Rowing machines are the third in the ‘triad’ of low impact fitness machines you will find in the gym, the other two being the spinning bike and the cross trainer. Like the others they offer an excellent way to get fit without stressing and straining the joints through impact with the road or other hard surface. Below are the key benefits you get from using a rowing machine: Continue reading
The benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids – as found in fish oil – have been highly publicised for many years and are one of only a few dietary supplements that the FDA actually recognises as having benefits for the user.
The most popular and widely available sources of Omega-3 are from fish oils. Fish such as salmon, mackerel, anchovies, herring and sardines are all high in Omega-3 (tuna less so) and most people use fish oil derived from these fish as their supplemental source of Omega-3. But what if you don’t eat fish or are allergic to it; what other foods contain the essential Omega-3 oils? Well, there are a surprising number of alternatives. Continue reading
Superfoods are foods that are highly concentrated with all the things you need to be fit and healthy without all the other stuff which doctors say we should avoid.
There are two basic types of superfood – those that you probably know about and eat as part of your normal diet and those that you’ve never heard of and probably only take as supplements or as part of a special diet. Let’s look at them both, starting with the common ones. Continue reading
Very often people who are overweight but want to exercise are stuck in a difficult position: their weight puts added pressure on their hips, knees and ankles which makes most exercises painful, dangerous or both. As a result they don’t exercise as much as they would like and so the weight doesn’t go away.
If you’re stuck in that loop, have you thought about trying a recumbent exercise bike? Continue reading
Memory foam mattresses started out being used in hospitals to help people who were bed-ridden for long periods. Often such people end up with bed sores or pressure sores and memory foam – initially developed for the space programme – was seen as a solution. Continue reading
We’ve all had them; your leg muscles (often the calf muscles) suddenly spasm and stiffen and you start leaping about in agony – much to the amusement of anyone who happens to be watching at the time! You might be in the middle of some exercise, you might be watching Tv, you might even be asleep in the middle of the night – leg cramps can happen pretty much any time but what causes them? Continue reading
Compression socks are the athlete’s version of compression stockings but instead of helping avoid deep vein thrombosis they help athletes recover from serious training sessions by using similar technology. As they are designed for often fashion conscious athletes they also tend to come in more fetching colours than American Tan and Grubby White! Continue reading
Exercise balls, or Swiss balls as they’re sometimes known were developed in the 60s and were first used in the medical sense to assist with neurological development, particularly in children. More recently they have migrated into the fitness world and are now common in gyms and the home. Continue reading
Spinning bikes are a great way to get fit and have a good time while you’re doing it. Cycling is fun and good for you but in the depths of winter or if you live in an area with busy roads it can get too easy to just decide not to go. So why not try a spinning bike instead? Continue reading
Our lives are becoming more and more sedentary; we spend hours sitting crouched over computer desks (as you probably are now) and our posture and our backs suffer. Back problems are notoriously difficult to overcome and many people are turning to kneeling or posture chairs. Continue reading
