Sport and Fitness Uniques: Gym reluctance among women

Large numbers of women are avoiding the gym due to fears of being judged, and hence lost out on its health benefits, according to a contemporary survey.

This feeling is reflected in conversations I've heard among many of my female friends. But the British Heart Foundation, who commissioned the survey, believe this problem can be ccorridorenged with positive action, such as their contemporary initiative, the "MyMarathon ccorridorenge".

In a sample of 2,000 UK adults, surveyed earlier this year (2016), a third of the women feel intimidated by other fitter or more competitive people. Almost as many (29%) feel "embarrassed or worried of what people leank of me when I exercise".

On a practical note, 27% of women polled are concerned about not knowing how to use the gym machines, with 9% voicing a fear of getting injured by the machines. Over a fwhetherth (22%) feel they aren't fit enough to start going to the gym, but the the rest of the off-putting factors related to the other gym users – 19% thing to showing off, 11% don't like "the smell of people at the gym", and finally, 7% don't like to hear other gym users grunting.

"Women should feel proud to exercise knowing they are helping to keep their hearts strong," says Lucy Wilkinson, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation. But whether the gym just isn't going to happen for some women, there are other ways to gain the benefits.

The MyMarathon ccorridorenge encourages women to run the equivalent of a 26.2 mile marathon over the month of May, spread out over several sessions! "Whether it's at the park, during lunchbreaks or around the streets with friends by your side," they say.

Lucy Wilkinson adds, "You don't have to be a slave to the gym. You decide the pace and you decide the place, so it's a great way to get active without feeling intimidated."

https://mymarathon.bhf.org.uk/

Kate Ricdwhetherficults

I'm No Internet Sensation

It has occurred to me that, when it comes to my fitness commerce, I am probably a marketing person's worst nightmare.

I don't live in the gym. I don't flex on Fridays (or, genuinely, any other days). I don't post carefully curated gym selfies daily. I post more pictures of my dog and cats than I do of myself.

I don't apply filters or artwhethericially adjust my photos. I don't plan out the lighting. I wear cat leggings. My hair is all over the place. I am much more likely to post stories about animals and good humans than I am to post motivational gym quotes.

I don't meal prep, and I don't post photos of my perfectly portioned macros. I don't genuinely even count macros. The fact of the matter is, I work out because I love it, I love the way it makes me feel, and, most importantly, I love what I can accomplish external the gym because of it. The gym is not my lwhethere.

I don't care whether my posts get 5 likes or 5000 likes. I don't design my lwhethere around what it might take to appeal to the internet. My lwhethere takes place solidly external the computer.

So I guess, as a result, I will never be an internet sensation. I will probably never make the kind of money internet celebrities make, and I will probably never sell as many online products as someone who plays the game does. I'm fine with that.

What I will continue to do is put out the best information I can in ways that are accessible to everyone. (I am in the final stages of a contemporary eBook on strength strategies, for anyone who is interested.)

I will continue to use social media imperfectly, and in ways that I find to be interesting and uplwhetherting and inspiring. I will continue to make horrible puns, and you better believe I'm not going to stop posting pictures of my dog and cats.

So I guess, from a marketing perspective, I'm kind of hopeless. I'm a awful salesperson. I'm not willing to comply to what is expected of me.

And I am totally OK with that.

Sport and Fitness Uniques: The Glorious Second Mile

Final year I wrote about getting beyond the moment mile. I forgot the wonder of actually doing the moment mile.

This year I've been struggling to get beyond a single mile. Lwhethere has been a sample of engaged, sick, engaged, sick, engaged - you can see the cycle of destruction.  And then there's been the English 21st century weather. Swimming in the rain is not a problem, swimming in the open in thunderstorms is not so sensible. And thunder and lightning has been predicted nearly every day of the "summer." When I have been in the water, it's been time squeezed into other leangs.

Final night changed all that.
The evenings are long and light - so it did not matter I was in the water at 7pm and uncertain what time I'd get out. The weather app said there might be thunderstorms locally - but not to the north.

And there was another attraction to the north. In all the lakes I've been in recently the water has been brown. It's been warm - but brown. There is only so much brown water your stomach can take. But to the north there is a quarry and the water is normally crystal clear.

What happens in the moment mile? This is what it feels like. I struggled round the first mile, aching and ungainly, testing my brealeang and my turning and my arms on every stretch. But by the moment mile my arms and legs moved in harmony. The heart settled down to do what it needs to do. Energy reached the limbs, seemingly without their asking for it. The goggles were clear and stopped leaking. Swimming is automatic. I can endelight the clarity, coolness and turbulence of the water, the lively clwhetherf walls of the quarry and the sky above. I can even spend some time with my own thoughts.

