Women's Fitness January 2019

Want to be your best for party season, but feeling more frazzled than fabulous? This month’s H&F will help you stay happy and healthy! No time for the gym? Shape up in a flash with PT Gideon Remfry’s fast and furious party-dress workout, ‘Get Party Confident’ (page 98). Sort Christmas shopping, stress free, with ‘The H&F Gift Guide’ (page 50), where you’ll find nearly 50 amazing ideas to keep your loved ones happy (and maybe treat yourself too..). Want to stay calm amid the chaos? In ‘Your Festive Survival Plan’ (page 62), Hollywood wellbeing guru Sara-Chana Silverstein reveals how to harness the power of your mind to turn stress into serenity and seasonal cheer. Or soak away stress (plus improve sleep and aid your fitness) with the home spa ideas…

STAR LETTER MUM’S THE WORD I really enjoyed your Real Life feature ‘Meet the medal-winning Mums’ (December issue), including Tamsin Greenway, Laura Kenny, Amy Williams and Laura Warren. It can’t be easy combining motherhood with sporting careers, and discovering these women’s tips for post-partum fitness was very helpful as I’m expecting in March! I regularly play golf, ride horses and swim and I hope to keep these up, but I’ll be a hands-on mum until I go back to work – hopefully when my child is three. I feel reassured about what to expect now. I like the fact these sportswomen accept, embrace and enjoy the fact they are women – they just happen to have children to take good care of too. Mia Byron, Liverpool GOOD GUT GUIDE Thank…

This month, Mia wins a fantastic pair of Cébé STRIDE running glasses, worth £45. Beautifully styled to follow your facial contours, the STRIDE remains in place, however demanding your run is, thanks to adjustable nose pads and temple tips that ensure a customized fit, plus anti-slip rubber on the nose and the temples. The sunglasses are very light (weighing just 26g) and robust and provide perfect protection whatever the weather, thanks to the two sets of interchangeable lenses. Find out more at cebe-eyewear.com.…

1 WIN NETBALL WORLD CUP TICKETS! The Netball World Cup is in Liverpool from 12-21 July, 2019 and we have three pairs of tickets to give away for the England v Scotland match on July 13! To enter, simply send your details to competitions@iris-uk.com by December 11, 2018 with the word ‘Netball’ in the subject line.* For more information on the Netball World Cup, visit nwc2019.co.uk. 2 SEE THE LIGHTS Experiencing the magical northern lights is firmly on our bucket list of amazing things to do. Ticking this off on an atmospheric horse-riding tour sounds even better! Travel through a hundred-year-old forest in the mountains under star-filled skies and look out for moose and other wildlife too, as you go. After your ride, you’ll enjoy dinner featuring local specialities, then…

‘I get up at 7am, make a smoothie using oats, almond milk, banana, berries and KIN’s OMG! NO WHEY Vegan Protein Blueberry Powder (£34.99 for 1kg), then join my husband (and business partner) Kyle for breakfast and coffee, where we have a strict ‘no business talk’ rule before work begins. We’ve been a couple since I was 18, and officially in business together for two years running KIN Nutrition – a line of 100 per cent natural, vegan and whey proteins – and KIN Luxury Fitness Retreats in Ibiza, plus we’re in The X Factor house for the second year in a row, keeping the contestants healthy through the live shows with yoga and meditation sessions, one-to-one personal training and advice on healthy eating. I love making a difference to…

Ten minutes: that’s all you need to boost your retention of memories. We know that exercise is good for our brains in many ways, but new research by the University of California, Irvine, and Japan’s University of Tsukuba reveals just how little exercise is needed to stimulate your grey matter. The researchers used MRI scanning techniques to measure the activity of the brain after just 10 minutes of light exercise and found participants had better connections between the denate gyrus – an area of the hippocampus associated with laying down memories – and part of the cortex involved with processing memories. They also showed improved performance in a memory recall test. Time for a walk?…