me, but are adapted from Jamie’s Ministry of Food

French Dressing

This is an easy French dressing recipe.

Ingredients:

• ¼ of a clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Seas salt and black pepper

To create the dressing, we peel and finely chop the garlic. Then, we put the garlic, mustard, vinegar and oil into a jar with a pinch of salt and the black pepper. Simply mix this together for a tasty salad accompaniment.

Yoghurt Dressing

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

As with the French dressing, all we need to do is put all the ingredients into a jar and mix well.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the dressings. 

Walk-To-Burn-Calories – Diet Aid

A US study suggests that a menu that displays the amount of exercise required to burn off the calories contained in the food may help people to consume fewer calories.

A team at the Texan Christian University found that when the menu displayed the amount of exercise required, the diners ordered lower calories. The trials were conducted with a group of 18-30 year olds, who were split into three groups. Some were given menus with no calorie information, some with the amount of calories displayed, and the final group had both the calories and the amount of exercise needed to burn the calories off. The results showed that the group with extra information consumed around 100 calories less.

The test is now to be taken further, and onto a bigger scale in order to confirm the findings.

This could be a very interesting find if it proves to be useful. It may just help a good number of people to eat that little bit less and to get in better shape. A lot of people are unaware of how hard it is to actually burn off the calories we consume so this could be very useful. It is also important to remember though, that just eating fewer calories does not necessarily mean that we are eating healthily.

To read the full article, click here.

Five A Day

It is no secret, most people already know it, but getting more fruits and vegetables into our diets is key to a healthier lifestyle. This blog entry will look into why eating more fruits and vegetables is important,  and will offer some tips of how we can get more fruits and vegetables into our daily lives.

Why Five a Day is Important

There are a number of reasons as to why eating more fruits and vegetables is important.

Firstly, fruits and vegetables are generally low in fat and calories, and therefore we are able to be in more control of our weight when eating them as opposed to other foods that often contain high levels of fats and extra sugars and calories.

Secondly, eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables helps us to get plenty of vitamins and minerals that we need into our body. They are also a good source of other substances, such as anti-oxidants. All these nutrients are valuable to our health.

Finally, eating fruits and vegetables helps to reduce the risk of many diseases and some cancers.

Tips to getting Five a Day

Now that we know why it is so valuable to get five a  day into our diet, we can look at some simple ways of getting extra portions into our daily routine.

• We can add a piece of fruit, or a glass of unsweetened fruit juice, to our regular breakfast. This will also help us feel fuller for longer.
• Make sure that we have a piece of fruit available for a mid-morning snack
• With each meal we can try adding an extra portion of vegetables to it
• We can make each portion of fruit of vegetables slightly bigger than normal to get even more goodness in each meal

What Counts Towards Our Five a Day?

Knowing what actually counts towards one of our five a day can often be tricky. Here are some examples of what does count towards our Five a Day:

• An apple
• 2 broccoli florets
• 3 heaped tablespoons of mixed vegetables
• 1 glass of 100% unsweetened fruit juice
• 1 medium banana
• 3 heaped tablespoons of peas
• 7 Strawberries
• 2 medium plums
• 1 medium pear
• a handful of grapes
• 3 heaped tablespoons of sweetcorn

Each type of fruit and vegetables contains different properties so it is important to make sure that we eat a wide variety of them. A good tip is to make our meals as colorful as possible!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your feedback, I am interested in your views and will look to respond as soon as possible. 

A Fitness Test for Everyone

Test Your Fitness

This blog entry is going to show a short fitness test for us to give ourselves a fitness ranking in different areas! There are six different areas and the idea is that we perform each test and record our results. We can then analyse what our results mean. (Test taken from Men’s Health Magazine)

1)      Perform as many press-ups as you can in a row. Record the result.

2)      Stand up and see how many seconds you can balance on one leg.

3)      Now see how long you can hold the plank position for.

