Health Related Fitness Tips

Citrus health (June 18^th)
Citrus fruit contains plenty of vitamin C which is important for general health and wellbeing, in particular your skin and immunity against viruses. Citrus fruit also contains potassium important for efficient muscle contraction and can also assist in improving the body's ability to expel toxins. The lemon fruit is a common citrus fruit and is often used in drinks to cleanse the system and also to strengthen the immune system and to ease the symptoms of colds and flu and can also be beneficial in the treatment of other infections. The lemon is a citrus fruit that is rich in vitamin B and C and can have a cleansing effect on the digestive system. It is believed by health experts that if you drink a glass of fresh orange juice with every meal that you can drastically reduce your heart disease risk.

Health therapy (June 17^th)
Recovery from exercise can sometimes mean that massage may be needed to loosen excessively tight and fatigued muscles. As you get older your muscles can sometimes take longer to recover from hard training so regular massage can enable you to train injury free more consistently. There are many health benefits from regularly having a total body massage as well as a relaxed feeling of wellbeing afterwards. Massage can stimulate the blood circulation and also the lymphatic system and assists in the elimination of toxins within the body. Try to look for qualified massage therapists that will hopefully make you feel at ease and safe. Massage is an excellent form of body therapy and is performed for relaxation, relief of pain, to stimulate and to tone your body."You don't get fit from training, but recovering from training." Graham Obree (Scottish World Cycling Champion)

Breathe peacefully to reduce stress (June 16^th)
Slow controlled breathing can also slow your heart rate and produce a sense of calm to reduce negative emotions. Yoga breathing exercises are excellent for reducing every day stress. The word meditation comes from the Latin 'moderi' meaning to heal and is very beneficial for your general health and mental wellness especially if you regularly exercise to the point of sweating. Meditation is a fantastic method of reducing stress and energising your life and like any disciplines it has to be practiced every day to sustain health giving results. There are lots of methods of meditational breathing but a basic approach to start with is to sit comfortably with your back straight in a place where you will not be disturbed. The setting is crucial to induce relaxation and should be a quiet and warm location. Slow controlled and relaxed exhalations will enable you focus on positive images and optimistic thoughts to enhance and calm your inner self.

Being very fit is hard work (June 15^th)
Don't let anyone tell you that getting very fit is easy, it is hard work and you have to apply yourself like a top class athlete and if you do then the life benefits are great. Discipline is the key factor to adhering to a challenging exercise programme and you have to prepare yourself mentally for the fact that it involves some very balanced hard physical work. Athletes motivate themselves every day to maintain a high standard of performance and this is achieved by doing exercise even though they don't feel motivated that particular day. The key to doing that is to recognise that it is normal and everyone goes through that challenge so the habitual discipline has to carry you through on those low days. A consistent training programme where you are disciplined means you need to recognise when you are hiding from what you need to do to improve your fitness."Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win."
Nadia Comenci. The 1st Olympic gymnast to score 'the perfect 10'

Habitual health habits (June 14^th)
Whether you decide to briskly walk every day or go jogging then you have to adhere to a daily discipline of moving your body every day. It is as simple 'move your body' and get a better level of health related fitness. Consistent regular exercise can be planned out throughout the week to suit your life routine and the person you are, as some people are more alert and active in the morning so getting up early and going for jog or brisk walk before breakfast may be the better option for them. Getting into a habitual physical routine that's suits your lifestyle needs may just need a bit of time management, health experts believe that it takes 3 weeks for a good health habit to form so that should be the initial aim. So plan your health positives and make them habits that will sustain your happiness and quality of life.

Mental wellness (June 13^th)
Exercising every day is an excellent way to maintain not only your physical health but also your general mental wellness. If you lead a stressful life then an excellent way to counter this is to do stamina based training as too much stress in your life reduces your quality of life and can raise your risk of heart disease. Practicing healthy habits and routines every day will counteract the negatives effects of stress on your body and will make you feel more optimistic and energised. Some levels of stress are important for a balanced lifestyle and this type of positive stress is called eustress which enables us function every day. Regular light exercise such as walking in the daylight to work or to the shops will have a very positive affect on your daily outlook as exposure to daylight can increase your serotonin levels. "Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency." Natalie Goldberg

