Health | UK Lifestyle Blog

The Beginner’s Guide To Joining The Gym

The new year will soon be upon us, and you may be considering joining a gym. That’s wonderful news, no matter your reason for joining, be it for burning off the Christmas fat, or to begin a healthier lifestyle. However, there are a few things we think you should know first. The gym can be intimidating for newbies, so to ensure you don’t quit early through fear or insecurity, here are some tips to help you.

Before you head off to the gym ensure you have everything you need. From towels to sweatbands, you need to load up your gym bag with the essentials. Our ultimate checklist has everything you need, so bookmark the page, and take note of everything we mention. You don’t want to be caught out, after all.

Build up your energy first!

You might also want to build up your energy levels before you venture out too. This will ensure you don’t crash and burn when involved in exercise. Drink plenty of water, consider Muscle Rage Limitless, a popular workout drink, and eat something nutritious. Be sure to void anything high in sugar, as you will find yourself flagging after only a short period at the gym.

Leave the make-up at home

When you arrive at the gym, don’t worry about what you look like. You will be surrounded by hardened gym-bods (as well as loads of mirrors) and you might feel inferior in comparison. Especially if your body is out of shape, you may find yourself feeling more than a little envious. But fear not – they were like you once, though they will be too busy doing whatever it is they are doing to think about you anyway, so don’t assume people are staring at you.

Warm your body up pre-workout

Remember your warm up pre-workout before you try out any of the equipment. You need to prepare your body, so limbering up is key to avoiding strain and injury. Start at your toes and work upward, and get the blood flowing through your body. And bearing in mind you will probably be using an exercise bike as part of your routine, you might consider these stretching tips as part of your pre-workout.

Stay hydrated

Remember to drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated. You will be losing a lot of water through sweat, so keep yourself topped up to keep yourself energised throughout the session. There will be a bathroom at the gym, so you can easily refill your flask or water bottle if you run out.

Take it easy, it’s not a race

Then take baby steps when considering what to do next. It’s the old adage; don’t run before you can walk. There will be a trainer on hand to guide you into what weights or equipment to use, so don’t be afraid to ask. And don’t go crazy like a child at a Jungle Gym either! You will only do yourself an injury. Follow this beginner’s guide to gym equipment, and you will serve yourself well.

Sweat. Rest. Repeat.

After your session, it’s time to recover. This is essential, as while you will welcome the rest anyway, your body needs this time to heal itself ready for your next session. Follow these workout recovery tips, and you will be bouncing back to the gym for your next session in no time.

We hope these tips were helpful to you, but if you’re a gym pro, please send us any further tidbits of advice for our gym newbies.

Sam Charles 2018-11-14T19:51:44+00:00 November 14, 2018|Health|

Simple Ways to Ensure You Look Your Best No Matter What

Looking good is important. It has a big impact on how you feel about yourself. People who take care of their appearance tend to have more confidence. Fortunately, there are lots of simple tricks you can use to keep yourself looking good. Here are a few of my favourites.

Don’t be afraid to use shapewear

If you are well-toned and have good posture, virtually anything you wear will look good on you. It will hang properly and fit. Exercise is a good way to improve your muscle tone. But, sometimes life gets in the way and it becomes too hard to find the time to work out enough. When that happens, things tend to sag a bit and your favourite clothes stop looking good on you.

Of course, what you need to do is to get back to exercising regularly. However, getting back in shape will usually take a few weeks. In the meantime, shapewear can sort things out for you. Provided you buy the right type, it will gently smooth out the bumps and give you a little extra support.

As you can see here good-quality shapewear is no longer horrendously expensive or old-fashioned. As more men and women use it, so prices are dropping and they’re becoming more fashionable.

Invest in good skincare and clothes

Clothes that are made from high-quality fabrics tend to hang better and last far longer. When you go shopping bear this in mind and take the time to check how well made each garment is.

Having glowing skin really makes a difference. If you have good skin you always look a lot better. Getting your skin into good condition and keeping it that way is not too difficult, once you know which products to use. I tell you about them here and give you some tips which will help you to improve the condition of your skin fast.

Prioritise mindfulness and beauty sleep

Stress plays havoc with the way you look. So, avoid situations that you find stressful as much as possible.

Every day take the time to relax completely, at least twice. Go for a walk; spend 10 minutes practicing mindfulness or read a book. It does not matter how you do it, as long as it relieves the tension.

Getting at least 8 hours sleep every night will help you to look and feel much better. So, make getting enough of it a priority. If you do miss out on a couple of hours, always try to catch up. The best way to do this is to go to bed a bit earlier until you have made up for your sleep deficit.

Learn some quick beauty fixes

If you wear makeup, there are lots of fast and simple ways to brighten up your look. For example, did you know that lining the inner rim of your upper lids with a dark brown liner can make you look more awake? Well, apparently it does. You can read more about this tip and more, by clicking this link.

