Our next longer walk is THIS WEEKEND!

If you wish to car pool to the start of the walk then please email me to say that you will meet me at the Fitness Fix studio. We will be departing at 6.15am sharp to give us enough time to get to the Onehunga train station by 7am. Click the button below to find out all the details of this walk and to see how you can join us this weekend! Would love to see you there!!!

It is often a result of a decade or so of over eating and under exercising. And it is usually so gradual that you don’t notice it. Part of the reason for this could be that your metabolism is slowing down with age but that is certainly not an excuse to blame everything on…. and yes strength training will help with that.

The answer to getting rid of extra fat has always been simple… just not fast (take note of the word fast, quick fixes are not the answer).

Eating healthy, being active and getting plenty of sleep is the magic bullet you need to lose stubborn fat, but be ware it will not disappear magically overnight, rather it will take time. So if you begin to focus away from your body image, and more to how much stronger, how much more energy you have & how much more confidence you have you will find that having a fit healthy body will become a life style change and not a temporary quick fix.

The most important thing to ask yourself is what is my definition of a fit healthy body… be true to yourself that is all that matters.

This is a great article published by Harvard Medical School

There is no shortage of angst-inducing news these days: natural disasters, economic woes, political unrest. Add to this backdrop stresses in our personal lives, layoffs, illness, money woes, temper tantrums, and traffic jams, and it is clear that stressful situations are constant and inevitable.

Just as serious as the stressors themselves are the adverse effects stress can have on your emotional and physical health. Many well-respected studies link stress to heart disease and stroke — the No. 1 and No. 3 causes of death, respectively, in the United States. Stress is also implicated in a host of other ailments such as depression and anxiety, chronic lower respiratory diseases, asthma flare-ups, rheumatoid arthritis, and gastrointestinal problems.

Stress is not all bad. Your perception of a real or imagined threat can spark the stress response, which prepares the body to fight or flee. That swift reflex was encoded in you for survival. Thanks to the stress response, you might suddenly jump out of the path of a speeding car or flee from a burning house. But when your stress response is evoked repeatedly, your body experiences unnecessary wear and tear — such as high blood pressure — that can lead to poor health.

Even if you only have a few minutes to spare, the stress-busting suggestions described below can make your days calmer, if not easier.

Take the sting out of 10 common stressors

Sometimes just thinking about embarking on a program of stress control can be stressful. Rather than freeze in your tracks, start small and bask in the glow of your successes. Give yourself a week to focus on practical solutions that could help you cope with just one stumbling block or source of stress in your life. Pick a problem, and see if these suggestions work for you.

