1. How to choose the right footwear for you
Footwear should always be the most essential piece of equipment in your gym bag.
As nice as the most up-to-date runners/trainers are, they may not be the best suited for you. Individuals should always be aware of their feet and their foot arches. This maybe the key to preventing lower limb injuries and correcting the load on your knees and ankles. Whether you have flat feet or high arches, there is a pair of shoes and orthotics out there for you. Get yourself, friends and family down to ‘Well Run Sports’ in Hitchin. Here you can have your gait analysed and the best information on what shoes are most suitable for you. Take a look at their website for 10% off selected footwear and a free gait analysis. Watch this video for further details about gait analysis.
2. How to engage your core using simple balance techniques
The element of balance can engage the core and work more joints than just the abdomen.
Try a single leg balance test. Take a look at this example with some teaching tips, progressions and safety points.
A single leg balance exercise will help you to engage the glutes, knees, hips, shoulders and arms. Working on single leg strength and stability can prevent injury and is a very easy exercise to rehab the knee and ankle from injury or even to prevent injury. Ask a member of the Gym Team next time you’re in to assess your balance and see if your technique is correct. We will be happy to assist and offer progressions and regressions.
3. How to be smart with your food to improve your workouts
Always give yourself at least 30 minutes before a session to eat and let it digest. Try to consume a meal or snack full of carbs, both fast and slow release to reduce the risk of dizziness, fatigue or nausea. Carbohydrates can be split up into fast release and slow release. Read about this in more detail here.
The link gives a good breakdown of the different types of carbohydrates you can consume. It gives an explanation of what they are, the benefits and what categories they fall into. Furthermore if you’re still unsure on what to eat and when, feel free to ask a member of the Gym Team for advice or ask for a food diary. A food diary can show us what you’re eating and give you a one-to-one chat with us to help get the best out of your diet, positively impacting on your training and daily activities.
4. Why taking an average of your weight across a week makes sense
Everyone is conscious about the number they see on the scales. But can you explain why you may have a sudden spike in weight or drop? Daily weigh-ins and weekly averages can help to explain this. For example, it’s easy to spot water retention by a weight gain of about 2 to 5 pounds of water in a day. This may be due to over eating carbohydrates throughout the day, or eating the same amount as you would do on a training day but not actually training. This means the calorie intake is a lot greater than the calorie expenditure for that day. Another example is not eating as much as you normally do and exercising, causing a drop in weight. These weigh-ins over a week will give you an average statistic which you can compare from the previous week. This will give you a better idea of lost or gained weight in a weekly period.
5. Differentiating between delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and joint pain
Differentiating DOMS and joint pain is very important. DOMS differs in type of exercise, severity, duration of soreness and time. Whereas joint pain can happen immediately following exercise or over a prolonged period of time and can last a lot longer. DOMS can occur several days following an exercise session and the type of pain can depend on the intensity and type of training. DOMS can be reduced through massage, foam rolling, stretching and heat. Whereas joint pain can be more serious. The pain can be sudden and sharp or become a dull ache and get worse over time. Joint pain should be given rest, massage, foam rolling and stretching. The pain may be very sever, to the point where you may need it assessed. Ask a member of the Gym Team if they can help. If not, we are lucky to have BodyBalance next to our gym at Hertfordshire Sports Village.