Sam Charles 2018-08-29T14:28:16+00:00 August 29, 2018|Health|

I changed my perspective on exercising, and you can too!

A lot of people exercise regularly without really enjoying it all that much. Some people have simply lost interest, or, worse, never picked up the interest in the first place! The best way to tackle this sort of problem is to change your attitude towards exercise.

People don’t tend to put enjoyability or practicality at the forefront of their exercise routine. They lean more towards the no pain, no gain mentality. That, or they keep it relatively straightforward and let their records and goals guide what they do. But exercise needn’t always strain you out, nor should it always require high levels of energy.

The mindset you have when you approach exercise is very important. If you’ve found yourself lagging a bit recently, then perhaps you need to look at some new approaches towards fitness. Here are some of the things you can combine with good exercise in order to foster a new approach.

Making friends

Not many people look to exercise as a potential source of social activity. But if you’ve got friends who also want to get into exercise, then why not go running with them? It’s a great way to catch up and deepen your bond while you all get fitter. It seems very practical when you put it like this! Meeting up and playing sports is another way you can bring social activity and great exercise together.

There are other ways you can approach this, however. If you’re going on a night out, then dancing is definitely something you should look into. Dancing is massively underestimated when it comes to fitness; even the sort of dancing people tend to do in clubs (i.e. not likely to induce sweating, a little clumsy, etc) burns calories and helps with muscle tone!

Learning practical skills

Unless they’re looking to become a professional in the world of fitness (something we’ll touch on in the next section), most people don’t look to exercise as something that really teaches a practical skill. Unless, of course, you count developing the skill of proper exercise itself as a practical skill – which it certainly is! But there are other ways you can combine a fitness boost with lessons in a life skill. Perhaps the most obvious example is in self-defence.

Martial arts is absolutely fantastic for muscular development. It’s also great when it comes to self-defence. A lot of people suffer from low confidence or anxiety when they’re in particular scenarios outdoors because they feel at risk. But if you know how to defend yourself in case of attack, then your confidence will definitely get a boost. Plus, on the off-chance that something actually does happen, then you’re much more likely to get out of that situation in one piece!

Generate an income

When people think about people who make an income through exercise, they usually think of sporting professionals. They consider the household names of the football pitches who make hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, if not millions! A lot of people simply don’t consider the fact that there are plenty of “non-celebrities” out there who make a good income from their exercising or fitness-based hobbies.

Perhaps the most obvious way in which this is achieved is by becoming a personal trainer. If you’re interested in helping other people who may need some assistance when it comes to gaining muscle, losing weight, or simply boosting their cardiovascular health, then you should consider taking an online personal trainer course to get the knowledge and qualifications you need. This isn’t the only way fitness can earn you money, however. There are plenty of people out there who make money by writing about fitness.

Cute fitness apparel

Ever heard the phrase “all the gear, no idea”? I feel like a fraud if I buy myself yoga pants and bright Nike trainers, if I know I’m actually only going to be wearing them when I’m being a potato at home. Whatever you decide to start doing, whether it’s going for a run in the morning or joining a pilates class, you can be safe in the knowledge that you are not one of these girls. Instead, you’ll be a strong, independent woman – with nice clothes!

When I first started running I bought myself a decent sports bra from Knix, some half decent leggings and a pair of £100 pair of running trainers. I told myself, once I had committed myself to running at least 3 – 5 times a week, and achieved running 5km without stopping, I would treat myself to another pair of trainers or another piece of apparel I kept doing his as I upped my milage to 10km, 20km without stopping, etc. This really helped me stay motivated!

Seeing new places

Surely only a couch potato doesn’t want to see new places – and if you enjoy exercising, then you’re probably not a couch potato! A lot of people romanticise traveling a bit too much. But the fact is that there are a lot of benefits to see new places. They increase the level of novelty in your life, which can help with long-term satisfaction. Seeing new nature-based places helps inspire feelings of wonder and awe – and you don’t have to sign up to some new age theory to acknowledge the benefits of those feelings!

You should see exercise as a good excuse to see new places. For a lot of people, the combination of travelling or exploring with exercise means hiking. This is definitely something you should consider, as it’s amazing for both your body and mind. But even venturing somewhere close to home you’ve never visited before and going for a run or a cycle can be an excellent way to do it.

Increased confidence

Exercise can help to increase confidence. Even just a couple of hours of exercise a week will make you feel better, and the endorphins released after exercise, will make you feel even better. First, in the short-term, exercise enhances our mood and puts our mind in a more positive state. Second, in the long-term, exercise makes us feel good about our physical self – our abilities and physique.

Sam Charles 2018-08-23T12:21:20+00:00 August 23, 2018|Health|

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