4)      Now stand by a wall and jump as high as you can to tap it. Record the height in cm.

5)      Now hang from a pull-up bar, keeping your arms straight. See how many seconds you can hang for.

6)      Finally, run 1K as fast as possible and record the time in minutes.

Analysing the results

The first test is one of strength-endurance. If you scored over 60, this is strong, 40-60 is good, 20-39 is average, and below 20 is weak.

The second test is of the stability of the core. For a strong rating you need to have scored over 120 seconds, good is 60-120 seconds, average is 30-59 seconds and less than 30 seconds is weak.

The third test is simply about the strength of your core. Over 120 seconds is considered a strong core, 60-120 is good, 30-59 is average and any less than this is weak.

The fourth test is about explosive power. To gain a strong rating you need to tap at over 50cm, 36-50cm is good, 25-35 is average, and less than this is weak.

The fifth test is all about the strength of our grip. To hold your grip, in this test, for over 120 seconds gains a strong rating, for 60-120 seconds is good, 30-59 seconds is average and anything below is weak.

The final test is all about cardiovascular fitness. In completing the run in less than 4 minutes is strong, 4.5-5mins is good, 5.5-7mins is average and any longer than 7 minutes is weak.

In completing this test and looking at the results it is important that we do not take them ratings too seriously. However, this can give us a good guide of our fitness levels and can also give us goals to try and achieve.

B Vitamins

B vitamins were once considered as one, single vitamin as opposed to 8 distinct vitamins. This blog entry will look into B Vitamins as a whole.

What are B Vitamins?

B Vitamins are water soluble vitamins and play an important role in the metabolism of cells. In total there are 8 B Vitamins (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12) and each has its own name.

Health Benefits of B Vitamins

With there being different individual B Vitamins the health benefits are more widespread. Each one has different properties. However, as a whole, B Vitamins are important and there are a number of health benefits associated with them. Below is a list of some of the main health benefits associated with the consumption of B Vitamins:

• Help to convert food into energy
• Helps to maintain healthy skin, hear and muscle tone
• Promotes the growth of cells
• Help with red blood cells
• Reduce the risk of heart disease
• Can help to fight depression
• Helps our immune system
• Can reduce anemia

What are the sources of B Vitamins?

There are a number of natural sources of B Vitamins before we begin looking into supplements. Some of the best sources of B Vitamins are; animal products, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, bananas, potatoes, milk, eggs, yoghurt, nuts, fish and wholegrain rice and cereals.

So it is clear that we definitely need B Vitamins in our diet and luckily there are plenty of foods available that are high in B Vitamins so there is no excuse!

Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest – Nottingham 2012

On Saturday the 13^th of October 2012 I took part in Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest in Nottingham. Almost 4000 people took part. This blog entry will look into this amazing event.

 

What is Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest?

Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest is a series of adventure runs that currently takes place in 5 cities across the United Kingdom; Nottingham, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff. Each city hosts a 10km (haha, more like 12km) run with a wide range of obstacles placed along the way.

My Preperation for Men's Health Survival of the Fittest

As I exercise regularly, I did not change too much up. I continued with my pull ups, press ups and planks. I added walking lunges to my routine and also made sure I got out there running more.

I ate my normal balanced diet in preparation and on the morning of the run I ate bacon, eggs and toast with a coffee. I also ate a banana about an hour before.

My Run

I ran the event with my friend. We took part in the Nottingham event and we were in wave 5, which started at 11am. It was a chilly morning but this was soon forgotten as the race commenced. The course began and the first obstacle to stand in our way was the hay bales!

 We then ran alongside the river trent completing a variety of obstacles along the way, including an army assault course, a swim across a freezing cold river, cargo nets and a run up and down the stairs in Nottingham Forest's City Ground! 

But the worse was to come. The final challenge, known as the Wall of Fame, is where dreams are made or ended! Teamwork was required for me and my buddy to get over, but we managed it and claimed our medals! 

