Great programme on BBC 2 the other night “Horizon – The secret life of your body clock”. Certainly worth a watch (no pun intended), ironically the best time to exercise is in the afternoon when most of us are at work (more ironic when you work in a health club!). Those than can exercise in the afternoon win both ways as it is very cheap to have a membership at this time too!
On a personal note I have been away for the weekend on a “busman’s holiday”. The venue was Daventry, the event was a fitness fiesta.
For those that love classes this is a great way to spend the weekend. We did a total of 10 classes but not all full on aerobic activity. These included: Tai Chi, Qi Kung, Fight Club (combat with something to hit), fitness inspired yoga, soulful stretch, carnival calypso (don’t ask) and introduction to meditation.
Also available was flexi-bar, Capoeira, Gliding, Ball Strength, Ballet Sculpt, Aqua Combat, Step and wobble board to name but a few. Basically every hour there was a choice of 3 or 4 classes to go to, tiring but fun.
For the guys its worth noting that out of about 75 people on the weekend there were only 3 men!
The instructors were great fun and very passionate about their classes – just the same as here, the only difference is they are teaching to bigger classes.
They have two main types of weekend – the hotel or the holiday camp – why not check out:
Also available were beauty treatments and massage. I opted for a sports massage – painful (no very painful) but therapeutic. Its worth noting that Tracey the therapist at Balance is also able to offer a sports massage – you can get her details from reception.
The latest edition of FHM has arrived at the Club. If you look beyond the glossy pictures of scantily clad women in what is “the best magazine in the world” there are always some great fitness tips. I came across this one when reading the article about Chris Hoy- after looking at the pictures of the Saturdays of course! huis
Check out the link below for one hundred push ups. The website gives you training tips to acheive this goal in just six weeks – unbelieveable, well I am going to give it a try. My current “capacity” is about just over 20 so it will be interesting to see if it works, I will keep you updated with my progress.
There is never an excuse to be bored with the gym. I was looking for new ideas the other day and came across the planche pressup – bascially a press up without using your legs!
Race Report
Wellingborough Multi Terrain Round 1
Sunday 18th January 2009
After gale force winds on Saturday night I wasn’t sure what would happen on race day. Sunday was a pleasant surprise with light winds and sunshine.
This was my 3rd or 4th year at this event and it was as well organised as ever. Not forgetting my £2 car parking fee I rolled into the car park at Irchester Country Park to do the usual make your own parking space trick.
After a suitable warm up it was down to the start line for the off. Without getting too technical it’s a bit of a tactical race when you are doing the 15k as there are 3 laps of the course to complete. The temptation is to go off quickly and get caught up with the 5k runners and pay the price if you are doing the 10k or 15k. Likewise in the second lap of the 15k race it is best to avoid racing with the 10k’ers as there is one more quite lonely lap to complete.
The course is a mixture of terrains as the name suggests with some really muddy sections to catch those out in road trainers. Other than one reasonable hill the course is fairly flat with some great country park running.
A great turnout this year with Jo and Lucy from the Club putting in a great effort in the 5k at their first shot at this event. Remember it’s not about how far or how fast you go just the fun of doing some running during the winter months with likeminded people.
For me, I ran 116 for the 15k spookily the same time for the first round of the event for the last 3 years! Remember this is only on one days running per week and one day in the gym – its all about maintaining a good base level of fitness and pushing yourself just a little bit (also I am sad to say that I am now classed as a veteran runner!).
Next race is Sunday 8th February 2009 – its not too late to enter on line or just pay on the day. Hopefully we will see Jo and Lucy again and maybe Dan and Jamie who are threatening to make a show in the 5K or 10K.
Ps. Saw the mad guy again from the Santa Fun Run – this time it was his first race of the season not his 38th!
I met with Keith today who is going to be the lead instructor for the Balance Running Club. Keith was in with his level 2 Althletics Coaching details and we finalised the plans for the running club.
This is due to be launched on 2nd and 4th March and will cost just £2.50 per session to take part. The sessions will last just over 1 hour under the watchful eye of Keith, be prepared to learn that there is more to running than meets the eye. Keith is a former Balance member (this is forgiven as he continues to spend his time spreading the gospel of physical activity to others!), keen runner and passionate about helping other to acheive and enjoy with their running.
All that is left to do is to sort out some tabbards to wear whilst out and about running and get our booking sheets. I hope many of your will take advantage of this and set yourselves some new goals
The Grappler comes to Balance Health Clubs!
Thanks to Will at future 4 fitness we have the grappler at Balance for the next two weeks on loan. It has surprised quite a few members as you start off thinking it is easy then after about 30 seconds realising it is not! Billed as the treadmill for the upper body, however it is the seated downward pulling moton that allows for an injury free workout, making it ideal for those making exercise a part of their recovery from injury or illness. The beauty of the downward pulling motionn is that your grip will break before muscles are damaged, meaning that it is impossible to injure yourself.
Watched an interesting programme on line last night thanks to BBC iplayer “Why are thin people not fat”. Click on the link below to take you there.
The basis of the programme was to take a group of those anoying people who can eat what they want without putting weight on (unlike most of us!) and subjected them to a 5000 calorie per day diet. The interesting thing was how difficult it was to eat that many calories bearing in mind that an adult male should eat about half of this per day. They were also banned from exercising and limited to 5000 steps per day.
The not unsurprising result was that they all gained weight however some less than others. The interesting thing for Balance members were that some of the subjects were in fact exercisers, so they found it hard to do nothing; also that a good level of lean muscle mass raised the basal metabolic rate (the amount of energy expended at rest) and therefore helped them maintain a stable weight.
Its time to tone up – speak to a member of the gym team about a review and include some resistance training – female members need not worry about becoming “muscular” you need testosterone for that!
We had the privilage of watching the Kettering Town game against Fulham on Saturday. It was great to see the Balance Health Club banner up on the side of the pitch. Shame about the result. We allow the team to train at the Club from time to time, its great to get some professional sports people amoungst us and a real bunch of nice guys, after all we are a local Club and we should support the local community when we can.
