WINTER Fitness Tips
from the experts at Pulse 8 Health & Fitness Club

Winter Exercise Tips - Don’t hibernate - invigorate!

With the temperatures plummeting this time of year, many of us tend to hibernate inside our homes and conserve energy.

It's important to stay active through all four seasons, however for many, winter brings a time of inactivity leading to us becoming less physically fit as we are in the warmer months.

Therefore if you want to maintain good health, overcome the winter blues, cut a trim figure or mould a sculpted body, don't let winter keep you from your regime.

Top Tips & Benefits for regular exercise:

The merits of regular physical activity — from preventing chronic health conditions to promoting weight loss and better sleep — are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability.

1. Exercise improves your mood.

Need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm down.

Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out. You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. Regular physical activity can even help prevent depression.

2. Exercise combats chronic diseases.

Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent osteoporosis? Physical activity might be the ticket.

Regular physical activity can help you prevent — or manage — high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular physical activity boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the build-up of plaques in your arteries.

And there's more. Regular physical activity can help you prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

3. Exercise helps you manage your weight.

Want to drop those excess pounds? Trade some couch time for walking or other physical activities.

This one's a no-brainer. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn — and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You don't even need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Walk during your lunch break. Do jumping jacks during commercials. Better yet, turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but physical activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too.

4. Exercise boosts your energy level.

Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Don't throw in the towel. Regular physical activity can leave you breathing easier.

Physical activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular physical activity helps your entire cardiovascular system — the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels — work more efficiently. Big deal? You bet! When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.

5. Exercise promotes better sleep.

Struggling to fall asleep? Or stay asleep? It might help to boost your physical activity during the day.

A good night's sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. And you guessed it — physical activity is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. There's a caveat, however. If you exercise too close to bedtime, you may be too energized to fall asleep. If you're having trouble sleeping, you might want to exercise earlier in the day.

6. Exercise can be fun!

Wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon? Looking for an activity that suits the entire family? Get physical!

Physical activity doesn't have to be drudgery. Take a ballroom dancing class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Find a physical activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you get bored, try something new. If you're moving, it counts!

Are you convinced? Good. Start reaping the benefits of regular physical activity today!

Heading off to the slopes this winter?  Are you Ski-fit?

Ask one of our fitness instructors for a free gym appointment to give you a programme to develop your Strength, Flexibility, Balance, and Endurance needed on the slopes. If you’ve already been this season then let us develop a programme for next year to keep your fitness levels high and joints supple ready for next years ski season!

Our professional instructors can give you exercises ranging in complexity to suit your needs.

Warm-up: n the winter it’s important to ensure your muscles are warm before you start an intense exercise session. A good warm up will increase the elasticity of the muscle fibres and reduce the risk of injury. You should aim to increase your heart rate to approximately 50% of your maximum theoretical heart rate (220 minus your age).

Strength: Compound multi-joint exercises such as weighted squats, deadlifts, and lunges are great for improving your general strength using a range of muscles simultaneously and isolated exercises such as the bicep curl, leg extension, tricep dips will give you a lean toned look.

Endurance: Endurance training will improve your overall fitness as well as helping you to feel more energised, refreshed and revitalised. A basic Rating of perceived Exertion (RPE) is a great way to keep a check on how hard you are and should be working. On a scale from 0-10, with 0 being standing still and 10 being sprinting as fast as you can you should be training at 8, or to make it simpler; you should only be able to get 2-3 words in-between breaths, if you can hold a conversation you need to step it up! This is a general guide and works for our wide range of Cardiovascular equipment.

Flexibility: We have a vast amount of stretching space and can develop programmes to improve your flexibility; that is the maximum range of motion in a joint or series of joints being stretched alone or assisted by someone else or a piece of equipment. Improving your flexibility will make your daily tasks more manageable and less of a strain. Try to touch your toes and if you can’t reach them just try to stretch a little bit further each time and you will be surprised with how quickly you will see improvements in your flexibility.

Balance: Try performing simple standing exercises on a Bosu ball or seated exercises on a Swiss ball to improve your Core stability and balance. If you can do simple exercises like squats on a Bosu ball or Abdominal crunches on a Swiss ball then see one of our instructors for more complex exercises!

Variety: Your body needs a variety of exercises to stop it from getting used to the exercises you are doing so you will continue to improve. Try as many of our classes as you can that are included in you membership free of charge.

Cool down: As with a warm up increasing your heart rate ready to exercise it is just as important to cool down afterwards by cutting the intensity of the exercise so that your heart rate slowly returns nearer to your resting heart rate (your heart rate will stay marginally elevated for a short while after exercising). This is the perfect time to stretch out all your working muscles while they are still warm and the low intensity stretching will help your body return to normal