Touted as a wonder drug that can slash your chances of suffering from a heart attack or stroke by up to 25%, statins have reappeared in the news very recently, following the publication of new guidelines that recommend that over a million extra people should be prescribed them in a bid to save more lives. This would add approximately £28million to the annual NHS bill and the suggestion has courted controversy because effectively the strategy would be to put currently healthy people on medication for the rest of their lives.

Statins are a family of cholesterol busting drugs and with cardiovascular disease accounting for one in three deaths in the UK - typically over 120,000 deaths annually, there is a serious argument for their prescription. If you add into the mix the statistic that for every heart disease related death there are at least two people who suffer a non fatal heart related illness - ie: over a quarter of a million additional sufferers, then that argument becomes much, much louder.

However, despite their benefits, statins have attracted some controversy since their emergence because as with most drugs, there are some notable side affects that regular statin users can suffer from which need to be considered. These problems include headaches, insomnia, abdominal pain and in severe cases, muscle wastage. So whilst statins are undoubtedly effective, many people would rather never take medication unless they absolutely have to. So Statins are a big health and fitness issue and in my next post I’m looking at the steps that you can take to help reduce your risk factors from suffering from a heart related illness - before it happens. . .

The Race for Life has been a phenomenal success and no more than locally with Chester hosting two races from the Zoo, together with one at Delamere Forest, two at Tatton Park, and further events a little further afield in Liverpool, on the Wirral and replicated up and down the entire country. Each race typically attracts 1500+ entrants, demonstrating the popularity of the race series, which successfully caters for runners of all abilities. From regular club athletes, through to women who complete one or more Race for Life event each year, right through to first timers, taking part is a fantastic experience and whether you plan to run all the way, run/jog or walk - possibly with younger children alongside, you won’t feel at all out of place and I can guarantee that you will thoroughly enjoy the event. For many women, the 5K will be their first foray into racing and as usual, we always have a number of our Personal Training Clients whom we have been helping prepare specifically for the event taking part next month. Hence this week, for all the women taking part either in a Race for Life event or any other event, I’m focusing upon the final elements of your training and preparation, so you can ensure that you line up in the best possible shape to enjoy the whole experience and have a great race.

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At this time of year there is a plethora of races available for runners of all standards to aim for, from 5K’s, 10K’s and towards the end of the summer, even a few half-marathons as well.

However, with ever-increasing draws on your time, it can sometimes be difficult  to maintain your enthusiasm and training right from when you first entered your event until race day so if you feel that you haven’t clocked up sufficient miles, don’t try to cram in lots of last minute training. Every  Sunday at races up and down the country there will be hundreds of runners who for various reasons - work commitments, injury problems, lack of training time, etc who haven’t been able to put in the mileage necessary to complete the race without difficulty. Well firstly that means that your race will be tough but secondly, it means that afterwards (both as soon as the finish line is crossed and also for the following few days) there will potentially be some sore and aching muscles to attend to. Hence this week, I’m focusing upon some helpful post-race strategies to help you recover from the race and reduce that ‘robot walk’ when you go into work on Monday!

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Unless you’ve been out of the country, its unlikely that you’ve missed the recent media storm surrounding the launch of the latest Nintendo Wii gaming product - the Wii Fit. The Nintendo Wii is the ground breaking computer games console that has re-defined gaming with its innovative hand-held motion sensor control that allows users to play interactive computer games and Nintendo have shifted some 25 million units since 2006. Wii Fit is a new computer game that has been aimed at the health and fitness market and Nintendo have promoted it as enabling users to work on four fitness disciplines, namely; muscle building, aerobics, balance and Yoga. The game consists of a pressure sensitive balance board that is linked up to your main Wii console and TV, upon which you carry out a variety of exercises. You can record your scores and compare previous performances and Nintendo promote the unit as a fun way to get fit. Since the launch of Wii Fit, it is estimated that 90 units per minute are being sold so it’s been a runaway success with consumers - but is it genuinely a product that will help you get fit or are both the manufacturers and users kidding themselves that you can actually improve your health and fitness via a game that you play in your living room? Well, this week, I’m assessing the Wii Fit and comparing it with alternative fitness activities to identify whether it can really make a difference to your fitness or is it merely paying lip service to health in a bid to position itself as a fitness product?

