Have you ever wondered why martial artists playing in action movies are able to perform all these flips, kicks and punches with such ease and so naturally. Why, for example, Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris fighting with the guys twice their height and size, are still able to kick them on the face? It is not only about hours of practicing certain movements over and over again behind the scenes but also, and mainly, because of proper stretching.

None of us are born with innate flexibility that would differ from the ones of the others and would be sustained for the whole life. Every person is, in a lesser or larger degree, equally ‘elastic’.

What is flexibility?
It refers to the range of movement possible at a joint. The range through which the joint will move is determined by the structure of the joint, the muscles, and connective tissue, which surround it.

Having a restricted range of movement, and being inflexible makes joints prone to injury. Maintaining full potential range of movement can reduce the risk of injury by increasing the production of lubricate in joints, making them stronger, more stable, and it can also assist in daily tasks. How to achieve it – by stretching.

What happens when we stretch?
Stretching is the type of activity we use to improve range of movement (flexibility). A stretch is created when the two ends of a muscle are moved apart by the action of the opposing muscle, by the effect of gravity or by the position of the limb supported by another limb or structure.

There are five main types of stretching:

No matter which type of stretching you are performing (apart from ballistic stretching which is meant for martial artists and athletes) you are reducing tension of your body, awakening mind, relaxing muscles and making yourself generally healthier. Remember about stretching before and after your workout. Maintenance stretches (before) should be held for 8 – 10 seconds, developmental ones (after the session) for 15 – 30 seconds. Bear this in mind, and sore and stiffness the morning after a workout will no longer be a problem.

The appearance of Limbs is more shapely and defined through stretching correctly.

It is now well established that regular exercise has a positive impact on your physical health. Regular exercise is beneficial for managing weight and the prevention of heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis and cancer. However exercise can also play an important part in improving mental well-being and stress management.

Effects of exercise
Regular physical activity has been shown to reduce negative mood states such as frustration, anger, anxiety and depression thereby promoting positive mood states such as enhanced feelings of self-esteem, self-confidence and self-efficacy, enhanced vigor and well-being. This results in creating a good mood in the short-term and improving mental well-being in the long-term.

Explanations

• Endorphins: During exercise, the body releases greater amounts of endorphins: the powerful, mood-elevating chemicals in the brain. These help to lift your mood.
  
  
• Achievement and satisfaction: It is the experience of participating and mastering the task of exercise that creates positive feelings and thoughts which counteract negative mood states. This mastering of a task could quite simply be completing an exercise class or achieving a long-term goal such as losing a set amount of weight.
  
  
• Distraction: Exercise offers a distraction from the stresses and worries of everyday life. Being away from home and concentrating on a different activity can provide ‘time out’ for an individual. Problems always seem less important when walking, swimming or running. Exercise has been shown to be just as effective as meditation for improving mental well-being.
  
  
• Social support: The benefits of social support are well known. Because exercise and physical activity can often involve others, you can enjoy a double dose of stress-relief with the combined affect of exercise and fun with friends. Whether it be working out in an exercise class with others, working out in the gym with a buddy or just talking to a fitness instructor. Having others work out with you can make you feel good, as well as motivating you to work harder!

Type of exercise recommended for stress management
In order to fully experience the mental benefits of exercise guidelines have been developed by sport psychologists. They suggest exercise should be:

• Regular and at least 20 minutes in duration.
• Rhythmical movements (E.G cycling, running).
• Absent of competition.
• Predictable.
• And most importantly enjoyable!!

Movement, water and music, three elements that are basic to life.
The body needs movement to maintain health and wellbeing; it needs water to sustain its most essential functions; and music… Well music is the most universal of languages, giving us joy and comfort, and providing us with a motivation and stimulus to exercise and relax.  Aqua fitness is a combination of these three elements that are so fundamental to our lives.

What is aqua fitness?
This enjoyable form of exercise makes creative use of the natural resistance and buoyancy of water to provide a low-impact workout that is both fun and effective.  It is suitable for all ages and different levels of fitness, and you do not have to know how to swim. You do not even have to get your hair wet! Aqua fitness work outs aim to improve all components of fitness: Muscular endurance and strength, body composition, aerobic capacity, and flexibility or joint mobility, as well as neuromuscular coordination.

Benefits of aqua fitness.

• It provides a low-impact workout that will not strain the weight-bearing joints or the back.
• The resistance of water ensures that the exerciser does not work beyond his or hers capability.
• The working heart rate in water is lower that when training at a similar intensity on land.
• It increases or at least maintains bone density.
• Even though you perspire during the work out, you will never feel sweaty.
• Water exercise is healthy and in vogue.
• The exerciser is “hidden” in the water, which can appeal to those lacking in self-confidence.
• It’s for everybody, men and women!