1. Frequently late? Apply time management principles. Consider your priorities (be sure to include time for yourself) and delegate or discard unnecessary tasks. Map out your day, segment by segment, setting aside time for different tasks, such as writing or phone calls. If you are overly optimistic about travel time, consistently give yourself an extra 15 minutes or more to get to your destinations. If lateness stems from dragging your heels, consider the underlying issue. Are you anxious about what will happen after you get to work or to a social event, for example? Or maybe you’re trying to jam too many tasks into too little time.
2. Often angry or irritated? Consider the weight of cognitive distortions. Are you magnifying a problem, leaping to conclusions, or applying emotional reasoning? Take the time to stop, breathe, reflect, and choose.
3. Unsure of your ability to do something? Don’t try to go it alone. If the problem is work, talk to a co-worker or supportive boss. Ask a knowledgeable friend or call the local library or an organization that can supply the information you need. Write down other ways that you might get the answers or skills you need. Turn to CDs, books, or classes, for example, if you need a little tutoring. This works equally well when you’re learning relaxation response techniques, too.
4. Overextended? Clear the deck of at least one time-consuming household task by hiring help. If you can, hire a housecleaning service, shop for groceries through the Internet, convene a family meeting to consider who can take on certain jobs, or barter with or pay teens for work around the house and yard. Consider what is truly essential and important to you and what might take a backseat right now.
5. Not enough time for stress relief? Try mini-relaxations. Or make a commitment to yourself to pare down your schedule for just one week so you can practice evoking the relaxation response every day. Slowing down to pay attention to just one task or pleasure at hand is an excellent method of stress relief.
6. Feeling unbearably tense? Try massage, a hot bath, mini-relaxations, a body scan, or a mindful walk. Practically any exercise — a brisk walk, a quick run, a sprint up and down the stairs — will help, too. Done regularly, exercise wards off tension, as do relaxation response techniques.
7. Frequently feel pessimistic? Remind yourself of the value of learned optimism: a more joyful life and, quite possibly, better health. Practice deflating cognitive distortions. Rent funny movies and read amusing books. Create a mental list of reasons you have to feel grateful. If the list seems too short, consider beefing up your social network and adding creative, productive, and leisure pursuits to your life.
8. Upset by conflicts with others? State your needs or distress directly, avoiding “you always” or “you never” zingers. Say, “I feel _____ when you _____.” “I would really appreciate it if you could _____.” “I need some help setting priorities. What needs to be done first and what should I tackle later?” If conflicts are a significant source of distress for you, consider taking a class on assertiveness training.
9. Worn out or burned out? Focus on self-nurturing. Carve out time to practice relaxation response techniques or at least indulge in mini-relaxations. Care for your body by eating good, healthy food and for your heart by seeking out others. Give thought to creative, productive, and leisure activities. Consider your priorities in life: is it worth feeling this way, or is another path open to you? If you want help, consider what kind would be best. Do you want a particular task at work to be taken off your hands? Do you want to do it at a later date? Do you need someone with particular expertise to assist you?
10. Feeling lonely? Connect with others. Even little connections — a brief conversation in line at the grocery store, an exchange about local goings-on with a neighbor, a question for a colleague — can help melt the ice within you. It may embolden you, too, to seek more opportunities to connect. Be a volunteer. Attend religious or community functions. Suggest coffee with an acquaintance. Call a friend or relative you miss. Take an interesting class. If a social phobia, low self-esteem, or depression is dampening your desire to reach out, seek help. The world is a kinder, more wondrous place when you share its pleasures and burdens.

Running is an excellent sport for people as they get older, it provides significant benefits which can offset the effects of ageing. Many people take up running so that they can keep fit and trim.

The effects of ageing

From the 30s onwards, a number of physical changes take place in the average person’s body. Aerobic capacity decreases, muscle mass reduces, muscle elasticity reduces, lung elasticity declines, bone density reduces, the metabolism slows, body fat increases and the immune system becomes weaker.

These changes will have an adverse impact on running performance. The fall in aerobic capacity, reduced stride length, reduced leg strength, and reduced ability to store energy all contribute to deterioration in performance. In general, it is thought that running speeds over any distance deteriorate by about 1% a year from a peak at some point in the 30s; and we appear to lose aerobic capacity at about 9-10% a decade.

The benefits of running for older people

The health benefits of running are broadly the same for older people as for everybody else. They include reductions in the risks of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer; reduced depression and anxiety; weight control; improved bones, muscles and joints; improved mobility and coordination, and a psychological sense of well-being. What is especially important for older people is that the risk of developing these conditions grows as you get older, so the benefits of running are increased. It is especially important for older people that running can improve muscle strength, coordination and bone density, all reducing the risk of falling and fracturing bones, and so increasing the prospects for living independently.

How to start running as an older person

There is no such thing as someone who is too old to start running. Running helps to slow down the effects of ageing, improves the health, fitness and mobility of older people, and improves psychological health.

Anyone over the age of fifty should get a check-up by a doctor before they begin any programme of physical exercise In older people, the doctor will be particularly checking for heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, to ensure that you can run safely.

Apart from getting a check‑up from a doctor, the advice for a new older runner is basically the same as for everyone else. The main priorities are to build up slowly, and set yourself demanding but achievable goals.

Tips for older runners

The decline in performance with age is not preordained. For example, the rate of decline of aerobic capacity can be halved to about 5% a decade, or even less, with the right training.