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Although the weather’s improving and fair-weather opportunities for exercise are increasing, typically this time of year can be a time where motivation flags, targets are long forgotten and that serious resolve that you committed to a few months ago seems to have vanished into the ether! Whether your target was to lose weight, improve your overall health and fitness or perhaps more competition based, it ca be difficult to remain focused. For example, I see many runners who have trained religiously through the worst that the Winter has to offer, complete a target like the London Marathon or more locally, the Chester Half-Marathon and then stop. All that time, all that effort and all those amazing fitness gains dissipated through just a few short weeks inactivity. The problem is the lack of a target because a target really focuses your mind on committing to exercise regularly rather than sporadically and of course it’s regular exercise that is the key to long-term health and fitness. So, if you’ve lost your way a little with your fitness programme, or your thrice-weekly gym visits are now more like thrice-monthly, or that consistent weight loss that you achieved in January has halted then this week I’m looking at the top three ways to help you keep target focused that will help you re-focus and get back on track with your training.

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There’s a conversation that I have with people with disappointing regularity, whereby they tell me what exercise, sports and activities they USED to do. It goes something like this and these are real-life examples:

• ‘Oh I used to go to the gym a lot a few years ago’
• ‘I used to run but I don’t any more’
• ‘I was in great shape but I can’t seem to find the time these days - it’s just so difficult isn’t it’.

People don’t tell me what they’re currently doing, no, they’re focusing upon what’s in the past - because what they’re currently doing is either nothing or very little. Well I’m sorry to say that what’s in the past just doesn’t cut it when it comes to looking after your health and fitness throughout your life. Now whilst turning up at the gym every day may be beyond your available free time these days or perhaps running is impractical with say family commitments and possibly time pressures mean that you can’t commit to fitness with the same volumes that you could a few years ago but that doesn’t mean that all is lost. Indeed far from it. What is important is to factor in health and fitness into your life in the same way that you make time for eating, sleeping, working, evenings out, television, etc, etc. Sadly the gains and benefits that you enjoy from exercising regularly and being fit and healthy rapidly decrease when you lose the continuity with your training and so the deal is that you’ve got to continue with it all your life. Now before that blunt approach puts anyone off, let’s be frank. You plan to be sleeping and eating regularly all your life because they are both necessities for rest, recovery and refuelling so why would you treat your personal health and fitness any differently? No, I don’t know why either! So, this week, I’m looking at how you can switch the focus from what you USED to do to what you CAN do, with smart strategies to maximise your health and fitness benefits - whatever the constraints.

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There’s a popular makeover show on television called ‘Ten Years Younger’ that takes someone who looks older than their years and through a combination of styling, clothing, cosmetic surgery, dentistry, hairdressing and makeup, transforms them into someone who looks at least ten years younger - as verified by a straw poll of randomly selected people in the street. So what’s that got to do with health and fitness you might ask? Well, the British Journal of Sports Medicine has just published findings that beat this television programme hands down. Research by scientists from the University of Toronto has identified that regular exercise can slow down the effects of aging by up to 12 years - no re-styling or cosmetic enhancements required! There is a key issue here in that the makeover show addresses solely cosmetic changes - and having seen clips of the show, I have to admit that the end results usually look pretty impressive but it has absolutely no impact on health and fitness. Contrast that with the results from the study and the changes through exercise are substantial with long-term benefits for your health. Whilst keeping fit in order to look good is an excellent motivator, it’s no use if your car has immaculate bodywork if the engine won’t turn over. Additionally, if you’re fit and healthy, you both feel and look good. Examples include keeping your weight in your desired range, good, upright posture, toned, strong muscles, clear skin, energy and that’s not even counting the psychological benefits from regular exercise. So, if you’d like to reduce the aging process by up to 12 years (and who wouldn’t), what do you need to do? Well, this week, I’m looking at the findings of the study and combining them with recommendations to sustainably shave off those years - long-term. Read the rest of this entry »

