Cardiovascular training raises your heart rate and increases your breathing rate. Any type of activity that gets you breathing heavy challenges your heart and lungs and can be considered cardio.

Cardio is a great form of exercise as it can be done anytime, anywhere, without any special equipment or space. Cardio can be as simple as putting on a pair of running shoes and heading out the door for a walk.

Sportshoes offers a huge range of discounted footwear and activewear to help you find shoes that help keep you moving pain and injury free.

Benefits of cardio:

• Improves the function of your heart

          As the functioning of your heart improves, it will lower your resting heart rate which                puts less pressure put on your heart

• Improves the functioning of your circulatory system

          This improves the circulation around your body.

• Removes waste products from your system
• Improves body’s immune system
• Enhances brain health
• Increases metabolic rate
• Improves mood and energy
• Can be adapted for any health condition and fitness level
• Can be done anytime, anywhere

Examples of cardio exercise include running, walking, stair climbing, dancing, swimming, HIIT (high intensity interval training)

We use strength throughout our day, even when we aren’t aware of it. Strength is required to carry bags of shopping, to climb stairs, when we are gardening, to pick up small children, and many other regular daily tasks.

Strength training is an essential part of any exercise programme.

Muscles strengthen as we move them against a resistance. Resistance workouts enhance strength and stability as we age.

Benefits of strength training:

• Builds muscle
• Improves your strength
• Increase your bone density and the strength of your bones
• Help you lose weight and increase your metabolism
• Help you perform everyday tasks more efficiently and pain free
• Can help reduce the symptoms of chronic conditions such as arthritis, back pain, obesity, depression and heart disease

Consider investing in a pair of dumbbells and resistance bands to allow you to increase the resistance and your strength increases.

You do not need to have a gym membership or attend a group fitness class to improve your strength. With limited equipment, you can effectively include strength training in your exercise programme to improve your fitness and increase your strength at home.

Hutton Health offers a structured programme and online workouts that allow you to strength train from the comfort of your home with the guidance of an experienced coach.

Flexibility is defined as ‘The quality of bending without breaking’. Working on our flexibility is an important element of exercise, particularly as we age.

The flexibility of a joint is its range of motion and is controlled by muscles, ligaments and tendons. As your flexibility increases, your range of motion improves.

As you age, muscles, ligaments and tendons become tighter. If muscles are not used often and/or flexibility is not a regular part of your exercise programme, muscles can become less flexible.

Muscles shorten when they are held in the same shortened position for extended periods of time. An example of this is your hip flexor shortening if you spend large amounts of time sitting at your desk during the day.

               Benefits of flexibility training:

• Injury prevention

          Inflexibility can often lead to injury due to your tightened muscles

• Improved posture
• Increases strength

          Muscles are able to move through the full range of motion

• Feel more relaxed

Ways to increase your flexibility include strength training through your full range of motion and stretching.

Rest and recovery does not just refer to the amount of sleep that you get.

Rest and recovery in an exercise programme also involves low intensity exercise activities. During recovery exercise, you should be able to comfortably carry out a conversation as you are not straining to exercise as this level.

Muscles need time to repair and rebuild to grow stronger.

The most important aspects of any good health and fitness plan include the following:

• An exercise plan that includes exercise that you enjoy
• Exercise that makes your body and mind feel good
• Exercise that you can fit into your schedule
• Exercise that appropriately challenges you
• Exercise that works for your individual body
• Exercise that you can incorporate consistently into your schedule
• Exercise that is rewarding

Exercise is important for our mental and physical health. Commit to incorporating purposeful movement into your day to help reach your optimal health and wellbeing.