The larger the movement performed during a work-out, the more oxygen has to be transported to the muscles in order to perform the exercise.

Working against the resistance of water requires a greater expenditure of energy and calories than land based exercises. This is good news for those who want to lose weight!

We would like to congratulate all of the 21 women from Harlington Manor Health Club that took part in the Race for Life on Sunday 25th June 2006, including our Fitness Instructor, Sarah Finch.  As a Group, it was their target to raise within a region of £1,000 which they managed to do and would like to thank anyone who sponsored and supported them whilst training and on the day itself.

The money that was raised by all of the ladies that took part will help Cancer Research UK to do further research into testing what can cause cancer, easier treatments and to hopefully prevent the cancer from progressing.

On the day of the race, there were a total of 6,000 women that took part in the 5 kilometre/3 mile event at Stockwood Park Luton, whether it was running or walking.  The race itself had a great atmosphere with the majority of women running for a friend or relative that they had lost to cancer and there were many women running or walking in fancy dress.

All of the ladies that took part from Harlington Manor Health Club on the day managed to complete the full 5 kilometre/3 mile race within 45 minutes, which was an outstanding performance and also a reflection on the amount of training and effort they put in.  Well done to all of you!

Our Members that took part worked very hard towards the race day attending many of the training sessions and also repeating their training within their own time, not forgetting to give it their all by beating their time each week, which is a great achievement.

Again, we would like to thank all of the women that took part on behalf of Harlington Manor Health Club, and well done for completing the race, especially as it was extremely hot on the day!

By Justin Reilly, Personal Training Manager

Is it possible to live to a ripe old age and still be in a relatively healthy body commanding a full mental capacity?  Yes!  Old age is often viewed as a dubious privilege associated with constant medical care.  It does not have to be that way however, and there are several steps you can take that will keep you healthy and happy for years to come.

1.  Exercise
Exercise not only keeps the body healthy, it is very important for brain function.  If you burn between 1,500 and 3,500 calories per-week, exercise reduces death from all causes.  Heart disease and cancers are major limiters of lifespan, but they can be slowed down and stopped in their tracks by exercise.  Exercise will strengthen the heart and the circulatory system.  Many recent studies have also shown that it can provide benefits from certain types of cancer, including breast and prostate cancer.

Perhaps even more significantly, exercise will help your moods and mental health.  From a short-term perspective it provides stress-release by the release of feel-good hormones.  From a long-term perspective exercise gives you direction, focus and a vastly improved immune system.  These are vital for a long and happy life.

2.  Be part of a wider community
Being happy in yourself can greatly increase your lifespan.  To be happy you need to be aware that as a human you are a social animal.  You need human contact.  To be happy you need to be part of a larger social group, to be part of a community.  You need friends and family and you need to make a contribution.  This contribution must however be tangible.  It is far less effective if it is simply a cheque in the post to a favoured charity.  You will feel more content and fulfilled if you “get your hands dirty” and your contribution is either physical or mental.  Being part of the community is about making a contribution to something bigger than you; it is about making a positive impact on the wider community.  You also need to spend quality time with friends and family.  They are your link with the past, ground you in the present and will help you in the future.  This is the polar opposite to watching television, which has a depressing and anesthetising effect on the mind and body.

3.  Go organic
The food on your table is not the same as the food your grandparents ate.  Intensive farming methods, fertilizers and pesticides have fouled our nest and contaminated our food chain from field to table.  Intensive farming has depleted the soil, radically reducing the vitamin and mineral content of fruit and vegetable produce.  Animals and fish are fed poor quality food and pumped with growth hormones and antibiotics.  For purely aesthetic purposes, the meat is then dyed so it looks healthy.  It is also pumped with water so it looks tender.  To avoid this poisonous mess, select organic grains, fruit, vegetables and meat whenever possible.

4.  Make antioxidants work for you
Antioxidants are vitamins and minerals that prevent free-radical damage in the body.  Free-radical damage are the main causes of degenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other forms of brain degeneration.  Free-radical damage can come from air-pollution, pesticides, poisons, sunburn, wounds and physical trauma and injuries.  After the age of 28, free-radical damage is the principle cause of disease and death in Western society (Harmon D. Aging: prospects for further increases in the functional lifespan. Age. 1994, Issue 17).

Here are some simple tips for improving your antioxidant potential and boosting your power of prevention:

• Eat lots of fresh fruit;
• Eat lots of vegetables, especially sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, watercress and broccoli;
• Make an appointment with a dietician or nutritionist and find out what vitamins you are deficient in.They can recommend supplements that you need;
• Avoid pollution, smoky bars, overexposure to sunlight and limit fried and barbecued food.

