Go to last week’s tip.
It is an absolute must to carry ID with you when you are out exercising, even if you are in a group. Whether you are running, walking, cycling or anything else, you need some form of ID on you just in case the worst happens.
I use Road ID.
Put any details you think necessary on your Road ID.
Road ID have several options available, with all of them enabling you to put your name, and then any additional info you think necessary, such as phone numbers of emergency contacts, medical conditions, allergies, blood type, and so on. The band comes in your choice of colour, and the metal plate has a lifetime warranty.For something that could save your life by providing the right information immediately to those first responders, this is one of the best investments you can make in yourself.
Right now, I have some discount codes available, so contact me here, and if you are one of the first 5 to contact me before the end of October 2012, one of them can be yours.
In the winter months, the days are shorter, the mornings are cooler, and the nights can be cool too. It’s very easy to forget to exercise or to not make time for it in the winter months.
So what can you do to prevent the all-too-common winter weight gain?
Here are a few tips to boost your exercise in winter.
Exercise at night – find a friend to walk or run with, even if you think you live in a safe area. The accountability of having someone to rely on for a regular appointment will make you more inclined to exercise in winter. Be sure to wear white/light coloured clothing, and even carry a torch or a head lamp. You can purchase reflective tape or anklets/bracelets to ensure that cars see you coming. Best to stick to the footpath where possible.
Exercise in the morning – try to get going in the morning. It will boost your metabolism for the entire day, making you feel fresh and energized. Get your warm clothes ready right by your bed so you don’t even have to get out of bed to get changed. Then get up quickly and get out the door. If it is still dark, follow the same safety tips as the previous point.
Avoid eating to ‘warm yourself up’ – it’s easy to use food as a way to feel better or to warm yourself up in the winter months, but be aware of the extra calories you are putting into your body. That warm hot chocolate you just had, that’s 210 calories, plus 23 calories for each marshmallow. That creamy pumpkin soup, 110 calories, plus 25 for the sour cream on top. Instead, try drinking tea, particularly green tea – it has antioxidants and plenty of other good stuff that will boost your body and it has practically no calories, making it the perfect winter-warmup drink.
Join a boot camp – good boot camps will run all year round, not stopping in the winter just because the temperature drops a little bit. Be prepared to work hard and get sweating. Don’t be surprised if you are too hot to wear your warm weather clothes by half way through the session. We at Pinnacle Exercise Physiology continue to exercise in winter and have been braving the winter mornings at Peter Lightfoot oval in Centenary at sunrise to get a great exercise session in first thing in the morning, boosting metabolisms for the entire day. Click this link for your free trial to come and join us!
Now with the prevalence of smart phones in our lives, there is a great opportunity for people to access information and tools on how to be fit and healthy. There are thousands of apps available for smart phones that can help you on your fitness journey.
I use several fitness apps on my iphone for different occasions. I have Nike+ for running – it keeps track of your total k’s, average pace, time, allows you to challenge friends to runs and keeps track of your personal bests, like longest distance, longest time, fastest 1k or 5k.
Gymboss Timers are also good. I use these to time intervals in run training and in the gym too. There are a few pre-set timers, but you can create your own too. Whether it’s a 30s rest interval or 3 sets of 10 minute hard efforts with a 2 min recovery you can do it. The app will give a sound effect when the end of the interval is up so you don’t have to look at the phone all the time.
The third app I use is Allsport GPS. You can use this for running, cycling, mountain biking, hiking, skiing or anything really. I use it for cycling sometimes, as it provides average speed, pace, max speed, time and distance. This is great for those ‘data-minded’ people like myself who like to keep track and compare every workout.
There are also heaps of apps for strength training too, letting your create and record workouts very easily.
What apps do you use?
Vitamin D is important for production of calcitriol, a hormone that regulates, among other things, calcium in the body, and as a result is important for bone health.
Where do I get Vitamin D from? You get it from the sun, and from a good number of foods.
How much is required? 5-30 minutes per day to the face, arms, legs or back twice a week is generally enough exposure.
This is a major positive for my Centenary boot camp as my clients will all get their daily vitamin D levels AND a healthy workout at the same time. Continue Reading
1 in 2 Australian adults will experience some sort of lower back pain in their life. Poor manual handling and lifting techniques are often to blame for these sorts of injuries.
Follow the steps in this video next time you lift something, to ensure you do it in the safest way possible. Continue Reading
With school holidays approaching, it is very easy to fall off the exercise wagon and get out of your usual routine. So whether you are on the road, in a holiday unit or just at home unable to get to the gym, you can still exercise with this body weight circuit training.
Do these as a circuit for 30 seconds on each exercise or do 15 reps of each exercise then move on. Repeat 2-5 times.
No equipment required.
Pushups
Squats (or for more of a challenge do jump squats, step/box jumps)
Tricep dips
Lunges (more challenging variations are jump lunges, Bulgarian lunges)
Ab crunches
Ab cycles
Star jumps
If you have some equipment add:
Shoulder press (use milk/juice cartons or a backpack/bag)
Bicep curls
Overhead Tricep extension
There you go – a super quick workout that will get your heart pumping and muscles working. No need to gain a few kilos over this school holiday break – exercise at home and keep in shape until you get back to your routine.
There used to be a time not so long ago when every group of friends at school had a ‘fat kid’ in it, and they go teased for being fat. Now with the rise of childhood obesity (government reports are that 20-25% of children under 18 are obese/overweight) is it almost getting to the point where there will be the token ‘skinny kid’, and they will be the one who stand out. 
Who is to blame for this rising epidemic? Parents, schools, governments, the kids? Let’s take a look at each of these and how they can impact childhood obesity.
Let’s start with schools. Blame the schools I say! Surely they have the biggest influence over the children, as they spend 30 hours a week there. Who cares if the kids can’t read, write, do maths, understand how the world works or learn about history. All these things should make way for sport and physical activity. Besides, teachers don’t already have enough on their plate, between lesson planning, assignment and test marking, actually teaching and all the other roles they play, they should learn to become adept at planning and programming detailed physical fitness and activity sessions too. Perhaps that is a bit too extreme? Continue Reading
