Having a keen focus on fitness and sport is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle - and we don't just mean putting your feet up and watching the football! Today, more than ever, we should all try and keep active. In this digital age, it's so easy to get caught in a social media trap. Taking the time to look after your body is key. Here, you'll find a diverse collection of articles, videos, and literature dedicated to fitness and sports, providing valuable insights and resources to inspire and guide your journey toward a healthier, more active life.
Running hub
Running can help to strengthen bones, muscles and maintain a healthy weight. It is easy to get started and doesn't require much kit beyond a good pair of shoes. It's a form of exercise that works equally well on your own or in the company of friends.
Running can improve your cardiovascular fitness as well as your mental health and wellbeing. Visit our Running hub to get started.
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The benefits of exercise for our health
Being more active can improve your physical and mental health, your heart and joint health, your weight, energy and quality of life. Exercise can lower your risk of developing many long-term health conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and even some cancers. Here's how you can get started.
Maintaining a healthy weight
It is estimated as many as two-thirds of UK adults are either overweight or obese and, as a nation, we're getting fatter. Maintaining a healthy weight is therefore a vital component of good health. Getting rid of excess weight can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce joint and mobility problems, and improve energy levels and mental health. Maintaining a healthy weight is also the key to avoiding serious health issues such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Maintaining your heart health
One of the best ways to maintain your heart health is to give it a bit of a workout. Regular aerobic exercise improves the heart's ability to pull oxygen out of the blood, so reducing the need for it to pump more blood to the muscles. It helps to lower your blood pressure, reduces 'bad' cholesterol that increases your risk of heart and circulatory diseases, and reduces stress hormones that can put an extra burden on the heart.
Maintain your joints, bones and muscles
As we age, we all gradually lose muscle and bone mass, which can in time lead to joint problems. Building and maintaining joint strength through staying active is a key way to preserve your musculoskeletal health. Exercise improves bone density and keeps the muscles surrounding your joints strong, so helping with conditions such as arthritis. It increases your strength and flexibility, co-ordination and balance, all of which become increasingly important as we grow older.
Maintain your mental health
Exercise brings real benefits for mental health and emotional wellbeing. Exercise releases endorphins that can improve mood and give you more energy. By also releasing the hormone cortisol, exercise is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety. Especially if it gets you out in the great outdoors, exercise can allow you to reset yourself mentally and emotionally. By making you feel more tired at the end of the day, regular exercise can improve your sleep.
Types of exercise to improve your health
Whether it's running, swimming, cycling, hitting the gym, or yoga in the front room, the key to making exercise 'stick' is finding an activity that works for you. Here are six types you can try.
Running
Running is one of the easiest forms of exercise to take up, you just need to step outside the door to get started. It's valuable to establish a routine that you find comfortable and can stick to - so build up gradually. Warming up and cooling down exercises before and after running are also vital to prevent injury and soreness.
Walking
Walking is simple, free and, like running, one of the easiest ways to get more active quickly, lose weight and become healthier. Walking briskly - so enough to get your heart pumping - can build stamina, burn off excess calories and make your heart healthier. Even a brisk 10-minute walk can make a difference.
Cycling
Cycling is great aerobic exercise. It strengthens your legs, lungs and heart and can be done outside or, on an exercise bike, indoors. One way to help you stick with cycling is to join a local cycling club. This can be a great way to make new friends as well as a motivator to turn cycling into a regular lifestyle change.
Swimming
Swimming is often reported to be the best all round exercise for your body, working many muscle groups and building cardiovascular fitness, whilst relieving stress and strain on joints and bones. It can be a very sociable activity with wild swimming groups popping up across the country.
Fitness classes
Whether we're talking Zumba, Pilates, Yoga or park 'bootcamps', there are loads of benefits to joining a fitness class or enrolling in group exercise. There's the incentive that you're doing it with others and at a regular time each week. You will also have a qualified fitness instructor to help you.
Gym sessions
Enrolling with your local gym will get you access to a wide range of fitness equipment, from weights to treadmills, rowing machines and more. This can allow you to experiment to find out what works best for you. The fact you're paying for membership can motivate you to keeping going!
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