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Movement and Mental Health

I hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather we've got at the moment!

Sitting in the sun is a great way to help your mental health - the boost to serotonin levels can make you feel so good!  

Another way to help your mental health is with exercise

I know for myself and for many of my classmates, mental wellbeing is one of the top reasons for exercising - alongside physical health.  That is why I was so pleased to see it as a theme for Mental Health Awareness week - which finishes today

Exerc…

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What Is WalkFit and Who Is It For?

I'm nursing a bit of an injury to my achilles at the moment and have had to cut down on how far I walk each day

Friday I was even unsure I would be able to do my class

But WalkFit was actually the perfect thing - enough to mobilise my ankle without over-doing it!

One class member last week also found it the perfect way back into exercise after illness

That's one reason WalkFit is great

For others, it's about easing in to a new fitness habit

Some of the participants who started my Fit in Fi…

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Back mobility exercises

As part of March Matness this week I'm looking at exercises you can do to help your back mobility.

Working on back mobility can help with stiffness, pain, pelvic floor issues and core strength as well as help to avoid injury

All the moves should feel comfortable - we're not trying to push 

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Muscular stiffness and your heart

So far we've looked at heart health in women, particularly around menopause, and how movement can help you - both cardio and strength workouts.

But where does that leave mind body exercises like Pilates and yoga?

As I said last week, bodyweight strength counts as much as lifting weights does - so any squat, lunge, hinge, push, pull moves you might be doing will help with lowering blood pressure in the same way.

But there is another reason why it helps

Stiffness in the upper body is related t…

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Can squats help your heart?

Exercise is great for heart health, but is it only cardio-type workouts that make a difference?

Or can strength training help too?

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Total Body Tone workout

A quick lying down body conditioning sequence that targets legs, bums, abs and upper body
Do with or without weights and repeat if you have more time!

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Healthy Hearts - and how to get them

February is Heart Month, so I've been focusing a little bit on cardiovascular exercise recently

Cardio exercise - exercise that makes your heart rate go up - is one of a few ways to improve your heart health.  Other factors you can look at:

  • regular exercise - not just cardio
  • healthy diet
  • healthy weight
  • quit smoking
  • limit alcohol intake
  • manage stress
  • prioritise sleep
  • move more often - not just exercise but throughout your day
  • stay hydrated

The thing I love about exercise is that it…

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What Counts as Exercise?

Did you start your health goals this week? 

For me it was lovely to start easy with Aerobics on Wednesday and then just a few classes

I did have to start even easier than I thought I would have to though...

We had a fun New Years Day - going in to Manchester to go bowling

I was very happy to win our first game and get the highest score I've ever had!

We also did a bit of ping pong and karaoke

As we were leaving we spotted a punching ball test your strength so decided to have one last chal…

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I got trolled

I've been posting a lot on Facebook recently as I'm trying to raise my profile a bit

And it's obviously working as I'm reaching more people

But with that come people who aren't really a good fit for what I do

This meant that last week I got trolled on one of my videos 

It was just a simple video - showing hip circles as a way to ease out your back and hips after sitting for a while

So nothing massively fitness about it and nothing controversial

But this bloke said that if I lost some fat t…

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