Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Women's Fitness

Downright dreary can often seem like the ‘mood of the month’ during February, as we’re through the throes of festive excitement and yet still in the depths of winter. But if there’s one thing pretty much all health and fitness experts agree on it’s that a good workout can power-up a person’s positivity. And who better to inspire and motivate than this month’s cover model, super-star trainer Krissy Cela! Strong in both body and mind, the passionate fitness entrepreneur reminds us that building physical strength can help with growing mental strength. ‘Try to see moving your body as a celebration of what it can do, not as a chore’ she advises in her in-depth interview on page 18. And as you turn the page to this February issue, we can’t…

Thrive in nature Winter-proof your walks wearing the fabulous range of thermals and water-resistant layers from women’s outdoor clothing brand ACAI (acaioutdoorwear.com). Designed to look good and perform well, you’ll find everything from base layers and jackets to hats, socks and gloves to protect you from the elements. Available in sizes 6 to 22, our favourites include the Performance Full-Zip Mid Layer, £69 (seen left), the Outdoor Fleece Hoodie, £75 (seen right), and ACAI’s best-selling, super-stretchy Thermal Skinny Outdoor Trousers, £99, that mimic the look of skinny jeans but have a shower-resistant coating, a fleece lining and come in an array of stylish colours. DO THIS… Feel-good festival Relax, reflect and reboot at The Big Retreat, the UK’s fastest-growing wellbeing festival, hosted at Lawrenny Park Estate in the Pembrokeshire Coast…

It may look like a large holdall, but a sandbag is a great way to engage often-unused muscles and challenge them in lots of different ranges of motion, which is key to accelerating your results. The beauty of the sandbag is the constant moving of the sand inside it. This means your core, your legs and indeed your whole body has to work so much harder to stay stable against the resistance. You then have a variety of handles to attach to the bag – this gives you endless grip options and movement possibilities, which allow you to practise functional movement and work your body from lots of different angles. Throw the bag, lift the bag or jump over it. The sandbag will feel awkward at first but that’s the…

Body news * Mental health * Beauty buys Ever feel like you should add a gentle activity to your workout regime? You could be right, as a new study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology reports that including yoga in a regular exercise regime could support cardiovascular health. Following a three-month study of patients with hypertension, who did either 15 minutes of yoga or stretching, plus 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, five time a week, the researchers discovered that yoga reduced systolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, and improved 10-year cardiovascular risk better than stretching exercises. Namaste.…

Unique CBD Skincare Protect Serum £39; uniquecbd.co.uk Strengthen your skin's natural defences this winter with this super serum infused with 350mg of organic CBD. It helps defend against free radical-damage and prevent ageing from environmental aggressors such as UV, blue light and pollutants. Foamie Happy Day Solid Deodorant £7; foamie.co.uk This new range of aluminium-free natural deodorants harnesses the power of magnesium to care for and protect skin, while reducing the bacteria that can result in bad odours. It comes in two refreshing scents, both of which are alcohol-free, making them skin friendly. The packaging is also 100 per cent plastic-free. Alexandra Kay Time to Restore Magnesium lotion £38; greenpeople.co.uk This natural, vegan magnesium lotion helps ease muscles and reinforces your skin’s barrier, thanks to ancient minerals and phyto actives.…

Want to improve the definition and strength in your shoulders, biceps and triceps? You’ve come to the right place. ‘The variation of exercises in this workout will improve your upper body strength and eradicate those typically stubborn-to-target areas such as the back of the arms,’ says personal trainer Alex Petitt-Ward (@AlexWardPT), head coach at Sweat Society (sweatsociety.co.uk) HOW TO DO IT If it’s muscle and definition you’re after, Petitt-Ward recommends you aim for between 10 and 15 reps, and you should be working at an 8-out-of-10 difficulty level. This means that the exercise will not be easy at all by the time you reach the higher rep count. For every exercise, aim to keep your form strong and consistent. When you tire, you’re more likely to rush through movements, perhaps…

Let’s face it, it’s pretty darn freezing out there now, and our inclination for exercise in the cold may be minimal as we approach the bitter wintry months. Getting on the treadmill or going to the gym may be our preferred exercise of choice, but sometimes being in the great outdoors and feeling the elements on our skin can work wonders for our mental health. One essential piece of winter kit to have when heading outside is a good-quality base layer, because having a warm core when exercising not only keeps the cold at bay, but also prevents you from catching a cold. And being warm on the inside means being happy on the outside, whether you’re running, cycling, hiking or playing a team sport. So, what exactly are you…

Do you set fitness challenges at the start of each year? ‘As I’ve grown older, my mindset has changed when it comes to exercise. I’ve run marathons, completed bootcamps and surpassed my fitness goals, so I now focus on exercise and my own mental health at this stage in my life. With the onset of perimenopause and its challenging symptoms, I need to exercise daily for my mental health, and keeping my mental health on point is my only exercise goal these days.’ Do you notice a mood change if you don’t exercise? ‘I run to release stress. If I don’t run or do some form of exercise, then my thoughts get messy and I feel anxious. It’s the best way for me to clear my head and start the…

