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February 2011

Did you know that February was National Heart Month? 

Although, we need to look after our tickers all the time, so let's be aware every month.

Heart Disease is the UK's biggest killer.

What is Heart Disease?

The main type is Coronary heart disease.

The two major blood vessels that supply the heart with blood become narrow or blocked. This is caused by a build up of fatty substances and if the heart is starved of blood and oxygen this can lead to a heart attack.

How to reduce the risk:

• Assess what you eat - plenty of fruit and veg, whole grains and oily fish. Reduce your intake of salt and alcohol.

• Get moving - raise your heart at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. The heart is a muscle. Many of you go to the gym to tone your muscles using resistence machines  - well jump on the C.V machines to ensure your heart muscle gets trained properly too.

• Watch your weight - by following the 2 points above this should be under control. Losing just a couple of pounds can massively reduce your risk of heart disease. Following healthy eating and an exercise programme will get you on your way.

• Quit Smoking - smokers are 25% more likely to suffer a heart attack than non smokers.

• Control Your Cholesterol Levels - cut out trans and saturated fats found in red meat and confectionary. Eat more lentils, nuts, fruit and veg

• Reduce Blood Pressure - by following all of the above this will help keep your blood pressure down.

• Exercise more, eating healthy, reducing salt, alcohol, fat intake, losing a couple of pounds.

Are you at risk??

If you are aged 40 and above why not bob down to Batley Baths where the NHS nurses are carrying out free health checks?

They will take your blood pressure, cholesterol, weigh you and assess your lifestyle.

For more info or to make an appointment please call on 01924 326167.

 LOVE YOUR HEART!

Valentine's Week

Seeing as it's the week of LOVE starting with Valentine's Day, I'd just like to remind you that..........

LOVE doesn't need handles!

So I'm sure we'd all like to improve our mid section - to do this remember:

- getting great abs is not about how many sit ups or crunches you can do - a great six pack actually reflects how lean you are, so you must focus on reducing your body fat:

• Therefore cardio needs to be incorporated in your training to burn calories - at the same time your abdominals will work indirectly as these muscles will work with other core muscles and engage with other limbs to generate power and control forces.

• You need to follow a balanced diet combining carbs, proteins and a small percentage of 'good' fats.

• Variation: Mix up your excercises and change your routine on abs weekly. Ensure you work the muscles as a unit, so covering the inner and outer areas.

• Following the 3 samples below, this will include all areas of the mid section:

• Good old fashioned sit ups or crunches on the fitball

• Hanging leg raises with twists

• Medicine ball crunches

If you are unsure of these exercises or need alternatives please ask our fitness staff.

• Twisting.

This is one of the 7 key movement patterns that I would encourage you to put into your training.

For your abdominal area, there are lots you can do.

• To begin with, I would concentrate on isolating this movement (so a pure rotation exercise), like the russian twist  on a fitball.

• You can move onto the woodchop exercise which can be used also as an isolation or by adding in weight shift other movement patterns will be involved making it more challenging.

• These can be performed with medicine balls or on cables and even with dumbells.

Again please ask our staff for assistance.  These rotation excercises are great for the mid section  (from above hanging leg raises with twists is the rotation exercise I advised)

So if you've been spoilt on Valentine's Day and been inundated with chocolates and treats, enjoy but remember:

A moment on the lips a life time on the hips:)

Early Feb:

When January comes along every year  and people are making new resolutions I hear:

"This year I'm going to join a gym and get really fit"

We know in January many people join gyms, but do they use them?

People may cut out chocolate and reduce take away foods, but do they change their alcohol intake?

For what reasons are people setting themselves these resolutions??

I am going to focus on the 'take up running' and you'll see the other resolutions may come into play without even having to really focus on them. It's all to do with goals.

Firstly give yourself something to work to - a distance you want to cover a length of time you want to be able to run for.

I am going to choose a 10km run.  (this may seem harsh if you have never run before, but the programme below can be adapted for whatever your goal from a mile to a marathon.)

There are many positives for 10kn runs

Maybe apply for a 10k run, there are plenty about and the sense of achievement after completing it will leave you feeling fantastic. This distance will also give you a good calorie burn if you are wanting to keep on top of your weight.

It will keep your training varied so you don't get bored and make you think about the food you choose to fuel your body. You are more likely to snack on a banana if you running after work before dinner or you may have porridge in the morning if you have hit the gym first thing.

It may change your alchol intake as if you are doing your long session on a Sunday you're not going to be wanting to be doing it with a hang over (trust me)

So give it a try.

You want to train 4 times a week (see not every day bonus!)

These sessions need to consist of:

LONG EASY RUN -  Go at a steady pace and build up the time even if you start with 5 mins then 10 mins the next week etc and to last no longer than 1hr  so between 45 - 60mins

INTERVAL TRAINING -  working hard for a minute and then easy for 1 minute. Again these speeds will vary depending on fitness. You can run hard and then walk if needed. For someone with average fitness, maybe use 8kph for easy and 12kph for hard.  Repeat the sequence 5 - 10 times and build as you improve.

THRESHHOLD RUN -  warm up for 5 mins and then run at a good pace constant for 5 - 20 mins, again depending on fitness levels.  You need to ensure the speed is quicker than the long steady run.  You are running for less time, so the intensity needs to be higher. Threshhold runs are supposed to be hard.

RECOVERY RUN -  Enjoy and jog easy for 25-40 mins. This pace wants to be nice and comfortable (so should be a little slower then the long easy run)

So there you have it. Anyone can do this.  You'll be:

• improving your fitness levels
• making healthier food choices
• managing your weight
• being more aware of your alcohol intake.

At this point if you are still smoking like a chimney, all I can advise is that this training would be so much easier if you didn't.

Doing this training over 10 weeks you should see a big improvement.  Ensure you do rest fully at least once a week and if you can add in some resistence training/ stretching on the non running days, so much the better (this will keep the muscles around your knee ankle hip joints strong and prevent injuries).

Good luck and if you need a running partner give me a shout :)

Kelly

Email Kelly on kelly.potts@kirklees.gov.uk