At Home Workout Reviews

The Royal Veterinary College has recently been awarded a grant of over £100,000 to fund a study on the beneficial effects of exercise for horses and ponies that contract laminitis.  Laminitis is very painful condition that affects the feet, mainly occurring in ponies that are turned out on grazing that is too rich and lush for their bodies to cope with.

As the wall of a pony’s hoof cannot swell when it becomes, the pain suffered by the pony is terrible and an affected pony often adopts a posture that is almost a crouch to relieve the pressure on his feet, and is unwilling to move at all.  Once a horse or pony has contracted laminitis he remains prone to further attacks, and the hoof wall can become badly damaged and even deformed as a result. Since the old saying ” No Foot, No Horse” is extremely true, often the [...] Continue Reading…

An amazing new technology that has the potential to harness the power generated while people exercise and convert it into energy has recently been unveiled by a company in Connecticut.  Their aim is to produce electricity in a green and sustainable manner with no byproducts such as carbon emissions, and they plan to use an indoor cycling class in the gym to help them do it!

Indoor cycling or spinning classes are very popular in  terms of Workout Equipment and can burn upwards of 600 cal per hour.  Participants use special fixed bikes to work through an interval-based programme that simulates road riding — including increasing the resistance to simulate hills.  Led by a qualified instructor and usually to a pounding rock soundtrack, a class normally lasts 45 minutes to one hour and certainly classes as intensive exercise which is low impact and does not put stress on joints.

The environmentally- [...] Continue Reading…

Belfast Leisure Centre has become one of the first to adapt Workout Equipment within their gym for wheelchair users so that they can exercise alongside the more able bodied.  The new equipment, which includes several types of resistance machine, has been adapted so that the normal seat can move out of the way leaving enough space to manoeuvre a wheelchair into place whether electric or manual.

The installation of this progressive equipment  has been greeted with delight by disability group representatives, especially as there are fitness advisers available in the gym who are trained to devise a personalised fitness exercise programme for any individual, tailored to their specific needs.  It also means that wheelchair users need no longer feel nervous or vulnerable about joining the gym as the resistance machines are suitable for use by the disabled themselves unassisted, although the centre emphasises that carers are welcome and will not [...] Continue Reading…

New research results have finally proved that Regular Exercise can slow down the ageing process, and the reason for this can be found within the body’s white blood cells. We already know that exercising reduces the risk of heart disease and some cancers, and now scientists have discovered that athletes and regular exercisers have longer telomeres (protective DNA at the ends of cell chromosomes) than healthy adults who are non-smokers and non-exercisers.

These telomeres protect the cells much like the coating on the ends of bootlaces prevent them fraying and unravelling, say the German researchers behind the study. Our cells divide throughout our lifetimes, with the telomeres becoming shorter each time, until they get too short to divide further – which is when the traditional signs of ageing such as loss of muscle tone, appearance of wrinkles and degeneration in our senses start to appear.

The study compared the general fitness [...] Continue Reading…

A recent study of just under 250 adults aged between 45 and 55 has discovered a link between high impact exercise and osteoarthritis.  High impact exercise refers to activities such as running, walking long distances, hours of gardening and playing sports, all of which put a lot of strain on the knee joints. These joints are already starting to degenerate in this age group due to the natural ageing process; the lubricant fluid within the knee begins to dry up and as joints become more creaky, small bone spurs can form which then cause the ends of the bones to rub together, giving the painful inflammation and stiffness associated with arthritis.

Putting more strain on these joints in middle age can speed the process up and wears down the cartilage protecting the joints as well as causing small tears in the supporting ligaments.  The researchers carrying out the study suggested [...] Continue Reading…

High levels of cholesterol in the blood can possibly be lowered by a healthy diet rich in all kinds of vegetables and fruit, whole grains and small amounts of lean meat, a German scientist has stated in a recent report.  Although the blood cholesterol levels are affected less by what we eat than has been previously believed, it makes good sense to eat good food that is freshly prepared and has a balance of all the nutrients necessary to health on the plate.  This does not mean cutting out fast foods, alcohol and sugar completely, but they should be kept to a minimum and consumed in their most natural form where possible.

Most fast foods such as sausages, burgers and processed meals contain unacceptably high levels of fat, salt and sugar, all of which have a detrimental effect on the internal workings of the body.  Researchers have found that, while [...] Continue Reading…

Fitness Wales, a foundation set up were 40 years ago to get people exercising and to encourage more people to train as fitness instructors, say that you shouldn’t wait until New Year’s Day to put in place your New Year resolution to lose some weight.  The run up to Christmas means that most of us stop thinking about exercise completely, assisted by the fact that the nights are long and dark and the days are cold, wet and usually miserable!

It is much easier to curl up on the sofa with a family sized bar of chocolate while the wind howls outside than it is to put on your workout gear and start exercising.  People hate exercising in winter; nothing is worse than having to take off your nice, warm sweater in a chilly changing room at the gym!

Let’s face it, Christmas is a stressful time of year is well [...] Continue Reading…

Did you know that many people believe that they can compensate for drinking too much by exercising vigorously in the days afterwards?  A new survey recently published shows that nearly a fifth of the people questioned believed that they could negate excessive alcohol consumption with exercise, either by using their own home fitness equipment or going down to the gym and using the more high-tech workout equipment there.

The government and GPs are worried by this trend as they say that drinkers are sticking their heads in the sand with this attitude.  Government guidelines on the safe consumption of alcohol recommend a maximum of three to four units daily for men and two to three for women.  These units should not be saved up for a binge drink at weekends and all drinkers should have at least two alcohol free days per week.

It is a fact that no amount of [...] Continue Reading…

The high level of staff absence within the NHS is currently under the microscope as government and managers try to see what they can do to reduce the number of days staff have off sick each year, which costs the NHS millions.

The average NHS staff member has up to 10.7 working days off sick every year with a high incidence of absence through stress and physical problems such as back injuries being reported.  This level of staff absenteeism can have a negative effect on patient care with theatre lists and clinic sessions having to be cancelled due to low staffing levels.

Many staff claim they do not have sufficient time during breaks to eat healthily and often grab crisps and chocolate just to keep them going instead of going to the canteen to get a meal or a sandwich.

A new report has come up with a series of guidelines to [...] Continue Reading…

It’s well known that regular exercise has definite health benefits no matter what age you are, and a study has recently indicated that men can significantly reduce their risk of having a stroke by exercising.

Men must however exercise at a moderate to vigorous level to gain these benefits — for example playing tennis or swimming.  In the study, which involved over 3000 New York residents with an average age of 65 to 70, exercising at these levels reduced the risk of stroke by a hefty 63% in the men but made no difference to the risk of stroke in the women.

Of all the people studied, 41% took no exercise at all and that group had the highest stroke risk.  Light exercise such as walking or playing golf improved general health but did not significantly reduce the risk of stroke – more vigorous exercise was required for this.

The study was [...] Continue Reading…