Benefits of stamina training (June 12^th)
Stamina training is excellent for your long term health because it keeps your body fat to a healthy level. Stamina based training regularly that challenges your body beyond what you may perceive as your comfort zone by keeping your heart rate high for a longer duration of time. When you are running, cycling or swimming your heart has to work very hard to pump the blood around the body so that all the working muscles can receive enough oxygen to perform aerobically. The heart is the major muscle in your body that keeps you alive so the more often you challenge it through endurance exercise then the more efficient it becomes over time. Endurance athletes have very efficient hearts due to the duration and intensity involved to perform well in stamina events and often have extremely low resting heart rates which is a general indicator of heart efficiency. Stamina exercise can offset the effects of negative stress and should be practiced regularly for your mental health and wellness.

Chronic fatigue from overtraining (June 11^th)
One of the main mistakes that all top athletes make when learning their fitness trade is that they spent too much time overtraining. Many athletes feel that if they hadn't over trained that they may have reached a top level of fitness sooner. If you over train your fitness levels of improvement can stagnate and actually put you at risk of becoming ill and maybe suffer from extreme exhaustion. There are a variety of causes of chronic fatigue from over training and could be due to a lack of sleep, stress and a poor diet. Care needs to be taken and expert coaches can often be heard saying to the athletes "listen to your body", which means that if you are over-tired you need to back off to allow your body to recover. Depriving your body of essential nutrients and vitamins can lead to excessive levels of tiredness that can leave you lifeless and sluggish. Poor quality sleep can be as a result of overtraining and continuous muscle soreness can be an indicator that you are training too hard.

Start running (June 10^th)
If you are planning to start running for fitness or you are recovering from an injury or worried about your health, then go to see your Doctor or Physician before you start running. If you haven't exercised for a while you may want to gradually build your fitness levels gently with cycling or brisk walking first to give yourself a base fitness. The great thing about running is it requires very little equipment, but a good pair of running shoes that suit your foot type will reduce the risk of injury. There are lots of types of running shoes on the market, so get advice from a specialist running shop who will enable you to find the correct type of running shoe for you. The shock absorption of a running shoe declines over time so your risk of injury is increased if you don't replace them regularly every 3 months or so, obviously this is dependent on the amount of mileage you log. Try and keep a training diary as this will help you record your improvements and also try and get a training partner who is of a similar level of fitness as yourself as this will help you to train more consistently.
"Enjoy when you can, endure when you must." Goethe (born 1749)

Cycle fit (June 9^th)
Cycling is a fantastic form of exercise and is fun for the whole family. There is plenty of health benefits associated with frequent cycling as part of your fitness plan. You can drastically improve your cardiovascular fitness and therefore lower your risk of heart attack and strokes. Cycling is a low-impact activity, so you can improve muscle tone and maintain healthy body fat levels without stressing your ankle and knee joints. Cycling is also a practical mode of commuting and getting around, so you could cycle to work and save on petrol costs, public transport tickets and parking fees. Leisure cycling is becoming much more popular in Britain following the success of the Sky participation rides and there are also a lot more off-road cycle routes across the country now so plenty of opportunities to cycle for pleasure.

Health nutrients (June 8^th)
Some nutrients contained in foods can be very beneficial for the protection of your health. Foods such as tomatoes and peppers are high in nutrients and contain antioxidants that are extremely good for your general health and wellbeing. Recent research has shown that garlic is good for your heart and can significantly reduce your chance of a heart attack. Heart decease is the UK's largest killer causing approximately a 250,000 deaths a year and so specific attention should be given to the types of food you consume every day. Garlic contains allicin, a cholesterol-fighting substance that inhibits the retention of the negative cholesterol in the blood, garlic supplements were found to reduce the risk of blood clots. Vitamin C found in broccoli, citrus fruits and bananas is not easily stored within the body so should be consumed everyday as part of your dietary intake.

