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posture

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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Hypopressives for anxiety - Annmarie's story

I started to suffer with anxiety and obviously that brings in struggling to breathe sometimes and then panic attacks and that kind of thing.

I was also struggling with putting weight on and was mindful that I needed to do some exercise - I wanted to lose weight but also had anxiety going on.

I felt like all the other kind of exercise that I did - swimming, joining the gym, walking - they just never hit the anxiety. 

So I would do them and never feel relaxed or feel calm. And then I would go t…

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How you can help your pelvic floor

I was asked by someone this week about rehabbing the pelvic floor post birth, in preparation for getting back to running.  I was so pleased that she was aware of the importance of taking her time - things keep popping up in my timeline about postnatal classes where people are running with buggies, skipping and even doing jumping jacks! All of this can have a deleterious effect on the pelvic floor and continuing to overstress a weakened pelvic floor can lead to prolapse.

However taking your time, …

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5 tips for preventing back pain when caring for children

As I was walking home from class yesterday a father and his toddler walked past me.  The dad was taking tiny baby steps in time with his son, was crouching in a squat position to be at his son's level and was leaning over to one side in order to hold his hand.  This reminded me of how Becky used to love to hold my finger as she walked - up until her hand was big enough to hold mine.  And how it hurt my back let alone nearly dislocated my finger!!!

The trouble with having bad posture when you're c…

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Walk this way!

I'm a bit obsessed with walking...  There are so many health benefits to it and it's so easy to fit into your day and yet I read a report that said that 45% of people would rather take public transport than a short stroll.  And 1 in 20 would use public transport rather than walk for 5 minutes!  And yet walking is the easiest way to fit in the suggested amount of exercise we should be doing plus is like medicine for all the health benefits it has!

For those of you, like me, with older kids who rea…

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