Fitness 18
Healthy holiday – how to eat for Britain without gaining weight
It was just about the worst possible time to be thinking about my body composition. I was at the end of two back-to-back press trips which had involved eating and drinking from morning until night. Pastries. Cocktails. Liqueurs. Cream cakes. Baklava. More cocktails. You get the idea. So when, on the final day of my Read More
Why I quit Instagram – and feel better for it
Anyone who’s followed Sporty over Forty for a while will know that there’s a lot about Instagram that makes me feel uncomfortable. The corrosively dangerous thinspo. The fake, filtered fitspo (body tyranny by a different name). The look-at-my-fabulous-life posturing. The humble-bragging. The obsession with food. The endless selfies (*shudder*). The faintly desperate #catsofinstagram-style hashtagging. Read More
Rebounce! The cardio class taking the fitness world by storm
The music’s rocking, the lights are flashing and my thighs are screaming… but I’m still smiling. I’m at a Rebounce class – a dance / rebounder / serious cardio workout where the exercise all revolves around a mini trampoline (aka rebounder). It’s a far cry from the sedate trampoline lessons of my childhood, when we Read More
Why rowing is the best sport for older people
When you think about rowing, you might picture the Boat Race, with strong young men or women powering down the Thames. Or maybe you call to mind Pinsent and Redgrave, or even – if you’re more up to date – Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. Either way, the likelihood is you’re imagining young, lithe, powerful Read More
Why everyone over 40 should do Pilates
I was lucky enough to be invited to the recent launch of the rebranded healthy seed and nut bars, 9Bar (about which more soon). One of the main draws was the chance to attend a Pilates session with the fabulous Lynne Robinson, who has been described variously as the “Queen of Pilates”, the “High Priestess Read More
The fitness pics no-one wants you to see
Social media – and I’m looking at you, Instagram, though other media can be almost as bad – is awash with beautiful pictures of beautiful people hard at work doing exercise, accompanied by the compulsory #fitspo hashtag. They make squats look sexy. They make running look easy. “Getting my sweat on,” they trill. Except that Read More
Yoga – too stiff to start?
I had my yoga epiphany just after I had decided that it definitely wasn’t for me. I was on the roof terrace of an ultra-hip Alpine hotel, attempting to do yoga alongside a group of gorgeous, cool, twenty-something athletes. There was an Olympic gold-medallist here, a World Champion there. And then there was me. At Read More
Why trampolining is 68% better for you than running
If you have kids and even a tiny patch of garden, the chances are you have a trampoline. They’ve become massively popular amongst families as they can keep kids entertained – outdoors! – moving! – for hours on end. I remember one of my sons once spending an entire day bouncing. But trampolines aren’t just Read More