Archive for May, 2011

Five tips to help you start and stick to a fitness routine

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Starting a new fitness routine can be tough, but sticking to it until you have achieved your goals ends up being virtually impossible for some people. Here are some tips to help you stay the distance:

1. Set realistic challenges and measurable goals for yourself

2. Celebrate your successes, such as achieving a goal or sticking to your routine for a certain amount of time

3. Choose activities you know you’ll enjoy, as you may want to stick with it more if its fun

4. Take a balanced approach (i.e. mixing up balance, aerobic, flexibility and strength activities) to prevent injury and keep things fresh

5. Find an exercise buddy, someone who won’t quit and won’t let you quit either

Get some new gym equipment with your bingo winnings

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Starting a new exercise regime can be tough, especially if you don’t have the right equipment. It can be even more challenging if you aren’t in the right frame of mind, as getting fit requires both motivation and dedication.

To make sure you stick to your fitness regime once you’ve started it, you need to either get the best equipment you can afford or cough up for gym membership. Exercise machines and other fitness equipment (including clothes, shoes and even fitness programmes like the Wii Fit) can be very expensive, and gym prices can be astronomical, so you’re going to need some extra cash.

You may be surprised to learn that online bingo may be the answer to your cash-flow situation, providing you with a fun, fast and relatively risk-free way of earning enough to buy some new gym equipment.

One particular site we can heartily recommend is posh bingo, as it offers great welcome deals for new players as well as games with huge cash prizes. Right now at the posh bingo site, you can even win a holiday to Los Angeles worth a total of £3,000!

Try out posh bingo to see if it’s for you, but if not there are plenty of other great options at ohmybingo.com.

The rise of Zumba

Friday, May 13th, 2011

There’s a lot of buzz at the moment about Zumba, the brand new dance-based fitness program. In fact, many people are now lauding it as one of the most fun and social ways to get in shape and burn some calories.

What is it?

Zumba is a dance fitness program which incorporates elements of interval training, fast and slow rhythms and resistance training. It originally comes from Columbia but has spread like wildfire throughout the UK and the world.

There are even variations on the original workout – Zumba Toning (body-sculpting sessions), Aqua Zumba and Zumbatomic (Zumba for children aged 4 to 12).

What the heck are kettlebells?

Monday, May 9th, 2011

You might have heard some fuss in the health and fitness world recently about kettlebells. But what the heck are they, and are they effective as a training tool?

Kettlebells in brief

A kettlebell is traditionally a cast iron weight which is used to perform exercises which have elements of cardiovascular and flexibility training as well as just strength. Looking a bit like a cannonball with a convenient handle, kettlebells can weigh anything from 1.8kg to 79kg.

The kettlebell workout, traditionally saved for your moustachioed strongman, is experiencing a comeback. The swinging motion using the correct technique can burn as much as 500 calories in a 30 minute session, and use of the kettlebells gives you an all-round fitness boost.