Get going gradually (June 7^th)
When you start exercising begin gradually, start moving your body gradually until you get warm and always warm up before you start your main training session. If you skip a proper warm up you risk injury and you won't perform to your optimum exercise levels and therefore you won't get the best out of yourself. Always warm up, ensure that you have enough clothing on to keep your muscles warm then start very steady aerobic exercise to create heat within your large muscle groups and to increase your heart rate gradually to get the blood pumping faster around your body to the expected working muscles. Work towards a minimum of a 10 minute warm up for an hour long session also include some light static stretching exercises once your muscles are warm and then you are ready to go.
"WHEN THE GUN SHOOTS, YOU GOTTA GO" World Class Sprinter. Ato Boldon

Last longer (June 6^th)
If you are running or performing endurance based exercise regularly 5 times a week you need to ensure that you have enough energy to last longer and therefore get fitter over time. It is also is important to schedule recovery in your training plans as well as giving specific attention to your diet to ensure that you replace energy when you have trained hard. Slow release complex carbohydrates have a longer lasting energy release which is excellent for people who participate in endurance and stamina exercise such as running, rowing, swimming, long distance walking and cycling. Brown rice, wholemeal bread and pasta are slow release carbohydrates and contain vitamin B which is essential for the release of energy. It is important to ensure that you drink plenty of fluids to maintain your blood volume and the more carbohydrates you consume the more you need to drink.

Replenish your health (June 5^th)
There are so many choices for naturally sourced foods so why do we choose what are called convenient mass processed foods? To maintain high levels of energy for an active lifestyle then you have to aim at replenishment of fluids and foods that are as natural as possible. Natural vitamins are organic substances that are found in plants and animals and are better sourced through naturally produced foodstuffs. It is important not to over-cook vegetables otherwise you will lose a lot of the beneficial health organic nutrients present. Most vitamins cannot be made by your body so it is important to consume plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables daily. Avoid packaged foods as much as possible as they often contain salt and sugar, over time you will see obvious health related fitness gains and experience higher levels of energy every day.
"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art." La Rochefoucauld

Run in daylight (June 4^th)
I've just been out for a run today in the daylight running along the canal paths and across fields for 45 minutes and I feel great. Why do I feel so good when before I started I felt grumpy? Well when you perform endurance exercise your body releases a bio-chemical response that flushes your brain with feel good endorphins. Endorphins reduce anxiety, elevate your mood and as a friend of mine said when she goes running it is her "head's filing system" which means she is able to put her problems into a more balanced perspective. Also if you get out in the daylight, even if it is cloudy the body increases its serotonin levels which can also make you see things in a more positive light and stimulate vitamin D which is good for your bones. So get out there and get moving in daylight.

Fruit for your health (June 3^rd)
Fruit is fast food when you are busy and need healthy quick energy, there is very little preparation involved so it is also a convenience food. The banana is an excellent health food as it stimulates the production of serotonin which is a chemical in the body in the body that assists in elevating mood. A banana is also a slow release carbohydrate which is rich in vitamins, fibre and iron important for the transport of oxygen in the bloodstream. Bananas also contain potassium which are essential for efficient muscle contraction as well as fructose which is fruit sugar that gives quick energy. Fruit is such a basic food that is health and energy giving especially if you are physically active and need to maintain your health and well-being during a busy lifestyle.

Drink water (June 2^nd)
By drinking water consistently you can reduce your risk of heart attack by as much as 40% and water has no calories, fat, carbohydrates or sugar. If you become dehydrated you lose energy and your ability to concentrate and you will basically feel very tired constantly. Drinking water can reduce the acidity in your digestive system and can help offset the risk of headaches. Your skin will become fresher and will glow as a result of remaining hydrated and you sleep patterns will be more consistent by drinking water more regularly. If you become dehydrated it will drastically reduce your stamina and ability to perform exercise to a high level. So if you want to remain healthy and alert drink water with every meal and between meals too.
"Water is the driving force of all nature." Leonardo da Vinci

Zatopek the marathon victor (June 1^st)
Emil Zatopek was the only distance runner to win the 5000m, 10,000m and the Marathon in one Olympics in Helsinki in 1952. This Czech athlete was very tough on himself to achieve greatness and if you want to achieve a high level of fitness then you have to do the same. In order to improve your fitness and performance you have to train hard and be self-disciplined and yes tough with yourself. Try to change your initial mind set so that you aim beyond the minimum amount of training to maintain health and move forward with your health goals and whatever approach you choose you still have to stick to the principle of gradual increase over time with adequate recovery. There does however still need to be a level of hard work and pushing forward to get the results you want and eventually you reach the point where it is time to be tough on yourself. To sustain a healthy and lean body as you get older it is important to keep pushing your body's physical limits consistently over a long period of time.