5.  Do not smoke or associate with smokers
Smoking causes more than one-third of all deaths by cancer, the majority of deaths by obstructive pulmonary disease, a large portion of deaths by cardiovascular disease, rapid progression of diabetes, plus a host of other disorders from cataracts to impotence.

Second-hand smoke is just as deadly; passive smoking subjects you to over 4700 different chemicals.  Every lungful of some else’s smoke pumps potent poison to the furthest reaches of your body.  Smoking causes massive free-radical damage, of which lung and throat cancers and cardiovascular disease are the most obvious symptoms.

6.  Challenge yourself
Taking calculated and thoughtful risks, both emotional and physical are a key component to living a long and healthy life.  Keep busy throughout your life.  For this reason retirement often leads to a physical and mental deterioration.  You stop challenging yourself and perhaps crucially you cut yourself off from the friendships you formed at work.  This can be avoided if you do not retreat into yourself.  Get out, meet, enjoy life and have a ball!  Crosswords, Su Doku, learning new languages can all help to challenge the mind, keeping it trained and mentally spry.  Exercise, hiking, swimming, walking and using Harlington Manor Health Club can all help to keep the body in tip-top health in the golden years and help challenge you physically. 

Conclusion
The science of age-prevention is relatively new but is fast becoming big business.  There are so many things that you can do that will help you live a long and happy life, and this article has only touched upon six of them.  Take a holistic approach, tackle age prevention from several angles and implement lifestyle changes. 

The results are worth it!

Summer is just around the corner and there is no better time to improve your muscle tone, lose those extra pounds or just generally shape up for the summer !

We all want to look great for the summer and while some of us might want to lose body fat and a few inches off their waist, others may want to tone and shape their body and add a few pounds of muscle. We all have different goals but they can all be achieved by a good balanced diet, quality varied exercise and most importantly – motivation.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you ever struggle to find the motivation to come to the gym ?
• Do you ever finish a workout feeling like you have not achieved what it is you set out to do ?
• Do you ever feel like you are at a standstill and not making progress towards your goals ?

If your answer to any of these questions is “yes” then now is the time to find out more about Personal Training.

We at Harlington Manor Health Club want to help you to achieve your personal goals.  We know there is no better way of doing that than having your own Personal Trainer, helping you along to fulfil your goals. Apart from giving you new and challenging exercises to try, they will also help and advise you on all aspects of your lifestyle to really maximise the benefits of your time in the gym. More importantly still, they will help you to get motivated and will keep you motivated right through and until you achieve your personal goals.

To find out more about what Personal Training can do for you just ask any member of the Fitness Team or the Receptionist today and start getting in shape for the summer !

Most of our Members here at Harlington Manor Health Club are here to improve some aspect of their health or fitness.  Exercise can dramatically improve both the quality and the length of your lifespan.  Excess physical weight, an injury or joint problem, an understanding that your stamina is not what it ought to be or simply frustration of a lack of power with a golf swing, these can have a dramatic and detrimental impact on your life.  Exercise can not only improve upon these areas, they can help improve life expectancy.  Even taking up exercise relatively late in a person’s life can add an additional five years to your life-span.  The bottom line is exercise can improve your confidence, self-esteem and to simply help you feel better about yourself.  This is where a Personal Trainer comes in.

Here at Harlington Manor Health Club we pride ourselves on looking after our Members, providing free training programmes and regular reviews.  We are aware however that for many of our Members that this is not enough.  If your car or television was broken and you called a repair man, would you be satisfied if he gave you a blue-print and told you to fix it yourself?  The human body is far more complex than these mechanical and electrical devices, so why take a chance when it comes to your health, fitness and mental well-being and life expectancy?  A car or television set is just something you own.  How you look and feel, well, that is you.

Our Personal Trainers stay with you for your full session, whether that is a half-hour or full-hour session.  They will monitor each aspect of your training program from technique to intensity.  They will also look at your diet, sleep patterns and lifestyle.  When you get all of these aspects right, you will start to feel good about yourself.  At the end of the day, that is what you joined Harlington Manor Health Club for.

A Personal Trainer will help you to:

• Get the results you are after far more quickly than you could on your own;
• Choose time efficient and effective exercises that suit your own physique and your own skill levels;
• Feel more motivated and energised.  To know that you have had an excellent session and genuinely made progress towards your goals;
• To feel more confident and happy in yourself!

If you have been training for some time and not made progress towards your goals, or you feel you would like professional help to motivate you, please see one of the Fitness Team.  We are here to help and genuinely want you to achieve your goals!

Good luck and see you soon!

