Making healthy lifestyle choices can go a long way towards improving the quality of your life, whether it’s boosting your self-esteem, reducing the risk of certain health conditions or improving your general outlook on life. It can be easy to slip in to bad habits over time and even easier to put off adopting healthier living habits but you don’t need to wait until the New Year to make positive changes to your lifestyle.
We have all been there…trawling social media and seeing lots of ideas and inspiration when it comes to a fitness and exercise plan it’s important you carefully consider what you’re doing and what you want to achieve and avoid just rocking up to the gym and hoping for the best. Before you hit the gym, it can be beneficial to spend some time putting together a detailed exercise plan and setting some SMART goals. The plan will not only be a great motivator, it will also keep you on track and ensure you’re getting an effective, full body work out, as well as factoring in those all-important rest days.
For many, reaching retirement can be exciting but also quite daunting. Retirement marks a new chapter in your life and it doesn’t have to signal the end of a full and active life; in fact, for many retirees, they often question and wonder how they found time to work before they retired!!! Yes, this time of your life can be the perfect time to try new things, learn new skills, take up new hobbies and there’s never been a better time to get your health in check.
When we look to improve our health and fitness a lot of the time we get caught up in our longer-term goals such as losing a stone or training for a 10k run. While it’s great to have goals to work towards, keeping us on track and acting as motivation, sometimes these very same goals can at times feel unattainable leaving us disheartened.
When we join a gym and attend regularly, over time we expect to see an improvement in our general health and fitness, but you might be surprised to learn that this isn’t the only thing to receive an overhaul - our social lives could be in for a shape up too! Here at 1Life our gyms and leisure centres pride themselves in creating a friendly, welcoming and supportive environment allowing you to get the most out of your gym visits. The physical benefits of exercise such as improved heart health, lower blood pressure, reduced risk of various serious diseases and improved muscle tone are all well documented, but some of the lesser known benefits include improved emotional and social wellbeing.
The majority of us overlook flexibility exercises in our workouts in favour of cardio or strength training, but with proven health benefits such as increased freedom of movement as well as having a calming effect on the mind, it’s time to wise up to this type of exercise. Increased flexibility has a knock-on effect in our day-today lives from reducing the likelihood of injury to increased independence as we age – something not to be sniffed at.
With your diet and fitness in check, you’re well on your way to getting the most out of life during your senior years. Remembering all the other aspects involved in living a healthy lifestyle can be a bit of a juggling act but here we’ve listed some top tips for ageing healthily to make sure you continue to live life to the full.
When we talk about strength training, a lot of people think of bronzed bodybuilders and bulging muscles, while this is mainly achieved through weight training, it is an extreme example! What a lot of people don’t realise are the many benefits that strength training can offer as we get older, including halting the ageing process of our bodies.
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