Instead of struggling for months trying to find the time and momentum to stay in shape, tap into a secret ingredient that makes even the most daunting tasks doable.

Traits like determination and resilience are even more crucial than talent when it comes to acheiving a goal-weather its mastering a yoga routine, beating your best time in a race or loosing those last few extra stubborn pounds. So here's how you can conteract the procrastination, discouragement and mistakes lurking between you and your dreams.

BE MINDFUL

There are great mind benifits fom exercise such as yoga and plilates so mix this into your regime of cardio and strength training.

TAKE IT OUTSIDE

bust boredom by getting out of the gym and infusing your workout with some fun .

LEARN SOMETHING

if long runs get boring, listen to an audio book or an informational podcast.

GIVE BACK

Cant find the time to do volenteer work ? Then download The Charity Miles app and each KM you complete raises money for your favorite charity.

PRIMP ON THE RUN

beore you workout, braid your hair wrap it into a bun and secure. After, shake it out and blast with a blow-dryer. Voila'- georgous waves.

GET CLEVER WITH CALORIES

A successful slim down mixes strength workouts and interval training. But when it comes to lasting weight loss, the amount of calories you take in are as crucial as the number of calories you've burned .

TAKE BABY STEPS

work your way to making healthier food choices gradually. For Example for one week try trading your carbs at dinner for veggies. And when at a resturant, order your cheesburger on a bed of lettuce rather than a bun, and so on.

KEEP IT CONSISTENT

Aim to eat right 80% of the time and this includes the weekends. Research proves that those who eat right consistently day to day anre far more likely to maintain their weight loss long term.

SNACK SMARTER

reframe your definition of snacks from treats to a mini meal- like a small bowl of oatmeal topped with almonds rather than a candy bar, you will this way be less likely to overinduldge.

SIZE THINGS UP

research has shown that when you are given larger portions you consumer 30% more , yet the perceived fullness is the same as those with regular portion. To regulate yourself, downsize your dishes and watch portion sizes, espicaially when eating high calorie foods.

Research shows that your more prone to cave to cravings during certain moments, derailing even the best weight loss efforts. But with this advice your willpower can prevailaround the clock.

TEMPTATION TIME - LUNCH

The likilihood of a midday feeding frenzy increases if you havent eaten since the cupp of coffee you called Breakfast. we all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day yet more than 50% of people skip it " many women skip breakfast because they think its a good way to save up the calories or because they feel they are hungrier if they eat first thing in the morning.

Stay Strong Strategy

Even if your not skipping breakfast you may be skimping on what you need nutritionally o power through untly lunch: namely protein that tends to be digested more slowly and therefore keeps you fuller for longer. It has been proven that if you increase this nutrient at breakfast you are less hungry through the morning and consumer fewer calories at lunch.Some suggestions to increase your early morning intake:Have cereal with Greek Yogurt, add protein powder or a nut butter to your smoothie, make porridge using quinoa flakes and with a nut milk instead of water and sprinkle with a nut seed mix.

If you dont have the desire or the excuse of not enough time to eat much first thing have a healthy mid morning snack . Like Nuts and seeds.

TEMPTATION TIME - THE AFTERNOON LULL

If you feel you hit a mental and physical wall every day between 2-6pm your not alone. Your body experiences a natural dip in energy in the early afternoon with blood sugars being at there lowest around 3pm. This may cause you to feel restless and head straight for the pick me up of sugar or fat. Coincidentally it could also be the first time you've left your desk since lunch and could be more about needing a break and movement rather than needing food.

Stay Strong Strategy

This is a hard time but a great time to do some exercise or if you are in a office pop over to a coworkers desk or office for a distraction and have a no eating at the desk rule. Research has proven those who ate whilst workingfelt less full afterwards and ate twice as many snacks as thise who made eating a concious thing.

TEMPTATION TIME - THE AFTER DINNER HOUR

The urge for more is usually what the researchers call the "hedonic hunger" or pleasure-motivated eating that activates the bodies chemical reward system, triggering the release of feel- good hormones that can make us want more of the high-fat and high-sugar items that caused that reaction.

The brain also takes 20 minutes to register you have eaten therefeore if you got to the point of very hungry (as you skipped lunch) you could eat your dinner and yet chemically the brain hasnt registered the food an you will then continue to want those higjh-fat high-sugar foods which give quick energy.

