Sunday 31 May 2009

No time to exercise? Top tip to get fit without you even realizing.

Today’s mum is a superhero! Being a mum, juggling chores, taking care of your other half, errands and admin plus working can play havoc on any exercise programme or prevent finding time to get fit.

Yet it can be done, without even realizing it. The key is the intensity of what you are doing. Now, you don't need to think 'pain'! What's key though is that you get a challenge, one that makes the 'activity' worth doing for you to see the benefits! Here's a great example:

I am always running late! I leave myself too many things to do before I get out of the door resulting in a rush. My son's nursery is a 20 minute walk but if I really power walk I can do it in fifteen. Plus he loves it when the buggy goes quicker.

Now I could just hop in the car and whizz him around and get there in about 5-10 minutes. However, with the traffic, the road bumps, pedestrians walking in front of 'amber' lights, the odd wobbly cyclist - i find it rather more stressful than walking really briskly, getting the fresh air, having my son get the fresh air and clearing my head ready to start the day! Plus as I do this journey four times a day (there and back and there and back to collect), I'm actually clocking up four miles a day, cardio (three times a week). If you do the maths, that's 12 miles a week - nearly a half marathon! That does wonders for your cardio-vascular fitness and for burning stored energy without really realising it.

Plus I find it ‘moving meditation’. The breathing and repetitive movement involved with really brisk walking or jogging promotes feelings of calm and tranquility and reduces stress. Being outdoors releases endorphins, natural hormones which promote a sense of feeling good. Increasing your pace means you burn more calories in less time (very important for a new mum).

So my message is, think about where you can make a small change to your routine and the benefits that would be associated with it. Think smart and try combining fitness with taking care of the baby at the same time!

Saturday 16 May 2009

Fitness Balls, why and what to do with them!


This week, I received a question about the Fitness Balls (Swiss Balls or Exercise Balls, they have a few names) from a client who recently completed my Prenatal Fitness Course.

"I found the Swiss ball really useful for antenatal exercise - can it be used for postnatal exercise too?" Hilary Hall

Answer: “The Swiss ball is ideal for Post Natal exercise, every mum to be and new mum should have one!
Basically the ball is ‘wobbly’, an unstable surface, so your body has to draw on more of the deeper and outer muscles to remain stable.
Simply sitting on the ball will have you working harder to perform upper body strengthening.

By working on the exercise ball you will automatically and often subconsciously correct and improve your exercise technique. Your posture will be corrected as it forces you to sit well and be posture aware - the ball will wobble so reminding you to correct your posture.

In addition, the ball improves your ‘core stability’. This is a bit of a buzz word - what it essentially means is that your deep abdominal and spinal muscles (which layer around the bones of your spine) are engaged and therefore strengthened. The deep abdominal muscles have been stretched and weakened during pregnancy and childbirth so it’s essential to start strengthening them again. If not, a host of issues can result – back pain, pelvic floor incontinence, a ‘doming’ effect and laxity of the muscles (blatantly put, sagging ness of the stomach!)

In the first instance, perform pelvic tilts on the Swiss Ball, these are gentle and can be done as soon as you have given birth.
Then try sitting on the ball (once all is comfortable) and draw in your belly button (at the same time relax your rib cage), keep your feet about hip width apart (the closer the feet, the more of a challenge – so position the distance of your feet where you feel stable) and lift one foot off the floor about 4 inches, hold for a count of 5-10 seconds and then repeat the other foot. If this seems easy progress to holding for longer – up to 60 secs. or extending the leg straight out. Practice this daily.

After 6 weeks, you can move onto more challenging abdominal work with the swiss ball. Avoid sit-ups until the separation of the abdominals has returned to normal – you need to perform a rec. test for this”.

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