Here you'll find an archive of all of my fitness posts, including each month's new workout, fitness product reviews and post series I've written based on research and personal experience. You'll also find health and fitness guest posts from other amazing fitness bloggers, and essential tips for people new to getting in shape - things I wish I'd known when I'd started, it would have saved me a lot of time and failure! There are also reader-exclusive offers at the bottom of this page.
I like to try to find unique workouts wherever I can, and my shyness has meant that I've never attended a class, but although I've limited myself to the internet, DVDs, books and magazines, I've still had a surprisingly wide choice, and it's a choice that each of my readers has, too. Having said that, if you've come across any workouts you consider as unique, or have put together a workout yourself that defies expectations, do let me know! I'd love to give it a go myself! Or if you have a fitness product you'd like reviewed, whether it be kit, a book or DVD, or even some kind of post-workout shower scrub, feel free to get in touch!
Wonder why I'm so passionate about fitness? This post should explain it completely. There are so many benefits to getting fit, and the way you look is just one of many.
Monthly Workouts
Changing your workout is key to avoiding plateaus (when, despite all your efforts, your body stops changing) as well as boredom. It also provides the excuse to try new things, from simply different movements to entirely new kit, and from such freedom, you will find something you love doing. Here, I blog about every month's workout (DVD, internet or magazine-based - no gyms needed!) from the starting point to the end, with an update half way through, and a review of the workout once I'm finished with it.
A series of posts put together from both research and personal experience, as well as a few professional guest posters. Here I talk about the important of keeping fit, eating right, and just what 'keeping fit' and 'eating right' actually means.
There's plenty of advice for losing weight, burning fat and keeping it off, mistakes others have made that you can learn from (including my own), tips for enjoying Christmas and Easter indulgence without gaining a pound, and, of course, fitness hacks you can sneak into your day without making a big deal about it. Making a change doesn't have to be difficult.
Here you can find every review of every workout DVD I've ever used, as well as my verdict on healthy snacks, fitness kit and general wellbeing & fitness products.
Discounts and total freebies on healthy snacks, protein, fitness streaming, activewear and feel-good treats!
Health & Fitness Resource Links:
Exercise
How to create your own balanced workout plan - The BXNG Club has provided this article outlining the best workout plan for total strength, form, fat loss and muscle building for maximum results, safely. Balance, rest, scheduluing, thinking, all of which avoid wasted time and lead to the best results.
Health & Fitness Resource Links:
Exercise
How to create your own balanced workout plan - The BXNG Club has provided this article outlining the best workout plan for total strength, form, fat loss and muscle building for maximum results, safely. Balance, rest, scheduluing, thinking, all of which avoid wasted time and lead to the best results.
A perfectly balanced workout plan
- Shape has also presented a more day-by-day suggestion plan for your workouts.
The 6 Essential Barbell Moves - Another article by Shape, the 6 most essential moves to master with a barbell. If you're lifting heavy enough (and with a barbell, you ought to be), things don't need to be complicated to get results.
How Heavy is Too Heavy? - if you're embarking on a heavy lifting plan but are unsure where to start, or how to tell if you're lifting too heavy (or not heavy enough), check out this article by Shape. It outlines the difference in lifting for muscle tone, strength, or powerlifting, and just how often a week you need to lift heavy in order to get results.
The Dangers of Excessive Exercise - this probably doesn't apply to you. It did to me 5 years ago, though, which is why I'm making sure that it's here, for my own benefit if no one else's. I would exercise 6 days a week and feel guilty on a rest day, while eating 1250 calories a day and getting migraines every few weeks. And yes, I suffered her every symptom, including ameorrhea and all it's symptoms for 4 years, and more. How my now-husband never left me due to those awful moods I was in, I'll never know. I have since turned it down to 4 days a week and 2100 calories (or 1850 on rest/cardio days if I'm body recomping).
The 6 Essential Barbell Moves - Another article by Shape, the 6 most essential moves to master with a barbell. If you're lifting heavy enough (and with a barbell, you ought to be), things don't need to be complicated to get results.
How Heavy is Too Heavy? - if you're embarking on a heavy lifting plan but are unsure where to start, or how to tell if you're lifting too heavy (or not heavy enough), check out this article by Shape. It outlines the difference in lifting for muscle tone, strength, or powerlifting, and just how often a week you need to lift heavy in order to get results.
The Dangers of Excessive Exercise - this probably doesn't apply to you. It did to me 5 years ago, though, which is why I'm making sure that it's here, for my own benefit if no one else's. I would exercise 6 days a week and feel guilty on a rest day, while eating 1250 calories a day and getting migraines every few weeks. And yes, I suffered her every symptom, including ameorrhea and all it's symptoms for 4 years, and more. How my now-husband never left me due to those awful moods I was in, I'll never know. I have since turned it down to 4 days a week and 2100 calories (or 1850 on rest/cardio days if I'm body recomping).
10 ways to use a foam roller - another useful bookmark. How and why you should use one - and it doesn't have to be covered in holes and ridges or cost £50+ to be of use. My own is the Gaiam restore compact foam roller and cost about £20.
