5 Days of Fitness - Everything you need to know to get started!

I am a big believer in sharing as much information as possible with you guys so that you can make your own decisions on what you want to do to live your best life!

Here are the slides from my 5 Days of Fitness Campaign designed to give everyone the basic coverage of what exercise does for our awesome bodies!

DAY ONE

Being fit and healthy is more than just smashing it out in full beastmode. Fitness is multi-faceted and includes all of these things:

Cardio - getting your hearts and lungs healthy and fully functional! Being cardiovascularly fit helps take pressure of your heart - it can push around more blood per pump which means it can chill out a bit like that flashy bugger at your work who can do their job with their eyes closed.

Resistance - being strong in the muscle region can decrease your risk of injury. It also boosts your metabolism, more muscle = more energy expended upon movement.

Flexibility & Mobility - there's not much point being super strong if you have zero range. We need to be strong AND mobile so that we can bounce around for as long as possible.

Physical Activity - working out is GREAT but we need to keep moving in general life too. An hour of moving a day is a bonus but it won't outweigh the other 23 hours of being completely still.

Nutrition - fuelling our wonderful bodies in a good way is all part and parcel of feeling like a ninja. The saying goes that 'it's not possible to out exercise a bad diet' and this is true.... our bodies deserve the best and good nutrition will help us get the most out of all the other 4 categories too! Win win!

DAY TWO

RESISTANCE TRAINING RULES! This is fact! It has SOOOOOO many benefits...

Did you know.........?

Resistance training comes with some cardio benefits.... when you do any kind of movement, your pulse rate increases.... so it's gets double points from me!

The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest and moving... that basically means you need to eat more food. HAPPY DAYS!

The general view of 'getting in shape' still seems to involve a ton of cardio and not much else. That's not true - resistance training is where it is at for body composition changes! Cardio is a great way to burn calories, but it's even better if underneath there's a ton of beautiful toned muscle!

Being strong is AWESOME. You will never need to let the office perv help you move stuff again. Or some smarmy twat get your suitcase off the carousel at the airport.

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It isn't as hard as it looks to start resistance training - YES gyms and classes are purpose built to target all your muscles BUT we can do plenty of things at home that help to stimulate our muscles.

DAY THREE

Ohhhhh Delilah.... I don't know who Delilah is but I bet she is bendy. Being bendy is good because it means that you are less likely to get injured (because everything is loose and lubed up) AND it means you will have been quality of life because there's no stiff muscles and decreased range of movement happening in your life.

BUT

There is bugger all being super bendy if you're not strong. Flexibility without strength is playing with fire.... it actually can increase the risk of injury because everything is all flapping around in the breeze, all bendy and sh*t, which can be a bit much on our bodies magical structure. Strengthening up the muscles (especially those that support the shoulder and pelvic girdle) is super important to reduce the risk of debilitating injuries!

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To stay flexible around your training, stretch out after your workouts, use a foam roller or trigger point ball for those hard to stretch areas and treat yourself to the odd sports massage.

DAY FOUR

You know this is true! Exercise is about WAY MORE than feeling a little trimmer and a lot stronger! It is a LOT about our mental health.... exercise does all this cool shizzle.

If I can draw your attention specifically to the increased levels of your body's happy chemicals - seratonin, dopamine and endorphins AND exercise also reduces the production of your stress hormones. Now that is a balance that sounds pretty good to me!

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Exercising makes you feel good not only while you are doing it, but also after! It increases feelings of success and boosts our general self-esteem and confidence. Couple that with having arsecheeks we could crack walnuts with and the world is a wonderful place!

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High five for exercise and its magic!

DAY FIVE

And I totally get that not everyone wants to/can make it to class and the gym.... so here are some of the easiest and cheapest ways to get moving!

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Over the years I have bought a lot of these babies from Maxx Traders which are super reasonable and are a GREAT way to get cardio in your life. Boxing can also be used for high intensity interval training - which basically means you are training like a real life ninja!

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Companies like Phoenix Fitness do reasonably priced home workout kit that works. Try these hip circles to get your glutes working at home....and use AM20 to save another 20% off the price!

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Head over to my YouTube channel for a few home workout videos for your viewing pleasure!

Let me know what you get up to in your workouts and how training makes you feel!