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Back mobility exercises

As part of March Matness this week I'm looking at exercises you can do to help your back mobility.

Working on back mobility can help with stiffness, pain, pelvic floor issues and core strength as well as help to avoid injury

All the moves should feel comfortable - we're not trying to push 

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Heart health - the final part of the puzzle

So far we've looked at a few things that can help with heart health, for various reasons:

  • cardio exercise - strengthens the heart and lungs
  • strength exercise - lowers blood pressure
  • Pilates/yoga/mobility - reducing stiffness in the upper body, which will reduce arterial stiffness

The final part to consider is - relaxation, stress management and sleep

Insomnia at midlife can raise a woman's risk of a heart attack by 70%

Exercising can help with stress reduction, relaxation and sleep - j…

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Muscular stiffness and your heart

So far we've looked at heart health in women, particularly around menopause, and how movement can help you - both cardio and strength workouts.

But where does that leave mind body exercises like Pilates and yoga?

As I said last week, bodyweight strength counts as much as lifting weights does - so any squat, lunge, hinge, push, pull moves you might be doing will help with lowering blood pressure in the same way.

But there is another reason why it helps

Stiffness in the upper body is related t…

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Can squats help your heart?

Exercise is great for heart health, but is it only cardio-type workouts that make a difference?

Or can strength training help too?

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Healthy Hearts - and how to get them

February is Heart Month, so I've been focusing a little bit on cardiovascular exercise recently

Cardio exercise - exercise that makes your heart rate go up - is one of a few ways to improve your heart health.  Other factors you can look at:

  • regular exercise - not just cardio
  • healthy diet
  • healthy weight
  • quit smoking
  • limit alcohol intake
  • manage stress
  • prioritise sleep
  • move more often - not just exercise but throughout your day
  • stay hydrated

The thing I love about exercise is that it…

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Keeping going when the pain is no longer there

Our health is one of those weird things that we don't really think about until something isn't working properly or we are in pain

I think why I didn't enjoy pregnancy the first time round was because I expected things to work/feel as they always did, and that definitely wasn't true anymore!  It's also why peri-menopause is a challenge...

I certainly never considered my pelvic floor until after having my first baby/prolapse

And when I injured my back, the constant pain impacted everything I di…

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Preventing injury vs recovering from injury

After the tale of my thumb injury in last week's email it turns out I am, as my family would say, in the wars

We went for a little wander last week before school started again

I went to cross the road and stepped off the kerb - not realising it was a double kerb

So my foot landed too heavy too soon, my ankle gave way and I fell onto both knees into the road

Luckily it was a Sunday and there was no traffic!

But I hurt my ankles, knees and feet - and my pride!

I was worried that it would ham…

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What Counts as Exercise?

Did you start your health goals this week? 

For me it was lovely to start easy with Aerobics on Wednesday and then just a few classes

I did have to start even easier than I thought I would have to though...

We had a fun New Years Day - going in to Manchester to go bowling

I was very happy to win our first game and get the highest score I've ever had!

We also did a bit of ping pong and karaoke

As we were leaving we spotted a punching ball test your strength so decided to have one last chal…

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Hypopressives for anxiety - Annmarie's story

I started to suffer with anxiety and obviously that brings in struggling to breathe sometimes and then panic attacks and that kind of thing.

I was also struggling with putting weight on and was mindful that I needed to do some exercise - I wanted to lose weight but also had anxiety going on.

I felt like all the other kind of exercise that I did - swimming, joining the gym, walking - they just never hit the anxiety. 

So I would do them and never feel relaxed or feel calm. And then I would go t…

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