BE STRONG! FEEL FAB! GET FIT!
SHAPE UP, FEEL GREAT, TONE UP, GET FIT, BE HAPPY
Get into shape to future proof your body
1) Be in a calorie deficit of food verses activity
2) Be aware of hormones (stress levels/fluctuations)
3) Start strength training to build Bones and tone muscles
4) Daily - 30 min walk and drink plenty of water
5) Workouts regularly at least once a week - a variety of cross training
6) Balance on each leg for 10 seconds x 5
7) If you sit down at a desk get up and stretch or move every hours
call me to book in and discuss and pay as you go in class 07976 276194
Lets get those tums and bums challenged to be toned up today
WHY STEP?
STEP was all the rage in the 1980s so If you never got the invite to this exclusive club and missed it the 1st time around, take the opportunity to try it, you will get hooked. I have never lost the passion for STEP it is a fun dynamic class to teach. I can be innovative as I love the freedom to teach freestyle to get a great workout with very simple moves.
Some people think step aerobics went out with fluorescent leotards thong bums, shoulder pads and big hair, but this low-impact cardio blast from the past is still very much a current way of teaching to get results.
Other than the fun factor, what I love about step aerobics is that you don’t have to try that hard to get your heart rate up and to get your 10,000 steps in easily.
Within a few minutes, you can burn calories and work your major muscle groups. The best part is, you’re in total control of your intensity, working at your choice of platform height 2 raisers or 4, doing repeaters for 5 or 3 you choose what suits you for your fitness level
How much exercise should I do?
Start gently in order to build up gradually, especially if you haven't done any exercise for years. You may and have concerns or you are not sure about something then talk to your GP first.
It is recommended to do moderate exercise 30 minutes each day at least five times a week. A good starting point may be to begin with a daily walk of 5 mins. Then build yourself up gradually, increasing the time and pace of the walk to 30 minutes and time yourself over a number of weeks. Walking is great for your health and it can be very social as WGC council have organised walking groups
As you get more familiar and more confident exercising, then you can think about extending the exercise and come to one of my classes. These activities will make a real difference to your life, not only in how you feel all round, but also how much good it will do to your overall health.
Types of Exercise
1. Aerobic exercise
Often known as Cardio, this is the type of exercise that increases your lungs and gets you breathing hard, which is great for the heart ie cardiovascular system. It’s very important to push our bodies on a daily basis to ensure that our heart and lungs are working hard. It is very easy to start losing their effectiveness with time and fitness levels decrease if you do not exercise consistently.
2. Resistance Exercise
This is simply the technical term for exercises where you would use either your body weight, resistance bands or weighted equipment. This is more important in your fifties as people are realising that they need to look after their own bodies to future proof for longevity.
People who regularly exercise really do look great for their age and may have a youthful appearance, also reducing age related ailments at the same time.
3. Flexibility/Mobility
We all get stiffer as we age, it’s an inevitable fact of life we cannot avoid. You just need to prepare yourself with mobility and flexibility exercises. These exercises are gentle and aim to stretch and mobilise your joints to a full range of motion.
Some of us will just have stiff joints, while others will have severe sore joint problems and develop arthritis, which is a very common disease.
The most important thing is we must continue to move and use our joints daily and stretch our muscles to maintain mobility and as much movement as possible. Sitting at desks in sedentary positions is causing stiffness in all age groups from necks, backs, hips. We need to move regularly and if we don't do this, we'll end up getting stiffer quicker, this may lead to more severe problems like arthritis, more pain.
Effectiveness of a good exercise routine
· Build strength, mobility and agility all in the same workout
· Save time and energy with shorter workout time
· Effective workout that gives you solid results
Workout Exercises that will get you results
A circuit would include 10 exercises using equipment for resistance either weights or bands, to work all the muscles of the body including the core and doing balance and mobility exercises. Work for Two circuits then 1 HIIT
Sample of exercises 1 min Sample of the HIIT 20/10
· Abdominal crunches Jacks, plyos
* Back raisers Hill Climbers
This is a sample. More advanced exercisers may want to increase the intensity by adding weight or trying more advanced exercises.
Avoid over training and burn out
High intensity Training demands more energy than traditional workouts because you're moving quickly, you'll want to be very familiar with the exercises so that you have good form, to avoid injury when you get tired.
Try practicing the exercises with as much rest as you need to build yourself up to fitness and then reducing the periods of rest as your fitness improves. Too much high-intensity training, no matter what kind it is, can lead to overtraining injury, or even burnout your body needs to recover. Cross training is recommended with other types of workouts, STEP, cardio, yoga, pilates, aqua or daily walks and this will avoid the risk of this
See here and example of exercises you might want to try at home .
Aim to do 30 seconds work at a high intensity as hard as you can do then rest for 15 seconds if that is too hard to start with try 20 seconds and 10 second rest. If too easy the you may want to work 45/rest 15
1. Plyos/ Star jumps or half stars
o Stand with your arms by your side, and feet together
o For Plyos Leap wide with legs into the air, jacks feet land on the floor, half stars one leg out alternating, with arms extended
o Leap back to centre, then repeat
2. Sit-ups/Abs
o Lie on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet on the ground
o Pull in your abs/ stomach muscles and raise your torso/upper body leading from the ribs up before slowly returning to the lying position
3. Power Squats / or squat no power
o Stand up straight, with your feet shoulder-width apart
o Bend your knees while keeping your torso vertical
o Whilst knees are bent push out your buttocks low to where it resembles sitting on an invisible chair
o Power up through your legs explosive movemet to a standing position lifting the feet off the floor then repeat
4. Hill climbers
o Start in plank position, with your arms extended and palms face down on the ground
o Bring your left knee up to your chest, keeping your right leg extended
o Quickly return your left leg to the plank position and switch feet
o This should feel like a sort of sprint, rapidly moving your legs back and forth
5. Burpees or Frog jumps
o From standing jump low to the ground frog jumps up and down reaching tall… to do burpee
o Extend legs out to plank position
o quickly jump your feet forward so they land between your hands and you are in a kind of frog crouch
o Push off from your legs and leap into the air, extending your arms to the sky
o Once you land, quickly drop back into the ‘frog’ position, then jump your legs back to plank and repeat the move