My 5 Top Tips to keeping fit and healthy without all the gadgets

With social media showing you all the latest hot gadgets to use in your daily life and work out, it is easy to forget that you can actually stay healthy and improve performance without these gismos. So, how do we do this? Well I’m going to share my top 5 tips with you.

1. Body weight exercises – plyos, planks and pushups – Build muscle and burn fat through simple body weight exercises which can be performed in your home, local Park or back garden. These efficient exercises are ace because they’re absolutely free and can help to prevent injury, as well as enhancing performance. There are numerous ways to target the body with no equipment such as single leg squats, various plank positions, press ups and single leg balance holds. Plyometric training may also be used to increase power output, a combination of speed and strength which are beneficial within all aspects of training.

2. The essentials – hydration, sleep, chill time and veg – you don’t need these high-tech sleep trackers or fancy water bottles, just get yourself a pint sized glass and a watch. And don’t forget to allow yourself some you time in your busy schedules. I actually spend my chill time in the gym, sleeping or reading a book whilst my boyfriend plays on his Xbox. Yes I don’t have my own chill time quite sorted yet, but I’m working on it! If I’m not doing some kind of work I feel quite guilty. Lastly, don’t forget to eat your veggies! We are all quite aware of boosting our protein and carbohydrate intake for muscle recovery but we tend to forget we should be eating our veggies for essential vitamins. Yes, you can get these through supplement tablets, but why do that when you can get pure goodness from tasty filling veg.

3. Mobility and stretching – why is this important you may ask? Well, by increasing the range of movement at the joints and increasing the extensibility of muscles you reduce the risk of injury when training. This type of training should be built into your weekly training program. I have one session a week which focuses purely on mobility, however throughout the rest of the week I continue to use varied stretching techniques to stay limber. Why not try yours when watching TV in the evening?

4. Yoga and Pilates – Take a look at an online yogi such as Yoga with Adriene who shares her knowledge with you to guide you through different challenges. Or grab a book such as Pilates for Life by Darcy Bussell, which is where I first started my Pilates training.

5. Be experimental – if you have a length of floor in your living room that is sufficient room to carry out your body weight exercises, stretching or mobility session. You might manage to get the rest of your house joining in the fun! Plus, by doing exercises at home, you can easily blast out some good tunes!

HAVE LESS DO MORE

Here I am in my local park working out 

-E

Aerobic training for the Dancer

Source: Pinterest

Dance is not often regarded as a sport, however the demands are just as high as those of Olympic athletes. Dancers require the same psychological readiness, motor control and aerobic and anaerobic capacities of their fellow sports men and women, yet they require something more complex.  A level of personal artistry is required by the individual during performances with an aim to achieve an aesthetic goal of clean lines, high elevation, precision, poise and grace whilst maintaining the endurance to perform anaerobically on and off for 30-60seconds at a time. Additionally, a level of strength is required to hold limbs against gravity and speed to move efficiently in a coordinated and effortless rhythmic manner. Thus dancers must be physically ‘fit’. However, only 40% of a dancers fitness may be linked to their genetics, leaving a large 60% to the dancers regular training, diet and appropriate lifestyle.

Researchers have found dancers less physically well-conditioned than sporting athletes through lower anaerobic values as well as lower maximal oxygen uptake compared to elite adolescent endurance athletes.

A dance class of centre work reaches 70-80% of VO2 max, with similar responses during ballet performances. A class, however only reaches this intensity for a brief period of up to 3 minutes, 16-32 jumps or a 15-20 second grand allegro combination. Because fairly strenuous exercise intensities for at least 20 minutes are needed to bring about an increase in aerobic fitness, it is unlikely that a class provides a suitable stimulus for adaptation.

Improving aerobic endurance

Aerobic endurance is the body's ability to supply the muscles with the oxygen they need to continue working over an extended period.

   This is affected by the lungs efficiency to take oxygen into the blood, how well the heart and arteries can pump the oxygen rich blood to the muscles, and how efficiently the capillaries can release the oxygen, then complete the cycle by exchanging carbon dioxide for fresh oxygen.

    When challenged by working a little longer or under more intensity than normal, the aerobic capacity expands.

How to improve aerobic capacity

It is recommended to engage in activity that increases your heart rate (HR) to 75% max HR for 20-30 minutes 3 or more times a week.

You can find your maximum HR through this formula:

220 – (your age) = estimated HR max in beats per minute (BPM)

This formula may find your aerobic training target:

HR max X .75 = Aerobic training target

Personal Heart rate monitors are not ideal to wear when dancing, especially when performing, due to a wrist watch monitor, however one may be worn whilst doing additional training to record exercise effort.

There are many enjoyable aerobic activities to partake on your own or in a group/club such as; jogging, running, swimming, cycling, cross training, rowing etc. Many of these activities can be done both indoors and outdoors, thus there is always a way to keep things interesting and easy to work around dance class.

Please comment with any questions or contact me if you want a personalised training plan

- E

Life in Motion

I absolutely love Misty Copeland, I cannot get enough of her! I'm always checking out her latest photoshoots and adventures via Instagram and sending them to Chris RR wishing that I could be so beautiful and strong to photograph. 

Back in summer 2015 I read Mistys book 'Life in Motion'. Her book tells the story of a gifted young African American girl who came from an underprivileged family to make it into the highly regarded American Ballet Theatre. What is remarkable is that she only begun her ballet career at the late age of thirteen. Her story makes you laugh, smile and cry with the ups and downs of her life, such as the pull between ballet and family, the attention of the media at such a young age and her ambition to reach where she is today. The book is a beautiful story of a child and young woman striving for her dream against the odds. 
It didn’t stop at writing this book though! Since the publication of ‘Life in Motion’ Misty is now the first African American Female Principle Dancer within the American Ballet Theatre, as well as ambassador for the sports brand UnderArmour.

As a Sports Therapist and Strength and Conditioning graduate I found reading about Misty’s injuries and rehabilitation process very interesting. Indeed, her dedication to dance from a young age through multiple obstacles, and her determination to get back on the stage post injury is an admirable trait.

The book sent shivers down my spine when I read of her fight against covering her beautiful black skin in makeup in order to become a White Swan. The psychological stresses of such a position in a company are already great, but Misty's will power to push through racial prejudice was, and is incredible.

This was a perfect summer book as it was simple to read, unlike other dancer’s stories I've read. I also believe the book is suitable for the younger fan, which has some great accompanying photographs of Misty through the years. 

I would highly recommend this book for those like Misty fighting for their dream. Or for those, like me who are simply in love with the natural beauty that is Misty Copeland. I do hope one day I get to see her perform in person.

Here are some of my favourite photos of Misty... (all photos from Pinterest)

- E