There comes a time in everyone’s life when they lack the drive and determination to do what they need to do. We all experience it at one point or another, some more than others, but it hits us it can completely knock us off course and with it weeks or even months of effort and dedication.

The key thing here is to strike first. Get in to good habits from the outset. Don’t procrastinate and puts things off especially if those things are whats stopping you from reaching your goals.

Setting targets and deadlines is always one of my favourite approaches to achieving anything at all in life but never more so when it comes to losing weight or getting in to shape.

I’ve just added a really good page here – www.anewimage.co.uk/motivation.html

As we age the elasticity in our joints and ligaments decreases, this then causes a gradual decline in flexibility, range of motion and balance.

You may not notice until later life as these changes happen slowly. Falling may become more common being a significant hazard later in life, more so if bones are weak. Falling is the result of deteriorated balance.

You can prevent the loss of balance as it is a skill that can be trained.

It all comes back to the centre point of leading a healthy lifestyle by increasing your activity levels.

Variety is the key incorporating stretching, balance and strength training, keeping legs strong enough to prevent a stumble turning into a fall.

A strong joint is a more stable joint, and a stable joint is better at protecting against a fall.

Almost any activity that keeps you on your feet and moving is helpful for maintaining good balance.

One of the simplest activities for better balance is walking, either outdoors or on a treadmill, the less you walk, the more you begin to ‘unlearn’ the basic skill of balance.

Do you have a tendency to slouch forward and round your shoulders?

If it’s a yes you could make changes to improve your posture as poor posture can cause unsteadiness and balance problems. If you want to achieve a good posture, imagine you have a vertical line running through you ears, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. Following this checklist to see if you have the perfect posture:

• Head is held erect
• Chin is parallel to the floor
• Shoulders in line with your ears
• Upper back is straight
• Stomach is flat
• Lower back has a slight forward curve
• Knee caps are looking straight ahead

Stability balls (fit balls) are also a useful tool for challenging and improving your balance. There are many exercises you can incorporate into current routine, ask your trainer to show you.

Top Tip – Practice doing daily chores such as washing dishes, talking on the telephone, brushing teeth while standing on one leg.

Avoiding Bad Habits – Top Tips

•    Think you have a well balanced diet?

Write down everything you eat for a week and see if you can see any patterns appearing.

Make small changes and see the results.

•    If you get a craving for a bad habit – such as smoking or filling up on cakes and sweets. Set a timer for five minutes, and then see if you still have the craving when the alarm goes off. The time lapse can help pass the craving by.

•    If you find yourself snacking on high-sugar, high calorie sweets for a treat. Try switching to a piece of fruit or low sugar yogurt.

•    Procrastinating – putting everything off until tomorrow can cause more stress the longer you hold onto them. Make an achievable daily list to work through.

•    Are you a late night snacker or do you eat a big meal late at night? If you are, it can impair sleep quality giving the body heavy work making it more difficult to get to sleep. Eat earlier in the evening to avoid this.

•    Eat breakfast to stay slim – People who eat breakfast tend to consume more vitamins and minerals throughout the day than those who don’t eat breakfast. The breakfast eaters are also less likely to be overweight.

•    Eat a high sugar breakfast or drink a carbonated drink at breakfast and you are likely to feel hungrier and crave more sugar throughout the day.

•    Make sure you take a break during the day at work; people who work straight through tend to be less efficient than those with healthier practices. Leave your workplace and go for a work, meditate, eat your lunch/snack consciously – switch off from work.

•    Limit coffee to 3 cups or less a day, coffee drinkers tend to have more of the stress hormone circulating in their system making them more prone to stress. Drink more water or herbal teas.

•    Want to see the benefits of giving up your bad habits?

Making a clear list of the pros and cons makes it easier to measure up the benefits of giving up your bad habit.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease which means that your immune system attacks other parts of your body. It can affect any joint the most common places being the hands or the feet where it causes redness, pain and swelling around the joints.

The inflammation may also affect other internal organs such as heart, lungs and eyes.

