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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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Upper body mobility sequence

A few upper body moves you can easily fit into your day - even while sat at your desk!

Tightness in the upper body can affect your posture, ability to reach, create pain in the jaw, neck, shoulders and low back, contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction and can even affect your heart!

So getting more movement in is key - how many ways can you move your ribs?

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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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Total Body Tone workout

A quick lying down body conditioning sequence that targets legs, bums, abs and upper body
Do with or without weights and repeat if you have more time!

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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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