Suzanne Baum Suzanne is a celebrity interviewer and lifestyle editor. She has written on fitness and wellbeing for over two decades and also reviews beauty products. @suzanne_baum Eve Boggenpoel Eve is a yoga teacher, counsellor and author. Her work is grounded in a deep appreciation of inner stillness as a pathway to transformation. @eveboggenpoel Joanna Ebsworth A qualified Level 3 PT and fitness instructor, Jo has been combining her love of exercise and writing for 15 years, and is keen to inspire others to be active. @joglows Leona Gerrard Leona is an editor and journalist, who is very passionate about cycling. She travels all around the world in pursuit of incredible places to ride. Christine Bailey Christine is a performance nutritionist, chef, author and keen runner. She runs online programmes…

COVER INTERVIEW If you want to achieve anything in life, you’ve got to work hard for it. That’s the message from fitness entrepreneur Krissy Cela. And she should know. As the co-founder of two multi-million pound brands – women’s gymwear company Oner Active (uk.oneractive. com) and leading female fitness app EvolveYou (evolveyou.app) – Cela has channelled her determination, gritty attitude and resilience into becoming a leader in the fit-tech industry, amassing more than 5.5 million followers across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Pretty impressive for a woman who only decided to follow a fitness career after she began posting about her strength training workouts on social media – and attracted interest from women worldwide! Of course, it would be easy to attribute Cela’s success to her good looks, toned physique, media-savvy…

Exercise news * Workout plans * Training tips Not a fan of the gym? Then there’s good news, as new research published in Nature Medicine reveals that three-to-four short bursts of activity throughout the day, such as running for the bus or playing games with the kids, could prolong life by reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Coined ‘vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity’, or VILPA, the shorts bursts should be enough to raise heart rate and last for up to one-to-two minutes. All you have to do is up the intensity of some of your daily movements, such as pick up the pace as you walk to the shops, dance while cooking or squat while the kettle boils. Easy gains.…

If you’re looking for dietary ways to boost your health, consider the ‘green’ Mediterranean diet (MED). With a focus on plant-based foods such as grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and olive oil, and less meats and processed foods, green MED has been shown, by researchers from Ben-Gurion University in Israel, to significantly reduce visceral adipose tissue by an impressive 14 per cent – double that of the traditional MED diet. Visceral adipose tissue is more than belly fat, it is a fat that surrounds internal organs including the liver, pancreas and kidneys, and has been linked to many health issues such as heart disease and diabetes. A 14 per cent reduction is a dramatic achievement for making simple dietary and lifestyle changes.…

RECOVERY In today’s busy world there is an unspoken expectation to be on-the-go all the time, leaving many of us feeling like we can never truly unwind. Often, rest is considered to be indulgent, and we can feel guilty taking a little time for ourselves. But rest is essential – how we relax, calm our minds and recharge our bodies directly impacts our wellbeing. Most of us yearn to unplug from the world and let every cell in our body breathe a sigh of relief at the respite this offers. Thankfully, there are effective ways to bring those moments into even the busiest of days – and it’s easy to do, once you know how. Rest is not the same as sleep. We might think getting enough sleep should meet…

STAR LETTER GO FOR GOAL Smash Your Goals! (January 2023 issue) inspired and motivated me to get fitter than ever this year. I've heard of Ai Lee Syarief and STRONG Nation’s high-intensity bootcamp-style class, and I love her ‘move more, move smart, move with purpose’ way of thinking. I also like the thought of exercising to music, as this can help with motor skills and movement coordination. When the body is in sync with the music, you can experience a boost in self-confidence, which then creates a positive association with exercise. Ai Lee’s favourite exercises – the push-up, the cross punch, the swivel kick and the hook – were explained thoroughly, and I'm incorporating them, and more of Ai Lee's suggestions, into my exercise routine. Here's to a fitter me…

Queen of the ‘fakeaway’, Latoyah Egerton started recreating fast-food favourites with half the calories and posting them on her website latoyah.co.uk back in 2015, but it wasn’t until lockdown that she became a social-media sensation. ‘I started posting recipes that were low in fat and calories and without added sugar, but that, most importantly, were packed with flavour, easy to make and could feed everyone in the family, because you would never be able to tell that they are “healthy”,’ she explains. ‘It was when I started sharing these recipes that I really started to build a following on my humble recipe blog. After I ditched the diet clubs and focused on healthy home cooking, I shed five stone (31kg).’ Now with an impressive following of 149K on Facebook and…

DAY ONE Breakfast – Berry Yoghurt Smoothie: blend a cup of frozen berries and ½ banana with yoghurt or kefir, a scoop of protein powder and 1 tsp nut butter for a creamy smoothie. Lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup: put 400ml chicken broth in a pan, add 100g diced chicken, ½ tsp garlic and ginger and simmer for 20 mins until the chicken is cooked (for vegan option, use chunks of tofu and miso broth). Add 2 tbsp canned sweetcorn, 2 mushrooms sliced, 1 spring onion sliced, dash of soy sauce and handful of rice noodles and simmer for a few minutes until cooked. Dinner – Easy Chilli: in a pan, sauté 125g lean mince until brown. Add ¼ chopped onion and a little garlic. Tip in a can of…

YOGA DOCTOR When we think of the benefits of arm strength, we tend to associate it with lifting heavier weights (which, of course, you will be able to do), but the fitness perks of a strong upper body go much further. While you’d expect stronger arms and shoulders to improve your pull-ups, swimming, rowing and boxing performance, they also support your running technique, increasing both speed and endurance. Then there’s the functional benefits to consider too, from carrying shopping to picking up the kids. Plus, working your arm muscles also strengthens your bones – the added stress helping build bone density. Of course, upper body strength will enhance your yoga practice as well – arm and shoulder strength helps prevent tiredness in inverted poses such as downward dog, while experienced…