The results 

For the Nottingham event, 3,769 people finished the race with an average finishing time of 1 hour 36 minutes and 53 seconds. The fastest time completed was 52 minutes and 2 seconds, with the slowest time being 2 hours 47 minutes and 31 seconds. I completed the race in 1 hour 25 minutes and 48 seconds. I finished in the top 30% of finishers – not bad for a first try.

Baobab

Baobab – Superfruit

This blog entry will look into the superfruit – baobab (pronounced bay-oh-bab). It will discuss what baobab fruit is, where it comes from and the health benefits to consumption!

What is baobab?

The baobab fruit is a natural food source, and is naturally found in Africa and Australia. The baobab fruit looks a bit like a coconut and grows on baobab trees. Local people have used many parts of the baobab for centuries.

What are the health benefits of baobab fruit?

This is where the baobab earns a reputation and name as a super fruit. The health benefits of the baobab fruit are fantastic and appear to outweigh many other super fruits (such as the acai berry, for example).

Baobab is very high in vitamin C. It is said that it contains six times the amount of vitamin C than oranges!

It is high in antioxidants (something discussed here) and it is claimed that the baobab contains six times the amount of antioxidants as blueberries, and twice as many as gojiberries.

Although bananas are one of our favourite foods for getting potassium, baobab contains around six times the amount!

Baobab also contains a high level of calcium, around twice as much as milk.

Finally, baobab contains more iron than red meat.

Overall

Overall, the baobab fruit has many things going for it, and it does appear to be a genuine super fruit. It is important that, in our western society, we get this into our diet in the right way. It is vital that we get natural baobab, and reap the benefits!

Swimming for Health

Swimming

This blog entry is going to look into swimming for fitness, exercise and weight loss. Swimming is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing forms of exercise there is. There are a number of benefits associated with swimming, so let’s take a look.

Benefits of Swimming

As mentioned before, there are numerous benefits to swimming as a form of exercise.

1)      It is a low impact form of exercise. This is probably my favourite thing about swimming. This means that swimming puts very little strain on our body. This means that our knees and hips, for example, do not get the same stress as with other exercises such as running. This also means that swimming is a great exercise for fitness when recovering from an injury.

2)      Swimming is an excellent cardio-vascular exercise. This basically means that we work our hearts and lungs while exercising (as well as our body), and is as good as any exercise for that.

3)      Swimming can work most muscles in the body. This relies on doing a variety of different strokes, however, but any exercise where we are working more than one muscle is great. Swimming works the upper and lower body, and gives a great workout to each part of us.

4)      Swimming can be used for weight loss as well as fitness. Whilst swimming is a great exercise for developing our fitness levels, it is also a fantastic calorie burner, meaning it can be used, alongside a healthy diet, to promote healthy weight loss.

5)      Finally, swimming can be considered an excellent exercise for developing strength as well as flexibility. Alongside endurance and cardio-vascular benefits, swimming can help with our strength in our upper and lower body and contributes towards flexibility in these areas too.

Walking Lunges - A Great Exercise

This blog entry will look into an exercise known as walking lunges. It will identify what muscles are worked with the exercise, how to do walking lunges and the benefits of including them in our workout routine.

What are Walking Lunges?

Walking lunges are an exercise that can be performed with or without weights and they exercise our glutes, hamstrings and quads.

How to perform Walking Lunges

Walking lunges are a simple exercise to perform and they are super beneficial to our body. We can either perform this exercise with a dumbbell in each hand, or we can put our hands on our waist – whatever we feel comfortable at. To begin, we stand upright, with our feet together. We then take a step forward with one foot, lowering our hips to the floor and bending both our knees. We then push from the other foot back to the starting position for one rep.

Benefits of walking lunges

There are a number of benefits associated with performing walking lunges as part of our workouts.

First of all, walking lunges work a variety of muscles all in one go, which is a great thing! Basically, our complete lower body will get a workout if we perform walking lunges, particularly the glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps.