Every year, on one designated Sunday in April, the starting gun fires to set off the world’s biggest and most famous road race, the Flora London Marathon. The race comprises 35,000 competitors, from elite, professional Kenyan athletes to amateur runners striving for their own personal bests, right through to first-timers seeking only to raise funds for their chosen charity. All-in-all an amazing spectacle of dedication and commitment that winds its way from the start at Blackheath through to the finish outside Buckingham Palace. With live TV coverage on the BBC, the event makes for impressive viewing as world-class and novice marathoners alike attempt to master what is regarded as the toughest event in the racing calendar, the 26.2 miles of the marathon. With some 700,000 finishers since the inaugural event in 1981, most people know someone who has completed the race but of course not everyone wants to commit to the training necessary to prepare for a marathon, let alone seeking to cover 26.2 miles completely under your own steam. However, whatever your personal health and fitness goals, everyone can draw inspiration from the event as the famous and not-so-famous attempt to overcome the challenge of the distance, overcome the wall and run further than they’ve probably ever run before. So this week I’m looking at the top three health and fitness goals that our Personal Training Clients bring to us when they want us to help them get fitter and I’m looking at matching marathon strategies that you can use to help you along the way.

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The age old argument over whether men or women have it tougher in life can now be officially resolved following the publication of the very latest research from two separate studies carried out in this country and in the USA on the challenges facing both sexes to maintain fitness as they age. Both studies have identified that as women get older, they find it harder to stay fit because they lose some of their capacity to store protein as muscle and this problem is compounded as women age because it also becomes harder for them to build muscle through exercise. Men fare much better because they don’t go through the menopause and the research hypothesised that a reduction in the hormone oestrogen could be responsible for limiting women’s ability to store protein. Oh dear - so all is lost then? Well, no, it isn’t - unless you decide to give in. Physiologically, as both men and women age, nature dictates that muscle mass will be lost but correct exercise protocols can slow, stop and even reverse any decline in strength and muscle mass that occurs with aging, however old you are and irrespective of whether you are male or female. Maintaining muscle mass is vitally important for us all bringing a whole host of health and fitness benefits including:

1. Burning calories (the energy cost of supporting muscle is greater than other tissues).
2. Reducing your risk of suffering from osteoporosis.
3. The ability to carry out everyday tasks with ease.
4. Maintaining overall strength and posture.
5. Protecting against injuries and falls.
6. Confidence.

So, there’s no need for alarm; women simply need strategies that help them to maintain their strength through the years and hence this week, I’m looking at how women can ensure that they don’t fall foul of Old Father Time and how you can be as strong in your nineties as you were in your twenties . . .

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Whatever our age, physical fitness and health, we all want to look our best. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that and in today’s extremely image conscious society - image is vital for a great many people. Taken a little further, the upward trend in the popularity of plastic surgery, liposuction, Botox, the lunch-hour face-lift, television style makeover programmes, etc, supports how as a nation, we are all increasingly concerned with our image and how we look. This national interest carries over very locally because I see many of our Personal Training Clients coming to us with specific goals to improve specific parts of their body - as opposed to considering overall health benefits. Now, personally, I see nothing wrong with wanting to look your best, particularly if it helps people focus on maintaining a healthy body-weight, following a better nutrition plan and exercising regularly but in my view, it should be balanced with a focus on health as much as a focus on the cosmetic side. Which brings me to an interesting study that I spotted recently from the University of Leicester. In the study, gyms generally were criticised for failing to promote the intrinsic health benefits of regular exercise, instead emphasising appearance over health. There is a big difference between ‘looking healthy’ and ‘being healthy’ and whilst the image of a slim and toned body is a great marketing tool, the catwalk ‘size zero’ look is not achievable for many and in numerous high profile examples, is completely undesirable for long-term health. So, this week, I’m focusing upon look-good strategies that are both good for your health and will result in cosmetic benefits as well - a real win-win!

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