Anyone who takes even the slightest interest in their health knows that the simple activity of walking can be hugely beneficial to your overall wellness.  In fact, it’s no surprise that doctors are increasingly prescribing a routine of walking as part of their patient’s recovery plan. Much has been written about the benefits of walking, and I would like to reference just one: “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of wellbeing and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that ..read more

Indoors verses Outdoors Exercise Exercise, especially outdoors exercise, is not only great for your physical health, it is also massively important for your mental and emotional well-being as well. In our everyday lives most of us spend huge amounts of our time indoors. Whether at home, work or out shopping or socialising, our time is overwhelmingly spent indoors. And that means artificial light, stale or recycled air and predictable patterns of movement. Each of these factors is equally present when we exercise in an indoor space, such as a gym, large hall or even at home. The exercise routi ..read more

Have you noticed just how many advertisements there are for healthy eating? Ads that offer a trouble-free balanced diet delivered weekly to your door. Adverts for supermarkets telling you how they are the best place to find your fresh healthy food and how you are doing yourself and your family a disservice by not shopping with them? And of course, there are adverts that promote questionable high carb, high sugar fast-food disguised as “healthy options”. Well, as easy as it may seem to just ignore them all, the reality is that it is not always clear and straight forward to know what you should ..read more

They say being over 50 is living in the best years of your life. The crazy, reckless days of our youth are long gone, and the stressful, time-poor ‘middle’ years of kids, career and mortgages are now giving way to a much more carefree, time-rich and affluent period in our lives. So, what do you want out of this next phase of your life? After all, this next phase can be as long or longer than the previous ones leading up to it. Statistically, a person in Australia at 50 years of age can look forward to 30 to 35 more years of life. That’s a lot! And way more than our parents and grandparents cou ..read more

Equipment required: Dumbbells & Mat. WOP12 Warm up – Activation: Head to Toe activation. B1. 10 x Head Rolls, Shoulder Rolls, Corkscrew, Wrist activation B2. 10 x Hip Rotation, Gentle jumping on ball of feet. A. Walk briskly/Jog around block or oval Complete 2 sets Part 1 – Strength Perform these exercises continuously for 2-3 sets allowing a 60s rest between sets Equipment: Dumbbells 15 x Goblet Squat 10 x Alternating Forward Lunges 10 x Bulgarian Split Squat Part 2 – Strength Perform these exercises continuously for 2-3 sets allowing a 60s rest between sets Equipment: Dumbbells 10 x Upri ..read more

What is Functional Fitness? Sports people and athletes define fitness in terms of how to measure and reach the maximum possible state of physical condition necessary to achieve the goal of winning against the other team or their opponent. But most of us are not sports stars or athletes. For many of us, our need for fitness could almost be described in terms of a negative. That is, avoidance of not being able to do the things we need and want to do. Everyday things like lifting kids, groceries or boxes, climbing stairs or briskly walking without puffing. And so, for most people Functional Fitne ..read more

Losing Weight Exercises for Women Over 50 For many people, especially women over 50, the desire to lose weight becomes increasingly important. Life’s stresses and strains seems to lead to an increase in body weight, or so it seems. Often times, the stereotypical answer is that exercise and diet are the first and only solutions to what seems an ever-present problem.  And while this is true, in a basic sense, it is only part of the answer. Losing excess body weight is just one part, indeed a very small part, of the reasons why you should think seriously about an exercise program, especially ..read more

The Path to Body Toning is Paved with Benefits It’s true, you know. There’s a multitude of benefits in starting a fitness program that is focused on body toning. To achieve a toned body, especially for the Over 50’s woman, you will be working on those muscles and parts of the body that usually carry excess body fat. So, by working on body toning, you will also be working out in ways that will reduce body fat and you will subsequently lose weight. And the path to body toning and losing weight automatically brings with it a generally healthier body, so you will not only look trim and terrific, y ..read more

Exercises that Reverse Aging  As the years march on, many of us may find ourselves wondering how many years we might have left. We may try to avoid these thoughts, but who hasn’t, at some point, speculated about “what percent” of their life they’ve lived? The truth is there are no guarantees, and we never really know how many years are still ahead. But, what if we could shift the focus of those thoughts? Instead of focusing on how much time we hope to have, what if we put our energy into figuring out what kind of time we’d like to have left? Unlike the number of years, the quality of thos ..read more

It is never too late! Your Fitness, Strength and Wellbeing awaits you. The Functional Ageing Institute (FAI) programs that we use in our Over 50’s classes centre on “Functional Fitness.” Basically, Functional Fitness focuses on training for strength to be able to do everyday tasks such as lifting reaching, bending walking and stepping. All our clients are trained in all planes of motion (sagittal, frontal and transverse). This combined with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating and regular exercise can and will deliver for you the fittest version of you that is possible for the rest ..read more