Secondly, we can perform them anywhere! The fact that they are so convenient is beneficial as there is no excuse to not include them a few times a week. We may look strange doing them down the street though.

Walking lunges are also fantastic because not only can they be considered a cardio-vascular exercise, they can also help to build and develop muscle as well.

Finally, walking lunges promote mobility, strength and flexibility in the joints. 

So, walking lunges are a fantastic exercise for us to include in our workouts. The exercise works the majority of the lower body and can help to keep us fit. Get them in your workout!

Improving Our Fitness

This blog entry will look into some tips for improving our fitness. We all want to be as fit and healthy as we can be (right?) and these tips will help us to achieve this. This list was adapted from an article in Men's Health.

Tips to Improve Fitness

1) Increase the intensity - this is a great tip, especially if we are short on time. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is a fantastic style of exercise that can wield fantastic results, and can be done in a shorter amount of time.

2) Get a pet - ok, maybe not. However, dog owners are more likely to get the exercise they need. We can easily get out to take our dog for a nice long walk, we were going to walk them anyway.

3) Keep motivated - whatever it takes. It is vitally important to stay motivated to get the body and fitness level that we want. Find whatever it is that inspires us to keep up the interest and keep us achieving our goals.

4) Walk - walking is an easy exercise to do and it is great for our body. There is no reason for us not to get out walking, even if it just for a half hour on our lunch break.


Above are four simple tips to help to improve our fitness. Of course it is vitally important that we couple regular exercise with a good diet to get the best results.

Yo-Yo (Bleep) Tests

Yo-Yo Tests

The yo-yo test, also referred to as; yo-yo intermittent recovery tests, beep/bleep tests, and shuttle runs, is a test designed to examine the endurance and aerobic power of athletes in regards to running. These tests can be used by both men and women alike and are very simple to perform.

How To Set Up Yo-Yo Tests

The basics of yo-yo tests is simple. First of all, a CD (or other recording) is required for these tests, but these are readily available. The CD contains a series of beeps, and the gap between this beeps decreases as the recording goes on. The second part of the set up involves setting up two markers, 20 metres apart. The test is now set up.

The Test

The basic idea of the test is to run from one marker to the other, arriving at the same time as the beep. We then turn around and run to the other marker. This continues, from one marker to the other until the test is over. As the gap between the beeps gets shorter as we progress, the difficulty increases. If we fail to make it to the marker before the beep, we lose a life. We get two lives so when we fail to reach the marker twice the test is over. We measure our total time for our final result.

Steps To Take When We Plateau

The Plateau

When we get into our training routine we begin to see the results we want. However, there comes a point in most, if not all, of our training programmes where we hit a wall, and the results seem to disappear – the dreaded plateau.

Can we combat the plateau?

Yes! Fortunately, there are a number of ideas that can be implemented in order to battle past our plateau and to help us to continue to see the results that we want.

Combating a Plateau

Higher reps – if we have been training with 6-8 reps while lifting weights, we should try increasing this number to 10-15 reps.

Increase sets – in a similar vain to increasing the number of reps per set, we can also change our workout by increase the number of sets that we do. Instead of completing 3 sets of 8 reps, we can try increasing to 5 sets of 8 reps.

Alter the exercises – there are many different exercises that work the same muscles. Therefore, there is nothing to say that we can mix things up by doing different exercises to what we are used to. Instead of doing pull ups, change to chins ups, for example. Something as simple as a hand grip/position can make a difference!

Rest – sometimes we overwork ourselves and we just need a little rest. We should try taking a couple of days off from exercising before getting back on it!

To conclude

Most of us will reach a point in our training program where we are not seeing the desired results, we plateau. This is not something that we need to worry about and there are number of things that we can try to get through this, for example increasing the number of repetitions we do. Essentially we must change something in our workout, though, and we will get through the plateau.