Here are some ways to manage the effects of ageing:

• Cut back the mileage, but increase your training quality
• Take more rest days between sessions, and avoid overtraining;
• Increase the variety of your aerobic training, for example by aqua-running, cycling, swimming.
• Warm up carefully before running, and stretch afterwards, to protect muscles which are less elastic and more prone to injury than they were when you were younger;
• Increase your weight training, to compensate for the decline in muscle mass which you would otherwise experience.
• Have fun.

SET THE RIGHT INTENTIONS THIS CHRISTMAS

I am a fan of making sure that you set your intentions ahead of time so that you are clear of what your goals are and so you can stay on track.  You see by setting your intentions it will assist you in taking greater control of your life and with Christmas nearly upon us this is a great time to set some intentions. If you intend to  have a few treats over the holidays then set your intention that you will be happy to remain at the same weight until you come back in the New Year. If however you wish to lose weight over the holidays then you need to be clear about your goal, set your intention that you wish to continue losing weight over the Christmas period.

If we lack intention then sometimes it means that we sill stray without meaning or direction. But with intention all the forces of the universe can align to make even the most impossible, possible.

Make sure you set your intentions for lots of joy and fun this Christmas holiday, and plenty of activity!

There are still spaces available for the 1/4 marathon & 5km run/walk. If you haven’t entered the full or 1/2 marathon then you should definitely enter one of these! Fitness Fix & Pure Physio have teamed up to provide you with a finish line marquee equipped with physios and massage therapists to rub you down at the end! Don’t delay get your entry in today and come and be part of this fantastic event. Click here to find out how you can enter as part of the Fitness Fix team.

Running Meet Up

I am organising a 50 minute training run if anyone is keen on Sunday 21st August. We are meeting at the new Wynyard Quarter in town & we will run from there around the marina, Ponsonby and back.

Meet at Wynyard Quarter at 7.25am to laeave at 7.30am. Please email me if you plan to come sally@fitnessfix.co.nz

Walking Meet Up

I will be adding in some longer Saturday walks for those training to do the 1/2 marathon walk. These walks will be incorporated into the Saturday walking group and will cover much of the course. See the timetable below…

Saturday 27th August - Walk from town, to include the last part of the walk from the harbour bridge to Victoria Park.  Meet at Jellicoe St, by the fish market 7.25am

Saturday 24th September – Extended Mairangi Bay Walk – 2hours

Saturday 1st October - Walk from Devonport on the 1/2 marathon course route (100 minutes)

Saturday 8th October - Walk from Devonport on the 1/2 marathon course route (120 minutes)

Hi Fitness Friends,

I just had to share this story with you…

I was recently in town having a coffee and I noticed a women sporting a Lululemon bag on her arm.  I immediately pounced on her and asked where she got the bag from. To my great delight she informed me that Lululemon had just opened a store in britomart!  They also have one on Ponsonby Rd and another in Queenstown if you are down that way.

A trip to lululemon without making a purchase is like going into your favourite candy store and coming out empty handed. (well it is for me anyway)

I made 2 purchases and I am loving working out in both.

Astro wunder under crop

Scoop neck tank

I highly recommend you pop in for a visit next time you are in town.  Kylie and the team will take extra good care of you. They are at unit 8a, 43 Te Ara Tahuhu, Auckland Central

To view store details click here

And it is worth mentioning Cafe L’Assiette just around the corner, a great new french cafe doing great food and coffee

Lunchtime workouts are a great option if you have trouble trying to squeeze exercise into your day.

Not only can you have a really effective quick exercise fix but this can also boost your energy for the rest of the day…. and there are some added benefits.

Save money and added calories - If you workout during your lunch break you won’t eat out so often which will save on the pocket and the hips…. we like this one

Instead pack a healthy lunch to enjoy back to your desk.

Fit more in - If you work out at lunchtime this will free you up to do something else you enjoy in the evening… even better

Motivation from your colleagues - Why not try and get your work mates to jump on the exercise band wagon with you, that way you can keep each other motivated… and it looks impressive

Time to contemplate - exercise can help you free your mind and get clarity on the days problems – a favourite of mine, I use this one alot

The real-world benefits of strengthening your core – Harvard Health Publications.

Here are some books that I recommend for women who are looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle… happy reading!