Women's Fitness September 2017

This month we’re celebrating the great outdoors. After all, who wants to be in a stuffy gym when warm weather and long, sunny days are calling us out to play? If you want to take your workouts up a gear, lift your mood or improve your wellbeing, nature’s gym can do it all. The thrill of the outdoors is something female adrenaline athletes – from mountain bikers to climbers – know all about. In ‘Are you brave enough?’ (page 58), get inspired by three top daredevils and then follow the eight steps to boosting your confidence for an outdoor challenge. Got a long list of dream adventures but no time to tick them off? Turn to ‘Beat the bucket list’ (page 54) for some fun mini-adventures to satisfy your wanderlust…

STAR LETTER CYCLING WITH CONFIDENCE Your article ‘Take your cycling up a gear’ (June issue) really inspired me. I’ve always enjoyed family rides but never wanted to cycle alone. I never realised there were women’s cycling groups in my town. Now I’m enjoying meeting new people and cycling around some beautiful areas I didn’t know existed. I’m getting more confident on the roads, too, and worry less when I take my son out on his bike. I’m going to follow your six-week action plan to train for our local sportive; it will certainly be a change from the gym! Sarah Hayes, Buckinghamshire HOLI-YAY! If I’m lucky enough to be able to afford a holiday, no matter how carefully I try to tailor it to my needs, take my own teabags…

1 DO A MARATHON IN A DAY We love the concept behind virtual event Marathon in a Day! Basically, you have 24 hours to run a marathon (on your own or in a team, wherever you like) but only the time you spend moving counts in your finish time (submit your data from Strava or another device). This means you can break it down into bite-sized chunks of your choice. Do this fun event from September 1-3 and raise money for charity. £15 for an individual; marathoninaday.com. 2 GET A ZUMBA HIIT If you love to boogie but want more of a cardio hit than your current dance class gives you, check out STRONG by Zumba. The edgy new cardio and body-weight training class uses reverse engineered music to synch…

‘A friend encouraged me to apply for MasterChef’ ‘Vegcentric eating is about veg as the showcase and meat on the side’ ‘During the week, my alarm goes off at 6.45am and I’ll head to a nearby yoga class in Brixton. Then I’ll head home to shower and, over a cup of herbal tea, write my to-do list, check emails and catch up on social media, then eat breakfast around 10am. I love scrambled egg and avocado drizzled with olive oil and yoghurt, nuts and berries in a bowl with Plenish coconut milk, and a black coffee.’ FARM LESSONS ‘I’ve always loved food – at 18, I attended a cookery school on a biodynamic farm in Ireland, where I helped with running a restaurant, from field to fork. It made me…

If you want a healthy liver, do plenty of cardio workouts as well as keeping your drinking in check. According to a recent Finnish study, achieving a moderate level of cardio fitness can prevent a fatty liver, especially if you’re overweight. In the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study, researchers measured the fitness of 463 Finns with an ultrasound, finding that, despite the person’s weight, cardio exercise has significant protective effects on the liver. Fatty liver can lead to metabolism problems, increased risk of heart problems and, most commonly, diabetes. Time for that HIIT workout!…

PLAY IT SAFE It’s bikini season and you’re just a burpee away from dropping a dress size – but be careful. New book The Fitness Instructor’s Handbook, Third Edition (Bloomsbury Sport, £21.99) raises concerns about the health risks of high-intensity workouts. ‘A lot of people who join a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout haven’t done a great deal of exercise recently,’ warns the author, sports and exercise lecturer Morc Coulson. ‘Their body will not be used to that level of intensity and they’ll put themselves at risk of health-related incidents.’ Master low-intensity exercise first… 7 SECS PER MILE how much quicker you’ll run when training with a group* FIT FOR THE HOME Want to start exercising at home? Looking for kit inspiration? The new KFit Trainer has got you covered. Backed…