Age-old exercise wisdom has always included stretching as part of the pre and post activity discipline. We've believed that a good stretch will help reduce injury, aid recovery from the stresses of exercise and even improve our performance during the event.

While some exercise specialists still hold these physiological benefits of stretching to be true the efficacy of such effects are being challenged by others.

Earlier this year Lorraine posted an article titled Important Tips For Stretching Properly

Some key points from the article:

Time to throw out the bread! A low-carb diet IS the most effective way to lose weight – and it cuts the risk of heart disease, too.

Zoë Harcombe, nutritionist-researcher-writer, has a no-nonsence approach to addressing obesity. Her personal insights and reviews of information published in main-stream media are always refreshing and challenging.

Zoë recently discovered some breaking news coming from the US on the back of a study looking at the effects of low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets. My interest peaked when I noticed her surprise that the study was 'refreshingly void of conflict' giving opinion that it is a rare thing to find a drug or food study genuinely independent and run so well. The results are intriguing.

Our autumn Pilates term gets underway today and it’s our biggest schedule we have ever run. We have 12 classes running per week across our usual 7 or 8 week courses and overall we have 94% of places booked. The demand for Pilates led by a Physiotherapist is very encouraging and we are delighted to see such interest in the maintenance of physical wellbeing.

In this article I thought I’d share a collection of recently published articles discovered across the web relating to the health benefits of physical activity. I hope some or all of these are of interest - so here goes…

Lifetime of fitness: Fountain of youth for bone, joint health?

Information coming out of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons suggests we can minimise or delay the effects of ageing by keeping physically fit and conversely a sedentary lifestyle will likely contribute to more rapid physical deterioration of our bodies and health.

We do go on about the value of exercise a lot, don't we? We do for a very good reason - exercise is one of the best, if not the best, efforts anyone can make for improving their short term and long term health.

We've written about the benefits of exercise in many previous blog posts - benefits such as improving your mood thanks to a release of feel good hormones, by challenging your heart and increasing blood circulation you are improving your cardiovascular health - reducing your chances of developing chronic disease, the list goes on and on...

Despite awareness of these tremendous health benefits many people still do not exercise regularly. The word 'awareness' here is key for creating new and positive habits in your life.

Developing greater awareness, not just about the benefits of regular exercise, but also awareness for what is preventing you from taking up a regular physical activity.

We like exercise, specifically Pilates led by a Physiotherapist, and we regularly promote its tremendous health benefits. We appreciate that finding the time to exercise can be tough for some people. With time constraints in mind I would like to share an interesting idea of ‘exercise snacking’ that I came across in an interesting article over on sciencedaily.com

The article’s focus is on an exercise method to help better control the blood sugar levels in people with insulin resistance. Whether you are knowingly insulin resistant or not controlling blood sugar levels is surely a smart thing for everyone to do, especially in our modern times when sugar is so prevalent in many of our food sources.

Controlling blood sugar levels will not only help you to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes but will help you lose or control your weight better too.

Is the recommended 30 minutes of exercise really optimal?

A lack of time is one of the most common excuses given by people who don’t exercise. This report coming from the American College of Cardiology will be welcoming news for the time-poor non-exercisers:

"Running for only a few minutes a day or at slow speeds may significantly reduce a person's risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to someone who does not run."

Running is a very popular form of exercise given it is easy to take up - no special equipment is needed other than a pair of running shoes and you can start and end right from your front door. A previous post of ours assessed the merits of running in more detail - Is Running The Best Exercise For Fitness?

The report from the American College of Cardiology states that even a 5-10min run is enough to provide significant cardiovascular benefits and a reduction in mortality risk.

Dublin has enjoyed some high temperatures so far this summer and understandably many of us are more active outdoors when the sun is shining. We must be aware of the potential issue of heat related injuries sustained from exercise in sport and other forms of strenuous work-related activity.

I don’t want to put a dampener on our untypical warm and sunny weather but rather my intention is to simply raise awareness. Many of us may not have a lot of experience training in such warm conditions but I do from my youth growing up in sunny South Africa.

It’s important to realise from the start that heat injuries can be life-threatening, if precautions are not taken. Heat injuries can start with mild forms of heat cramps which are easily treated if identified early enough.

Let’s look at different types of heat injuries.

You would be forgiven for considering golf to be a low injury-risk physical activity, after all it is a non impact-sport. However injuries to the golf player, whether a low or high handicapper, are quite common.

I wrote an extensive article last year about common golf injuries, the need for good flexibility and control while discussing the challenges of the modern golf swing. You can read the full post here.

We are in the middle of summer, a time when even the fair-weather golfers are out enjoying 18 holes be it on one of Ireland’s 300 courses or a foreign one. I thought this a good time to share a quick reminder about the risk, cause and prevention tips for one of the most common golfing injuries called ‘Golfer’s Elbow’.

What is Golfer's Elbow?

There is some debate as to whether golfer’s elbow or low-back pain is the most common golfing injury. Since both injuries can be caused by the repetitive motion of the golf swing and both requiring good technique to avoid injury I would suggest the level of risk for either injury to be fairly consistent.

We usually prefer to talk about the fun and health-promoting benefits of exercises but in this article I want to highlight 2 reasons why exercise may possibly cause damage to your long-term health.

I appreciate that for some people exercising is a chore and is done out of a sense of obligation to their own health as a result of advice from a doctor, friend or relative. If you fall into this category then these risks I am about to talk about will likely not apply to you. In case you decide to stop reading this article right now let me leave you with one simple nugget of wisdom before you go - you need to find an activity that is fun. When you really enjoy the sport or activity you are doing it no longer feels like a chore. One sure way of finding more enjoyment in your activity might be less about the choice of exercise but rather your choice whether to exercise alone or with a partner. Sharing your workout time with a friend is a lot more fun and motivating than doing it alone.

Back to those who may be at risk, people like me. I have always loved to be physically active but as I get older I become more aware of the need to self-regulate. If I don’t, it catches up with me and negatively affects not only my body but how I think and feel about life in general.

Our next Pilates course schedule starts on the 30th of June and 26 places from 36 have already been booked. As of today we have 6 places left on our Beginner classes and 4 places on our Improver-Advanced class.

To view our course schedule please visit our website here - http://mmphysiopilates.com/dublin/join-a-class.html

Summer Promotional Price

We are offering our 7 and 8 week courses at the 6 week price of €120.00
This is to accommodate some flexibility for holidays. If you are able to attend the full course that's great, the extra 1 or 2 classes are on us.