Women's Fitness January 2018

What’s on your wellbeing wish list for 2018? A new fitness challenge? A life-changing holiday? A healthier, happier, stress-free you? It’s time to kick back and dream about your hopes and goals for 2018 with a little help from this month’s H&F! Pledged to shape up for the new year? Research shows over a third of goal setters fail, simply because they don’t have a strategy. Safeguard your success with ‘Get in shape for 2018’ (page 58) where three Olympians share the training plans you need to smash your goals! Got festive pounds to lose? Quit the bar and hit the barre. In ‘Fight fat in 15’ (page 94), you’ll find a fat-burning, body-sculpting workout from cult studio Paola’s BodyBarre that you can do without leaving the house! A spa…

HSTAR LETTER FOOD TWEAKS I’m constantly trying to eat more healthily so, when I read ‘Smart Food Swaps’ (December issue), I was surprised how focusing on small, simple changes can make healthy eating more manageable and sustainable in the long term. Instead of throwing my kitchen eating habits and sanity upside down, if I focus on making simple food swaps, it’ll save me calories and help me slim down. This article made me realise the choices I make about what I eat and drink matter. They should add up to a balanced, nutritious diet. Seren Roberts, Sir Y Flint, Wales INSPIRING SON All of my life, I’ve hated all things that involved exercise and was overweight from an early age. I developed Type 2 diabetes after I had my two…

1 GET SKI FIT A whooping 200,000 skiing days are lost by holiday-makers due to aches and pains acquired on the slopes. Want to make sure it doesn’t happen to you? Check out Slopercise, a fun, easy-to-follow three-step plan designed to maximise the time you spend on the snow. Devised by Crystal Ski Holidays and David Lloyd Gyms, the workouts are inspired by ski moves and work even the most resistant muscles. View part one for free at https://youtu.be/58ey6KJ6M9k. 2 FEED YOUR PASSION Fitness lovers take note, The BodyHoliday has just launched a new Adventure Programme that caters to your every exercise whim. Perfect for adrenaline junkies, you can choose from extreme mountain biking, waterfall abseiling and hiking up St Lucia’s volcanic mountains, The Pitons – all guaranteed to push…

‘It’s always busy and I’m grateful and excited to get to work’ ‘My fallback is walking. One of the benefits of living in activewear is I’m always ready to go!’ ‘A working day for me begins at 6am. My children, aged four-and-a-half and one-and-a-half, wake up and join me for breakfast and we hang out until my mum arrives to look after them. ‘I leave the house by 7:30am and, a couple of times a week, I swing by the gym for a weights workout before heading to the office. I’ve recently moved out of central London so my day now includes a 30-minute train journey. It helps to separate my work and home life, and I use that time to zone out and just “be” – my phone stays…

Do you always time your workouts? If you want to get the best results, it looks like you should. New research shows that you think you’re exercising for longer than you actually are when you’re pushing yourself to the max. The research, led by Plymouth Marjon University, monitored 12 fit adults as they underwent a series of 20-minute rowing and 30-second cycling tests. They had to say when they felt they’d completed 25 per cent, 50 per cent, 75 per cent and 100 per cent of the allotted time. While they could accurately gauge when they’d done quarter or half of the time, their later estimates were shorter than the actual time. So make sure you use that fitness device on your wrist to the full.…

Worried about your ticker? Research published in the British Medical Journal Open Sport & Exercise Medicine found that interval exercise may be the answer. The study looked at the effects of continuous activity compared to interval exercise on postmenopausal women, who are at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease due to decreasing oestrogen levels. Scientists discovered that interval activity improves the function of circulatory cells, reducing the body’s risk of vascular disease. Try to increase the intensity of exercise you enjoy – think short bursts of fast walking or jogging. 62% OF BRITS POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA WHEN WORKING OUT* WIN £100 WORTH OF NIKWAX PRODUCTS! Eco-conscious brand Nikwax is 40 years old this year and, to celebrate, it’s offering one lucky reader a bundle of its products, worth over £100…