The body’s immune system attacks healthy joints causing inflammation which can be very painful.

If the disease is not treated and controlled it can lead to permanent damage. Severe damage can lead to permanent joint deformity and disability causing so much pain and swelling that you may have difficulty walking.

Go here to find out more – Rheumatoid Arthritis

Mental Health is about the health and state of our minds, it’s about the way we think and feel. There can be many ways which affect our mental state and the way we feel emotionally can make an enormous difference to the way we live our lives.

For example someone who is very stressed may well eat all the wrong types of foods to gain some sort of control over their situation. As another example a person may be depressed and may eat for comfort.

The following article deals with these issues…

•    Coping with stress
•    Liking Yourself
•    Feeling bad things as well as good

Stress is something we all have in our lives in which we have to learn how to cope with it without reaching for ‘your thing’ be it cigarettes, chocolate or shouting at someone.

Go here to find out more… mental health

Cellulite is simply globules of fat that can be removed in the same way as can body fat.

The difference is that cellulite is small lumps of fat cells grouped together which give the uneven and unattractive appearance rather like orange peel.

However you CAN do something about it, although this does mean reducing calories or burning more off pretty much as you would if you felt you needed to lose some weight.

You need to make changes to your diet and become more active generally, but do this over a longer period of time than just a few weeks and you’ll see a big difference.

Go here to find out some great tips and advice for getting rid of cellulite wherever it is on your body – how to get rid of cellulite

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can show itself in feeling low, anxiety, fatigue, weight gain, carbohydrate craving, lack of energy and difficulty concentrating during the dark winter months.

Taking a holiday abroad at the darkest time of the year could be the key to alleviating SAD. Just a week of sunlight can warn off the symptoms for up to a month afterwards. As holidays are not the cheapest option with the recession, an alternative would be exposure to light boxes as these have been found to help sufferers of SAD by safely mimicking the effects of the summer sun.

Let’s look at the angle of health and fitness as there are many ways to help improve the symptoms of SAD.

Regular exercise, inside or outside could be almost as effective as light therapy for sufferers of the winter blues due to the release of the mood boosting endorphins into the body following any type of strenuous exercise.

Walking outdoors for 15 minutes everyday can help relieve sad because the sunlight and natural light enables the body to produce vitamin D, raising mood boosting brain chemicals and aiding circulation.

Then maybe a little relaxation afterwards such as Tai Chi, Meditation, yoga and massage to continue. 

Choose protein to boost your mood and to avoid blood sugar surges which can negatively affect mood. Stick to protein rich foods that release sugar slowly such as turkey, chicken, salmon, kidney beans, lentils and also slow release complex carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread and brown rice.

As we’re now approaching the party season it’s probably the last thing you’ll want to be doing if you’re suffering from SAD but it could be the best thing for you.

Generally people who make themselves socialize when they’re low feel happier sooner than staying at home.

If you suffer from SAD or think you may do, try one of the above suggestions see how you feel.

You’ve nothing to lose only gain!

Ok this is a really important point that I’m going to talk about today and it’s VITAL that you understand what I’m talking about.

Not All Salads Are Equal.

If you prepare a salad yourself and it contains a wide variety of fresh salad ingredients, including fruits and vegetables and serve it without a calorie laden dressing, loads of oil or mayonnaise then yes that is most definitely a healthy salad.

However this article is not about the few people who eat their salads this way. No, I’m talking about the people who just automatically reach for a boxed salad at the supermarket or garage or choose the salad at their favourite fast food restaurant because they think it’s the best option.

You see the problem is this. Food retailers want to sell their products to as many people as possible. They’ll use every technique in the book to trick and mislead people in to buying their product. (Obviously within the dubious guidelines of the law)

Now selling a salad and marketing it as a healthy option isn’t a difficult thing to do, because that’s what we all automatically think about salads… ‘It’s the healthy option, right!’

So what’s the problem with salads?