A breakdown of the different forms of yoga, what they're good for and how to tailor them to your goals.
How to use a rebounder effectively
- there are so many mini trampoline workouts out there with the premise
that jumping is the most effective form of cardio. That much is
certainly true, but as trampolines actually bounce for you, the effect is negated. Read this article to find out how to use your rebounder / mini trampoline efficiently.
How to lose body fat safely - and permanently - there is so much conflicting information out in the world on how to lose weight effectively. A lot of it doesn't distinguish between fat weight, muscle weight or water weight. Some examples: hot yoga sweats out water. You'll gain it all back as soon as you drink anything. Aerobics reduces muscle weight, making it harder to keep fat off (because less muscle means less calories are needed, and fewer calories are burned to move those tiny muscles). There are lots of gimmicks and fads out there, too. There is, ultimately, only one way to lose fat, and that's eating right and exercising. But there is more to it than that, and this article covers it all, including lots of things that I've found in my 5 years in the world of fitness to be fact by experience.
How to lose body fat safely - and permanently - there is so much conflicting information out in the world on how to lose weight effectively. A lot of it doesn't distinguish between fat weight, muscle weight or water weight. Some examples: hot yoga sweats out water. You'll gain it all back as soon as you drink anything. Aerobics reduces muscle weight, making it harder to keep fat off (because less muscle means less calories are needed, and fewer calories are burned to move those tiny muscles). There are lots of gimmicks and fads out there, too. There is, ultimately, only one way to lose fat, and that's eating right and exercising. But there is more to it than that, and this article covers it all, including lots of things that I've found in my 5 years in the world of fitness to be fact by experience.
Eating
Calorie counting and how to do it right - this article by Jillian Michaels talks over the importance of calories and the role they play, as well as providing a reliable calculator to work out how many calories you should eat or drop in order to maintain a healthy weight, or to reach your goal, based on your age, height, weight, daily activity level and exercise level.
NHS's 5 a day guide for fruit and veg - what counts, what doesn't, and how much you need of any fruit or veg for it to count as one of your 5 a day.
Florette's free 5-day healthy eating meal plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Includes recipes and shopping list.
How to keep your bananas fresh for a week+, and lots of use-up recipe ideas that aren't banana bread.
Bookmarks
Fitness Magazine is one of my go-to resources for online workouts and articles. I get their newsletter emailed daily and it's the one email I am guaranteed not to just delete immediately. If I don't open it, it remains unread in my folder for future reference. Sometimes they contain real gems.
Darebee is another free fitness resource website I cannot live without. Filled with movie- and video game-inspired workouts, as well as daily challenges, nutrition info and full blow 30/60-day workout programs, and a supportive forum, you simply must bookmark it.
Printsome is a great website for personalised activewear and fast t-shirt printing, ideal for tough mudder groups, running groups and fitness getaways.
Positive Health Wellness is a wonderful and easy-to-navigate website full of nutritional tips, fitness tips, pain relief and recipes, and unlike other, similar websites, it doesn't promote ineffective and even dangerous nonsense like waist trainers. It's 100% simple, honest and trustworthy!
HFE - the UK’s leading provider of fitness qualifications. They deliver a range of professionally credited and internationally recognised courses, from yoga, to Pilates, to personal training. If you would like to work within the fitness industry, HFE will have a course for you.
Calorie counting and how to do it right - this article by Jillian Michaels talks over the importance of calories and the role they play, as well as providing a reliable calculator to work out how many calories you should eat or drop in order to maintain a healthy weight, or to reach your goal, based on your age, height, weight, daily activity level and exercise level.
NHS's 5 a day guide for fruit and veg - what counts, what doesn't, and how much you need of any fruit or veg for it to count as one of your 5 a day.
Florette's free 5-day healthy eating meal plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Includes recipes and shopping list.
How to keep your bananas fresh for a week+, and lots of use-up recipe ideas that aren't banana bread.
Bookmarks
Fitness Magazine is one of my go-to resources for online workouts and articles. I get their newsletter emailed daily and it's the one email I am guaranteed not to just delete immediately. If I don't open it, it remains unread in my folder for future reference. Sometimes they contain real gems.
Darebee is another free fitness resource website I cannot live without. Filled with movie- and video game-inspired workouts, as well as daily challenges, nutrition info and full blow 30/60-day workout programs, and a supportive forum, you simply must bookmark it.
Printsome is a great website for personalised activewear and fast t-shirt printing, ideal for tough mudder groups, running groups and fitness getaways.
Positive Health Wellness is a wonderful and easy-to-navigate website full of nutritional tips, fitness tips, pain relief and recipes, and unlike other, similar websites, it doesn't promote ineffective and even dangerous nonsense like waist trainers. It's 100% simple, honest and trustworthy!
HFE - the UK’s leading provider of fitness qualifications. They deliver a range of professionally credited and internationally recognised courses, from yoga, to Pilates, to personal training. If you would like to work within the fitness industry, HFE will have a course for you.
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