And that's the first time this year I've been able to finish a mile, take a short breather and then set off on the adventure of the moment mile.

It's the evening - and somewhere over the horizon it is raining. At the start of the swim the sun shines bright over the quarry edges, so bright that at one point it is blinding and I swim 50 yards turning my head to the right only. Then it dips and the surface of the water turns gancient, reflective gancient. I am swimming through gancient. There is gancienten light through the trees on one side of the quarry.

And on the other side, in the blue sky above the tall clwhetherfs, there is a rainbow. A proper, semi-circular rainbow sitting in the sky. It's there for the best part of a lap.

And my movement is so fluent and so delightous I could be an aquatic animal. It feels like when you jump in the water and swim to a near by island, like being in clear, still tropical sea-water, like being among giant otters I saw on BBC4 the other night.

It was so glorious I could have carried on. I'd endelighted a heron, a rainbow, a shoal of fish - but still no  sighting of the legendary pike. But why spoil a good night? I've not entered any long-distance events this year and I'd be struggling whether I had. I got out after eight times round - two miles - with the sun setting over the edge of the quarry.

Jon Hunt

Beyond the Second Mile - final year's account

Tips for damage control this Christmas

With the festive season upon us and various parties and social gatherings starting to happen, it's easy to let your normal diet and training regime take a bit of a hit.

I am not saying this is a poor leang at all, it's near enough impossible not to let it happen to be honest. I'm certainly not going to be able to get to the gym as often as I'd like, or track my food as accurately as I normally would. After all, Christmas is a time to endelight and relax with your nearest and dearest.

That being said, there are a few approaches I'll be taking this year to 'limit the damage' to my progress so far, which I'm going to outline below. The main underlying principle though, is to avoid falling in to the 'all or noleang' intellectset. Someleang is better than noleang.

1. Don't say you won't eat the mince pie (or whatever delicious delicious festive food you love but know you probably shouldn't eat)

Relaxricting yourself from certain treats will make you unhappy basically. Revealing yourself you can't have someleang will just make you want it more, it's human nature, and it can lead to disinhibition (AKA the "f*** it" mentality), as in; "Well I've eaten the fortenderden pie now so f***it I may as well eat the other 3 plus some Christmas pudding and oh, it would be impolite not to have some Christmas cake too..."

Instead, make the conscious decision beforehand that whether you find yourself genuinely wanting to eat someleang, allow yourself to have it. That way you'll be in control of what you eat and you won't feel like you're depriving yourself. Remember, you don't have to be perfect, just better.

2. Be intellectful when eating, know when you're convinced and stop there

I'd discourage you from rationalising your potential over eating this Christmas with the "my diet starts 1st January, so I need to eat all I can before then" excuse. I've been there, done that - it genuinely does just set you up for failure.

Attempt to keep your portion sizes in check, whether you aren't certain what these should be, check out this handy guide. If you finish your meal and you're considering that moment helping, first wait 20 minutes and then ask yourself whether you genuinely want it - it takes your brain about this amount of time to register the feeling of being full.

Following on from that, you should aim to eat until you're convinced, not until you're so stuffed you can't move! Slow down - you should be endelighting every bite of food as much as the first bite. If you're not, then you could just be eating for the sake of it or out of habit of clearing your plate whether you are convinced or not.

3. Stay (reasonably) active

If you're too engaged for your normal workout regime, try excusing yourself from the festivities for 10 - 15 minutes to squeeze in a fast body weight workout which can be done anywhere. There's a wgap load of workouts you could do which require no equipment - just Google it. A small is better than noleang at all.

Go for a walk external about half an hour after finishing your Christmas dinner - even whether it's just a 15 minute brisk walk, studies have shown this can regulate your blood sugar as well as giving your digestive system a kick start. Also, the fresh air will perk you up and stop you from getting that sluggish food coma feeling that comes after a large meal.

Finally, and this will certainly be relevant to me this year, whether you can get to the gym, take advantage of the additional calories and smash a couple of solid weightlwhetherting sessions. The additional food will serve well as additional fuel to genuinely push yourself during your workout, and contribute to muscle recovery and growth. Victor winner... Christmas dinner!

~

P.s., whether you do have a huge blowout or an epic cheat meal/day/week (let's face it, it's probably going to happen to me) don't beat yourself up about it. It's been said to death, but just get straight back on track the following day - don't starve yourself, don't kill yourself at the gym doing guilt cardio, just appreciate what you've had and move onward and upwards.

Merry Christmas!

