August 10, 2016 — No Comments

Punch the waves – #WetWednesdays

PUNCH!

When you were a kid did you ever play fight with waves? I did, well I mean, I still do! haha when that wave comes in, ball your fist up and punch it with all your might.

It’s incredible the strength you use and how the resistance pushing back on your hand really works your arm. Try comparing it to the slice we did last week.

Go to the pool and try the too. What is harder? What is easier? Can you feel the resistance more in your arms when you punch it? Can you feel the difference and how hard it is?

There are a number of ways you can change your hand movement to get a higher or lower level of workout.

What about if you slice your hand to the side, how does that feel? Now try balling your fist. You have more of your hand exposed to the water now so you can really feel a big difference. Creating a smaller plane that’s exposed to the the water will make less impact and less resistance.

Playing with different hand movements is so much fun and makes me feel like a kid again. Hit the pool, have a play and enjoy yourself. Experiment, be a child and lose your inhibitions.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #WetWednesdays, Fitness, General
Tags: arms, child, current, fitness, hit, play, punch, resistance, side on, swim, try, water, wave, workout

August 4, 2016 — No Comments

Pokemon – #ThrowbackThursdays

Pikachu

Pool-Perspective Now, I know this has literally taken over the world again but this tv show, game and overall concept was something I connected with so strongly when I was growing up.

The concept of travelling around a world full of monsters with special powers was exhilarating. The powers that some of the monsters had were amazing and of course the legendary monsters that came with certain story lines was just mind blowing.

What I liked most about this tv series apart from the cloned Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, was the diversity of who they would meet on their adventure. The number of gyms, the number of monsters but then how they would use those monsters always differed.

You see, each monster has it’s powers and what it should be able to do. Water Pokemon do water attacks, fire Pokemon do fire attacks. What I found most interesting was when a trainer would use a Pokemon and it’s attacks in a whole different way.

Ash, the main character would always turn around a battle at the last minute and use his Pokemon in the most unexpected way to win. I remember once he used his Pikachu (sort of second main character) to beat a Pokemon much stronger than itself.

It got me thinking about life in a more general perspective. So many people use perception of how things ‘should’ be and live their lives that way. The way people look at them, the way their family or friends would want them to live, that you forget to live your way.point of view

What about if we all took what we have available to us and used it in a different way, mixed it up, and surprised people. It’s true, you might get nowhere apart from making lots of mistakes but don’t we grow by learning from our mistakes?

So today, why not mix it up. Take something that you wouldn’t normally do in a certain way and change it. Do something you wouldn’t normally expect to do. See how it makes you feel.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #ThrowbackThursdays, General
Tags: change, dare, daretochange, games, live differently, mix it up, pokemon, surprise, to, toys, try, tv show

August 3, 2016 — 3 Comments

The importance of breathing – #WellbeingWednesdays

Just-Breathe-image download

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breathing. We all do it, we all think we do it well but do we really? The amount of forms of exercise and fitness that focus on your breathing can teach you how badly you are breathing.

One little breath can be manipulated to have such a dramatic difference. Those who practice yoga know what a lion’s breath can do, a huge sigh that releases tension and lets you clear out stale air that’s been stored in your lungs for longer than needed.

Then of course there is the fire breath, shallow, fast paced breaths that build up your body’s temperature and can be a workout in their own right!!

Then for those of you who swim, there’s the very shallow and slow breaths. You literally have a tiny handful of seconds to take a breath but that breath only needs to last the next handful of strokes until you’re back up again. It’s slow to keep your body calm and relaxed and very shallow so you don't keep yourself too buoyant.

So why don’t you take some time right now and focus on your breathing. Try not to change it or influence it. Just close your eyes, try and block out all the sound around you. Just turn your gaze inwards, assess your breathing. Is it shallow? Is it deep? Is it fast? Is it slow? Now start playing with it. Make it deeper, longer and slower. What effect does it have on your body? How about if you speed it up and keep them deep? And make it shallow?

Playing with breath, learning the effect it has on your own body is a huge step towards being more self-aware. Then when you’re mood is needing a bit of a switch up, use your breath.

At work and feeling quite lethargic and sleepy? Speed your breathing up, make it shallower, start heating your body up and you might see a big difference in your energy levels.

Agitated, stressed or just generally fidgety? Slow your breathing down, make them longer, deeper and try and fill every part of your lungs. What difference does it make? Do you feel more relaxed?

Have fun with your breath. Play with it, see what difference it can make!

Have fun, ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #WellbeingWednesdays, Fitness, General
Tags: breathe, control, focus, important, internal, slow down, speed up, try

March 20, 2016 — No Comments

Callanetics

Callanetics

We all know how much I love exercise so this weekend involved me trying out a new class run by a friend of mine. Callanetics with Sarah Coombes.

Initially I thought this would be a bit bored. I mean I did some research and apparently Callanetics was huge in the 80's. A phenomenon that swept across the nation, set up by a dancer to help those with a smaller range of motion.

The reason I went was to help two people in my life. A friend and my mum. Both suffer from medical conditions that although they would love to do intense exercise like I do, the dance fitness, the yoga, they can't. The idea was that Callanetics would help them to build the muscles up, primarily around sore and affected joints, so the pressure on those joints are reduced and it helps to alleviate pain. The exercise program helps to work the deepest muscles with the tiniest of movements.

I went to the class for others but I went with an open mind. As a fitness individual I always love finding out about new things, new ways to help and I was willing to try.

As the class started I looked around the room and realised I was probably the fittest in the room, no one else looked like they did quite as much exercise as me so I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. Yes, I could do most of the exercises and the more difficult adaptations but goodness me they ached and hurt.

As I worked my arms in tiny movements by pulsing my thumbs together behind my back I realised how much my chest was being worked, realised how much my shoulders and arms ached.

Then when we moved down to the floor and my leg was behind me being pulsed while off the floor my rear was was screaming. Muscles I didn't know existed were crying at me.

So in summary, the class was awesome. Yes there was no music. Yes it was slow. Yes it ached. But it was all I could have hoped it would be. It worked muscles that my other various fitness exercises couldn't get to. It worked them deeply and in ways I wasn't sure could be repeated without going back to a Callanetics class. As a new form of therapy it is perfect and anyone and everyone who I know that could benefit from the class I shall be telling about it.

So if you have a spare hour on a Saturday morning from 10am-11am, happy to pop into Danceworks across the road from Selfridges and to join us for a healthy brunch straight after then come along, try Callanetics!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in Fitness, General, Therapy
Tags: arthritis, callanetics, class, coombes, dance, dancer, fitness, hospital, movements, osteo, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, sarah, test, tiny, try

  
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