It’s the stuff that’s added to the salad that makes them unhealthy. The dressings, oils, fats, chemical preservatives and flavour enhancers are what make the salads that most people choose a really bad option.

It never ceases to amaze me that when someone is obviously trying to lose weight they choose a salad, but it’s been drenched in dressing, mayonnaise and oils. Remember the makers of these diets want to make them tasty, so people come back and buy more… their priority is with improving taste NOT with helping you to lose weight.

Remember this fact – a tablespoon of mayonnaise could contain over 100kcals. Most boxed salads contain far more than 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise not to mention the lashings of oil in the pasta, rice or couscous they add.

A salad can be a very healthy and extremely tasty alternative and could help you to lose weight, but you’ve got to choose wisely. I would say 9 times out of 10 the salads you can buy pre-boxed aren’t as good as you think.

If you’d like a selection of healthy, tasty salads and some great low fat dressings then send me an email, you can find our email address at the bottom of this page in the ‘conatct us’ section. I’ll email you over a copy straight away for free.

Exercise is beneficial to us all at all stages in our lives there’s no doubt about that. It is even more important to establish an exercise routine at the time of the menopause if you’re not already doing so.

As well as helping improving energy levels, it may also help overcome symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia along side increasing confidence and self esteem.

Due to the withdrawal of the hormone Oestrogen at the time of menopause this increases the rate of bone loss leading to increase risk of osteoporosis. This makes it extremely important to be following and exercise regime.

You may be wondering why?

Well, weight bearing exercise – anything that involves putting weight through your bones, helps to simulate the regeneration of bone tissue (the pull of the muscles on the bone), reduces calcium loss which therefore helps to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis.

Weight bearing exercises include, jogging, brisk walking, weight lifting, skipping, aerobics, tennis etc. As apposed to non weight bearing exercise – swimming.

Strengthening exercises places a greater load on the bones targeting areas such as the upper spine, wrists, hip and ankles which are vulnerable to fractures.

A combination of strength and aerobic training should be included in an exercise programme along with good nutrition.

Even if you are a beginner or a non exerciser it’s never too late to start. Building up the time and intensity gradually and choosing a place convenient for you…the great outdoors… a gym …or even your own home for home-based exercises.

Be positive, make time for exercise and you will reap the benefits for a long time to come no matter what age you start. If you need a little help then contact New Image Personal Training in Halifax.

Core stability provides central body control. “It is the ability of your trunk to support the effort and forces from your arms and legs, so that muscles and joints can perform in their safest, strongest and most effective positions.”

Your core includes your abdominals, back, pelvic and shoulder girdles. These are responsible for transferring the forces of your arms and legs to your spine.

If the wrong muscles are activated or the muscles being worked are relatively weak your body will try and compensate by adjusting itself into positions not ideal for the movement in hand. This can then make you vulnerable to injuries.

There are many benefits to have good core stability some of which include:

•    Increased ability to change direction as body momentum is controlled.
•    Improved Posture.
•    Improved balance and muscular coordination.
•    Decreased risk of injury

The Muscles of the Core
   
Abdominals

Many people would assume the abdominals are one muscle but in fact are made up of the rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques and the transversus abdominus muscle. Each of these muscles have different actions and should be worked on equally. Are you working all of these areas?

Gluteals

These are the muscles around your hip and your bottom and play a key roll in lifting, speed and balance. If these muscles are weak it can possibly lead to back, knee and groin injuries due to lack of control in these areas.

The Upper Body

As the above help control the lower limbs and back movements. There are other muscles which provide the same role for the upper body using the shoulder blades as there base. The Trapezius and serratus anterior are responsible for the control of the shoulder blades.

By having a strong core your body can function more efficiently with less risk. Training core stability develops the foundation for effective movements from the muscle groups in the arms and legs.

A few questions to ask yourself:
Do you have a strong core?
Are you working the correct muscles?
Do you have any re occurring injuries?
Are you carrying out the correct training programme?

If your not sure then why not ask a professional in their field…personal trainer..physiotherapist…