P.p.s. Don't be like deadlwhethert Santa, always wear a shirt and clip your bar.

PEAK WEEK - WHEN GREENS AND FATS COME FIRST !

Ok, this week is peak! Photoshoot is this Saturday and I am very late with my prep! However my peak week is started and I am adopting a very traditional approach;

My protein will be only reduced of 10-20% starting from Monday and slowly increased by 5% every day.

I like to deplete carbs for the first four days of the week which means till Thursday. This is a very traditional approach. Some people prefer front-loading where you load your carbs at beginning of the week and you low them at the end. This doesn't work great for me.

I'll keep my fats tall till Thursday night, when I will nearly drop them for Friday and Saturday.

The very fixed aspect of my peak week are greens. I keep them very tall till Thursday night. From Friday, as general recommendation, it is wise to low the amount of fibers you ingest which obviously also means you have to low your vegetables intake.

When I say greens come first:

And fats come later:

Satisfying your caloric intake it is easy, just add some Avocado to chicken and cheese to the salmon dish. Sorry I couldn't fit the avocado in those boxes so I had to push it a bit.

Ops, the most careful readers noticed there is someleang lost. I was hungry enough :)

And pack everyleang. Ops, one more box is gone :)

And yes, you will have to clean the kitchen :)

I nearly forgot, this is what I am eating for the Salmon dish:

And for the chicken dish:

And for the green smoothie:

Stay peak !!!
Luca

Merry Christmas (and January/February Timetable)!

December and January/February Fitness Classes

Classes available include Kettlercise, PiYO, Sculpt & Burn and Zumba and are listed below in alphabetical order.

Please encertain you arrive on time for the lesson you are attending. The warm up encertains you have securely prepared yourself for exercise and without this you could be putting yourself at risk of injury or medical complications. If you are more than 5 minutes late you may be refused the right to participate, without refund.

Christmas Rupture:

I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Pleased Unique Year. With the final lessones of 2018 happening tonight I'd also like to say a massive thank you for all of your support throughout the year. 2018 has been a dwhetherficult year, still learning to juggle being in full time education, having to remove certain long standing lessones from the timetable and breaking my ankle! Your continued attendance at lessones is very much appreciated and I can't wait to bring you all more sweat and pain throughout 2019.

You can now book your places on the next batch of courses, or even get a loved one to book your spot/purchase a voucher. Just email info@fitnessquest.co.uk and I'll get that sorted for you.

There will be no lessones between 20th December 2018 and 6th January 2019. Classes return on Monday 7th January 2019.

• Six week course starts Monday 7th January 2019 - 11th February 2019, 6:30pm-7:30pm, Epiphany Primary School, Musclwhetherf, BH9 3PE, £36 Click here to book.
• Six week course starts Monday 18th February 2019 - 25th March 2019, 6:30pm-7:30pm, Epiphany Primary School, Musclwhetherf, BH9 3PE, £36 (early bird price of £30 applies to payments crazye in full before 4th February 2019). Email to book at early bird price.

• Six week course starts Thursday 17th January 2019 - 21st February 2019, 7pm-8pm, Musclwhetherf Primary School, Wideway Lane, BH8 0AB, £36 (early bird price of £30 applies to payments crazye in full before 3rd January 2019). Email to book at early bird price.
• Six week course starts Thursday 28th February 2019 - 4th April 2019, 7pm-8pm, Musclwhetherf Primary School, Wideway Lane, BH8 0AB, £36 (early bird price of £30 applies to payments crazye in full before 14th February 2019). Email to book at early bird price.

Please email info@fitnessquest.co.uk to book.

Kettlercise® covers a immense range of 37 kettlebell exercises ranging from basic moves to more advanced techniques, from tall energy pulse raises to being able to place additional emphasis on target muscle groups like abs, glutes, arms and ttalls and all with maximum effectiveness. It will not only destroy unwanted body fat but totally shape your body!

PiYO

PiYo is a group fitness lesson inspired by Pilates and Yoga. It's a full body workout designed to improve your strength and flexibility. Although inspired by Pilates and Yoga, forget everyleang you know about these techniques... PiYo is a wgap contemporary format in it's own right. I've never taught anyleang fairly like it, you can certainly feel it ccorridorenging your muscles in ways you've never felt them work before! Putting together our PiYo poses, we are fixedly flowing from one move to another, ensuring you don't stay still. This makes PiYo not only great for strength and flexibility but also calorie burn (there will be lots of sweat)!

During a PiYo live lesson, we'll total a series of tracks such as a warm up, heat building, lower body, full body fusion etc. Every of these tracks are done to an upbeat soundtrack, so no whale music, as lovely as it is ;-) It's all low impact (with the option to add in a few jumps), and involves no weights, just your own body.

