A light-hearted look at running, cycling and general fitness
I have always said I’d never, ever do Zumba. I mean, look at it – it involves dancing, in public, sober: what the fuck? But I’d nosed at a class that was going on in the gym while I was on the crosstrainer the other week and it didn’t look *that* bad, so I thought I’d give it a go in the spirit of all things Juneathon.
It’s the thirteenth year of Juneathon and each ‘athon I usually set myself a challenge within a challenge. This Juneathon I set myself the challenge of trying a new gym class each week. Today’s class was yoga.
I’ve toyed with the idea of trying yoga for a while now because:
If you read my blog in the olden days, back in 2006, you’ll know all about my traumatic experience with B&Q when they did my bathroom. The experience was so traumatic I couldn’t even step into a B&Q for about ten years, let alone buy anything from them and, if friends bought anything from them, I felt deeply betrayed. It put me off home improvements for life.
If you’re a keen runner, few things are more frustrating than getting an injury. Sadly, it’s an all-too-common problem for joggers. The feet and knees are particularly vulnerable, and something like a fractured metatarsal or strained ligament can put you out of action for weeks. It’s certainly not ideal when you’re training for a big event!
Dating in your 40s isn’t the same as dating in your teens or 20s. In some ways it’s a lot easier (who’d want to be a teenager again, going through all that hassle with boys? Aieeeee) and in some ways it’s more difficult. I’m not exactly an expert on dating in my 40s (or in any other decade, to be honest) but here’s a few thoughts on mature dating:
I’m sure I must have camped when I was a kid but, apart from one sleeping-outside occasion when I was about seven which – due to my young and tender age – must have been a planned event and not an accident, I can’t remember camping at all under the age of 22 when I attended my first festival.
My brother used to be some kind of Essex golf champion. Every week he’d come home with another trophy and I’d be paid about 5p to polish them all. After one tournament, he won a REALLY big trophy – so big my mum gave it pride of place on the mantelpiece so anyone who walked past the house could stop and admire it and say, ‘Ooh, look, some kind of Essex golf champion must live there, how exciting’. It also, of course, acted as a huge silver beacon for any passing burglars but this was quiet, leafy surburbia and burglars hadn’t reached our part of town yet.
Spring is in full swing and summer is hot on it’s heels. That means we can abandon duvet days and nights by the fire for long, calf-burning bike rides in the great outdoors. Bike rides used to be saved for serious athletes and kids on three-wheelers but, these days, it’s a more universal thing. In fact, more than 3 million bicycles can be found on the roads every year now, which is great for our precious planet but breaking news for health and safety.
Photo by Niyas Khan on Unsplash
Some people say that exercising and losing weight is simple! And it is, in theory: eat less, move more. But that’s not exactly very exciting now, is it? Enter the fitness fad — exercise with added excitement. There’s been some hits, some misses, and some downright weird fitness fads over the years.
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The UK is picking up the pace when it comes to running and jogging. According to statistics, 10.5 million of us have taken to running as our go-to exercise method. Getting healthy and getting outside more is a great thing to be doing for sure, but there’s no reason to just keep jogging around the same streets or on the less-than-exciting treadmill.
Play bark supplier Compost Direct has taken a closer look at the ground beneath our feet to find out how different terrains can impact your running routine.