We are Open!

We are Open! 2

We are so pleased to be able to say that we are now open!! This last lockdown of just over three months has seemed a long time as we have had to cope with shorter days, dark nights and a cold winter. We are so excited to be back in the gym and looking forward to helping everyone with their fitness journeys, especially now that the nights are getting lighter, it’s starting to get warmer, and we all want to look and feel good for Summer!

It has certainly been a long haul since last March and we know that a lot of you have struggled with the motivation to exercise and eat healthily. This may well have got more difficult the longer that this went on. Let’s get back to working towards a healthier, fitter 2021! The more you exercise, the quicker your motivation will return, as endorphins (chemicals in the brain) which lift your mood.

We have got our 30-minute circuit to help you get back into shape alongside our classes and help with motivation and nutrition.

Here’s a reminder of what our circuit is, the benefits, and why you need it:

    1. Our circuit is a series of 10 stations which include hydraulic resistance machines, two free stations where you can use your own bodyweight, resistance bands and weights and a lovely stretch at the end.
    2. It’s only 30 minutes! This is so important as many of you have precious little time to yourselves to be able to do the things that you want to do. Time for you where you can exercise, relax, pamper and do things for you is so important, so with our circuit being only 30 minutes, you should be able to fit it into your lifestyle three times a week quite easily. Being only 30 minutes doesn’t mean that you won’t see results or that you won’t be getting a good workout. Our circuit gives you an intense 30 minute full body workout which, research has shown, can lead to huge benefits including weight loss, less risk of certain diseases including heart disease and type 2 diabetes and increased bone density as well as better sleep, increased strength, better mood and a stronger immune system which will help to fight off viruses, including the Coronavirus.  We use hydraulic Resistance. All our machines use hydraulic resistance, meaning that they use a cylinder filled with fluid for the resistance. This gives you a smooth, controlled movement on both the push and the pull, meaning you get a painless, double contraction of the muscles with less stress on the joints. There are no jerky movements or noisy machines, and it is quick and easy to move from one machine to the next as there are no adjustments to make, apart from which resistance level you are on, meaning that you get a better workout without interruption. The benefits of using hydraulic resistance include increased muscle mass and strength, reduced body fat percentage, improved bone health and a reduced risk of injury as the machine keeps you in the correct position and there is nothing to drop or slip out of your hands.
    3. You will increase your strength and stamina, as your muscle mass increases. Working your muscles against a weight or resistance increases muscle strength and as you increase muscle mass, the faster you will burn calories. After the age of 30, muscle mass decreases by between 3% and 8% per decade, and after the age of 60 the deterioration is even higher. That might not sound like a lot and certainly for the first few years you might not see any noticeable difference, but if you could jump ahead and see yourself at 60 or 70 years old, and you haven’t been exercising to maintain and increase muscle mass, then you would see a huge difference. This is when you will start to struggle to get in and out of a chair, not be able to carry your shopping easily and generally struggle with daily tasks. I’m sure that we all want to be fit and healthy as we get older and still be able to do day to day tasks without being tired and physically unable to do them, when we are older. I don’t just want to be able to keep up with my granddaughter, Poppy. I want to be able to ‘outplay’ her, A great example of how resistance exercise promotes strength and stamina is my Easter weekend activities which I want to share with you, to explain why resistance training makes such a difference. We decided to spend the Easter weekend dismantling our decking in the back garden in order to replace it with a new one. This was a very large deck and there was only Ian and me. So, we got a huge skip which was put on the drive and Ian began cutting up the decking boards and placing them into large plastic buckets. I then carried these heavy buckets backwards and forwards to the skip which involved going up and down two sets of steps. I also carried the longer planks (7 or 8 at a time) which were not cut down. I did this for most of the afternoon over 2 days with very few rests or breaks. I know, without a doubt that if I did not do resistance training and strength training, I wouldn’t have been able to do this and maintain the speed that I was working at for the length of time that I did, or anywhere near to be fair. I simply would not have had the strength and stamina to do this! Another huge benefit was that I didn’t suffer with muscle soreness over the following days either. If this had been a one-off activity with no other regular exercise, I know I would have been aching a lot! I also know that I am stronger now than I was 20 years ago, and that it is never too late to start strength training. Strength and muscle mass can be improved at any age.
    4. You will maintain and increase your flexibility and balance. Resistance training will improve hamstring, hip, knee and shoulder flexibility which is vital as we get older. It will also strengthen the core muscles which you need to maintain good balance.
    5. You will reduce your body fat percentage. Resistance training is excellent for reducing belly fat and your body fat percentage. When you build your muscles through training, you increase the number of calories that you burn after exercising (the afterburn).
    6. You will increase your bone density. This is especially important for women, especially during and after the menopause because the drop in oestrogen levels can lead to osteoporosis. Bone is a living tissue just like muscle and it gets stronger with exercise. Exercise such as resistance training, which puts stress on the bones, can slow down the rate of bone loss.
    7. You can help to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Resistance exercise improves the immune system and insulin sensitivity and increases the metabolism. It also helps to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
    8. You can reduce pain from arthritis as strengthening the muscles around the affected joints eases pain and stiffness.
    9. Exercise will also improve your mood, reduce anxiety, improve feelings of well-being, help you to sleep better, improve your memory and improve your confidence.

Come and join us at W Fitness and help us to build a team of strong, healthy women, in a safe, friendly, supportive environment!

Much Love

Caroline & Hannah xx