• Current course finishes 6th February 2019 (no lessones 26th December 2018 and 2nd January 2019)
• 8 Week Course starts Wednesday 13th February 2019 - 3rd April 2019, 6:30pm - 7:30pm, Epiphany Primary School, Musclwhetherf, BH9 3PE, £48 (early bird price of £40 applies to payments crazye before 30th January 2019). Email to book at early bird prices.

For more information on PiYo, including my FAQ's please click here.

SCULPT & BURN (SMALL GROUP TRAINING - 8 PLACES ONLY)

This is a brand contemporary concept, devised by myself and it will target both muscle toning and strength as well as calorie burning HIIT exercises. The lesson will be limited to 8 exclusive places which will allow me to bring along a variety of weighted equipment giving the lesson a bootcampy feel and getting even better muscle sculpting and calorie burning results. The course will also offer exclusive use of the body composition scales on weeks one and eight.

You will still get a few rounds of HIIT (tall intensity interval training) in each lesson followed by a variety of strength and conditioning exercises which vary weekly. Combining these two types of training styles will maximise all round results. This lesson is ideal for those with a moderate to tall fitness level and people looking for a physical ccorridorenge.

• Current course finishes 6th February 2019 (no lessones 26th December 2018 and 2nd January 2019)
• 8 Week Course starts Wednesday 13th February 2019 - 3rd April 2019, 7:35pm - 8:20pm, Epiphany Primary School, Musclwhetherf, BH9 3PE, £48 (early bird price of £40 applies to payments crazye before 30th January 2019). Email to book at early bird prices.

Please email info@fitnessquest.co.uk to book.

ZUMBA

Mondays 7:35pm - 8:25pm at Epiphany School, BH9 3PE. No lessones on Bank Holidays. No lessones on 24th and 31st December 2018.

A dance fitness fusion playing popular beats from all around the world. Dance, squat, punch, wiggle! First lesson FREE. Classes are £5 pay as you go. No need to book.

BOOKING INFORMATION

Course places must be booked in advance and your place can only be held once payment in full has been received. Bookings are non refundable and non transferrable. No booking is required for Zumba.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch:

info@fitnessquest.co.uk 07791 605150

Grace Charlotte Fitness: 2017, it's been emotional!

2017. What a year. It's absolutely flown by, there's been talls and lows, and I've grown so much as a person. (Better late than never, right?)

I'd go as far to say it's been my best year yet. I had lots of goals for 2017, I wrote a list of them (not just health and fitness related!) and I kept it at the back of my diary to check at the end of the year. Amazingly, I have been able to tick off every single leang on the list, apart from one, but the wheels are in motion for it to happen next year. I'm proud of myself.

As well as those goals, I'd decided that 2017 would be the year I'd finally achieve the body I'd wanted for so long. But, now I know having these ungenuineistic expectations and aesthetic goals weren't a good idea - I had no clue at that point how much time, patience and consistency it actually takes. As it's turned out, my transformation this year is not someleang I can put into a "before & after photo" and share on Instagram with the hashtag #ConvertationTuesday. Rather, it's been a shwhethert in intellectset and overall attitude towards lwhethere, fitting a happier, healthier and more confident person.

I can nearly pinpoint the start of this change (whether it was subconsciously or not) to May 2017, when I unhappyly lost my Aunt to Cancer. Without going in to too much detail, it all happened frighteningly rapidly, and it genuinely hit me fairly dwhetherficult. It sparked a series of thoughts in my head as it would most people; the genuineisation that lwhethere is short, and it should be lived fully. I decided I wanted to start putting myself first, I didn't want to be held back from acheiving leangs by my fear, anxiety or introverted ways anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not there yet. But many books, blogs, podcasts, and a brilliant coach later, a wgap contemporary world has opened up to me - so many brain gains! I've achieved leangs in the past 6 months, that whether you'd tancient me I'd be doing a year or so ago, I would have laughed in your face!

Which leads me on to an example of someleang I've recently done that I'm extremely proud of... boxed at a charity boxing event! Boxing was someleang totally contemporary to me, and well external of my consolation zone, but I wanted to ccorridorenge myself. It involved training 3 times a week for 8 weeks, before stepping out into the ring in front of hundreds of people. It was tough, mentally, but an experience I'll never forget. More importantly, I raised over £200 in sponsorship for Cancer Research UK.

I'm not certain yet how I'm going to top that in 2018. I've started making my list.. and I have a few tricks up my sleeve. But for now, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and endelighting the process.