Having more muscle increases the calories you burn.  Lean mass or fat free weight is the most important factor in determining metabolic rate and the amount of calories you expend each day.  Muscle is the main component of lean mass, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn each day.  Training provides a triple whammy for weight loss by burning more calories during exercise.  

Excess abdominal fat increases the risk of coronary artery disease, some cancers, insulin resistance, diabetes, abnormal blood fat (high cholesterol, low HDL), hypertension (high blood pressure) and blood clotting. Most heart attacks are caused by blood clots. Men deposit more fat in their abdomens than women, which may be the reason men have a higher risk of heart disease.

Training combined with a well balanced diet will supplement abdominal fat loss.  As with any exercise programmes, begin conservatively and progress gradually.

Workout
30-45 mins of aerobic exercise 60-85 percent at maximum effort, three days per week.  This will burn a lot of calories.   A sensible diet to the equation and you will rid your body of excess fat before you know it!

Training with weights at least two days a week will increase your muscle mass which will give you a higher metabolic rate.  It also increases nerve signals to the abdominal fat stores to release and use your fat stores.

Exercise the abdomen at least three days per week.  “Good” abdominal exercises include crunches, exercise ball crunches, bicycle cruncher, side bridges, medicine ball thrusts and reverse crunches. All of this exercise is done in the classes that we provide at Harlington Manor Health Club. If you have any problems with the exercises see one of our fitness team.

Include interval training in your workout. Interval training at it simplest involves completing an easy pace for say one minute and then speeding it up so you train hard for thirty seconds. Repeat as necessary.

You can lose abdominal fat and look fit and healthy if you are willing to pay the price. Losing your body fat, and inches from waist is no problem if you follow a few basic principles and stick with your program. (See fitness Team). More importantly, you can hold onto your gains. If you start today, six months from now there will be new you. You will be leaner, stronger, healthier and look good. The ball is in your court. Promise to make fitness and diet a priority in your life and you will achieve trim, fit and ripped midsection.

“Race for Life” is an event to raise money for Breast Cancer and Cancer Research.  The event has been taking place around the Country for the past 12 years and has been extremely successful.

Last year 78,749 women around the country participated in the various races and managed to raise £38 million.

This year a group of 20 ladies from Harlington Manor Health Club are taking part in the 5km/3mile walk/run.  The race is being held at 11am on Sunday 25th June 2006 at Stockwood park in Luton.  The ladies are hoping to raise £1,000 in total for the charities.

Sarah one of our Fitness Team whom herself is also participating, has organised 2 training sessions a week on Saturdays at 8:45am to 9:45am and on Sundays at 10:30am to 11:30am, so that all the ladies involved can improve their cardio-vascular fitness for the race day.

Although this is an event just for the ladies, gentlemen you can give your support by sponsoring the ladies and also by coming along on the day to cheer them on.

We wish all the ladies involved the very best of luck for the day.

Exercising in the correct way is very healthy for mother and baby. At Harlington Manor we encourage our expectant mother to part take in 30 minutes moderate exercise a day.  We have designed a class that enables the mothers to be to exercise safely.  It builds the confidence of the mothers and also allows them to exercise with other mothers in a similar position. Mothers feel an intense pressure in today's world to get back into their pre-pregnancy shape.  

The benefits of our classes at Harlington Manor are :

• Improved circulation
• Improved posture
• Increase in cardiovascular & muscular fitness
• More positive psychological adjustments
• Lower risk of miscarriage
• Decrease chances of developing DVT and varicose veins
• A better birth
• A healthier placenta
• A more alert, less fussy Baby

Personal Training can mean different things to different people.  For that reason Personal Trainers wear many different hats.  A Personal Trainer can hold your hand and get you through the initial “intimidation” factor that you might experience on your initial visit to the club.  They can provide you with real information on exercise and nutrition and motivate you to go that little bit further each time.  They will focus on your personal goals whilst providing you with personal accountability.

Two ways to help you improve your performance in the gym are to train smarter and to train harder.

Training “smarter” means selecting the correct exercises for you.  It can mean looking at your postural muscles, your spine, hip and knee alignments.  It can mean selecting free-weight or own-body weight exercises that will train your body more effectively and in a more time efficient manor.  Training “harder” means training at the right intensity for you.  Do you train hard?  Do you use the correct weight and use perfect technique?  And if you do train hard, do you also train smart?  A Personal Trainer can greatly assist you achieving both of these goals.

Most of our members would like to look and feel better with a minimal and realistic time investment.  A Personal Trainer will show you how to exercise more efficiently.  They will ensure you reach your goals whilst having fun on the way!  Most of all, a Personal Trainer will provide that personal touch.