It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a piece for my blog.  As much as I like writing, I like procrastinating more.  Ironically my last blog was December 31st, 2022; ‘The secret’s to a successful new year’s resolution’.  My new year’s resolution that year was to write a blog every two weeks.  That went well.  But the time has come and rather than being about useful tips, it’s just an update and a story about change. Where to start? In January of last year, I turned 49 and ‘Grá For Fitness’ turned seven.  They say life happens in 7 years cycles.  Who’s ..read more

 Yup, it’s that time of the year.  The end and the beginning all within a very short space of time. A time for reflection on the greatest hits and misses learnings and an opportunity to make plans for the year ahead.  I have to admit I really like the Christmas / new year’s in betweeny bit when the air has gone out of the festive whoopie cushion and we can hopefully relax and take it easy. While I rarely make big plans for New Year’s Eve I do look forward to the new year and a new page.   I had been a staunch resolutionist for years, in fact I found my 15 year old sel ..read more

We spend most of our week working, so why not take advantage of this time to help optimise our health. Here are some simple tips to show you how. Stand up We’ve all been in this situation – we’re madly busy at our desk or just engrossed in a task and all of a sudden we realise we’ve been sitting for a couple of hours hunched over our computers.  Sitting for long uninterrupted bouts can have a detrimental effect on our metabolism, circulation and even bone health.  Being in a seated position for extended lengths of time can create muscle imbalances – our posture and back health can b ..read more

While maintaining a healthy diet has always been important to me, saving money and reducing waste are becoming equally so.  I’ve found the key to these 3 goals can be narrowed down to one thing – planning.  Plan your meals, plan your shopping list around your meals, plan for leftovers and learn some hacks for reducing your food waste.  Plan your meals for the week and plan your shopping list around it.   -       Take some time, sit down and plan your healthy meals for the week.  -       Research healthy rec ..read more

How often have you heard the advice, we should ‘aim to drink 8 glasses of water a day’?  I think I’ve included this in my new year’s resolution list every year since I was a teenager and spent the rest of each year berating myself because I never seemed to achieve it.   Increasingly I’ve come across interviews with medical experts including kidney specialists who have been speaking out against the 8x8 directive, there’s even a hashtag ‘#hydrationbollocks’ doing the rounds.  They claim you don’t actually need to drink 8 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated.  It’s a ..read more

Now I realise that not everybody is naturally a morning person, so it might be enough to just drag yourself out of bed rather than adding items to your list of things to do in the morning, but these measures are very simple and each one can help enhance your day. 1)    Hot / warm water and ginger first thing Ginger is great for our digestive system, it also has anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties . I keep a jar of peeled, chopped ginger in the fridge, I have a big beer tankard that I pop it into first thing in the morning, I then try and drink the whol ..read more

Our core is not just about the abdominals but includes all the muscles that wrap around our trunk as well as the glutes and pelvic floor. For runners we want to maintain stability in the trunk to allow the legs and arms to move easily, making the overall action less effortful.  A mixture of Pilates and yoga can offer us a well-rounded solution to support our running life. Run tall, Breathe easyWe want to be able to ‘run tall’ and maintain a neutral spine, if our core is weak and we are running regularly our posture can be affected resulting in rounded shoulders and tighter chest muscles ..read more

Every year for Christmas, the chef, aka the Ma makes a nut roast for me ‘the awkward vegetarian’. Now I’d just like to point out I do volunteer to cook, but while my brother is often stand-in or sous chef, I’m usually relegated to clean-up duties and alternate shifts with my Dad. My lack of success in being allowed to cook a full meal for my family reminds me of my attempts to get a solo singing part in my primary school plays - they always found something else for me to do. Ok, I just had to get that off my chest - back to the best ever vegetarian nut roast. The champion nut roast of Christm ..read more

When I hear the word ‘snack’ – my mind goes to slices of apple and almond butter or those fabulous Nairns coconut oat biscuits, but no, I’m talking about exercise snacks here.  Convenient bitesize chunks of exercise, which we can easily fit into our day and which research has shown to be as beneficial than longer bouts of exercise and in some areas even more beneficial.   The HSE and NHS recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (e.g. brisk walking, cycling or any activity where you’re breathing a little harder, upping the heart rate) for adults five days a we ..read more

Fear not, I am not going for another career change and stepping into the wonderful world of professional decluttering.  As a life long hoarder, I know my limitations.  That said at the beginning of this year when we were just starting into our third and most severe lockdown I had a burst of energy in early January and swept through the apartment stripping the shelves of books that I had either read or knew I would never read and boxed them up along with DVDs, ornaments and some ‘token’ clothes – the clothes I knew, were going to be a whole project in themselves…   Where di ..read more