Stay Strong Strategy

Make sure you are not starving hungry at dinner time if necessary an afternoon high protein snack could tide you over if you know dinner will be late. You need to walk away from temptation. Research proves that 15 mins of walking can reduce cravings for chocolate and reduce consumption by 50%. What's more, the cravings were reduced not only during the walk but for 10 mins afterwards ( giving you renewed willpower for almost 30 minutes, which could be e nough to get you through the danger zone)

TEMPTATION TIME - BEFORE BED

most of the make or break moments occur at night. Research has shown evidence that our bodys inernal clock may be programmed to crave sugary, salty and starchy foods in the evening. One theory is that this helped our ancestors survive food scarcity by encouraging them to eat larger more calorie dense meals prior to sleep, for a long fasting period. Now that a nightime snack is only as far away as the kitchen, that urge is doing us more harm than help.

Stay Strong Strategy

When people are trying to exert self control, they are just as likely to default to a good habit as a bad one - as long as its actually a habit. So form some good betime habits ( something only becomesa habit if pracitied daily for 21days straight) make a ritual of brewing a cup of tea or creating your own flavoured water ( add citrus or cucumber) or brushing your teeth witha really minty toothpaste. As nothing will taste the same after you've doused your taste buds in "Clean".

Beware your just say no mindset wears off as the day wears on

Have you heard of the boat theory? This is one way to help you think about the role of your pelvic floor muscles in supporting your pelvic organs.

Imagine that your pelvic floor is the water level, while your pelvic organs (uterus, bladder and bowel) are the boat sitting on top of the water. The boat is attached by the ropes or ligaments to the jetty. If the water level (your pelvic floor) is normal, there is no tension on the ropes.

After pregnancy and the birth of your baby, your pelvic floor muscles can become stretched, so the water level is lower. Imagine if the water level stayed low for years. If your pelvic floor muscles do not strengthen up again, by doing your exercises, then there is much more tension on the ‘ropes’ or your supportive ligaments. If this continues the ligaments can overstretch and weaken, and there is a risk of you developing a prolapse. This can occur soon after a birth or in years to come.

If your pelvic floor muscles strengthen back up again, then there will be no ongoing tension on the ligaments supporting your pelvic organs, and therefore less risk of developing a prolapse.

Imagine what would happen however if you added jumping, bouncing type of activities to a pelvic floor that was stretched. This could further weaken your muscles and place extra strain on the ligaments so they become overstretched and weakened. This can result in a dropping down of the pelvic organs.

So it is it’s important to realize that while you may feel fine on the outside, you are unable to see what’s happening on the inside. Which is why some women may not notice a prolapse occurring. And while on a daily basis there may be no problem with bladder control or pelvic floor muscles it is important to first strengthen the pelvic floor muscles correctly before impact activities or sport is resumed.

It is important to consider what type of exercise to do initially , as exercise within a few weeks provided it is under the guidance of an experienced professional in post natal exercise is extremely beneficial not only for the physical but also the mental wellbeing of the new mother. Choose low impact activities and those that particular focus on strengthening and toning the body with specific exercises for abdominals and pelvic floor.

After the birth of you baby no matter how fit and toned you are , it takes at least 6 -8 weeks before your stomach muscles will be toned enough to support your lower back and pelvis. This is another reason to avoid high impact activity too early as there would be more movement in the back and pelvis and risk of a back injury.

Pregnancy splits your abdominal muscles down the middle. It is Important to make sure muscles have healed before vigorous abdominal exercise such as crunches are performed. In the beginning, you can tone the tummy by performing exercises that strengthen the deepest layers of the abdominals (transversus abdominus)

Post natal abdominal bracing and steady progression of abdominal and pelvic floor muscles exercise is important, to improve the strength and the tone in your lower abdominals and pelvic floor you should gently exercise your abdominal muscles and pelvic floor daily.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

To strengthen them you must first direct your attention to these muscles. They are the ones that you tighten to stop weeing. These exercises can be performed lying down, sitting or standing.

Try to relax your abdominals, don’t bear down or hold your breath. Squeeze and increase the tension until you have contracted these muscles as hard as you can Release gentle and slowly. Then perform the exercises which include:

Squeeze slowly and hold between 5-10 secs release slowly repeat 10 timesPerform quick, short and hard squeezes. Repeat 10 timesSqueeze, then clear your throat or cough lightly. Repeat 10 timesAim for 5-6 sets each day

Gentle abdominal exercises

This exercise works on strengthen the deepest layer of the abdominals and can be performed lying, sitting or standing or on hands and knees and should be worked on before progressing to other more vigorous abdominal exercises:

Keep lower back flatBreathe out and draw belly button back towards the spine. Lower back shouldn’t flex or moveHold this position and breathe normally. Count to 10.Relax and repeat 10 timesDo 10 sets, as many times in a day as you can

After 6-8 weeks you can then start to progress you’re strengthening work of the pelvic floor, abdominals and other muscles and what better way to do this than joining a class with other mums and a class that you can take your baby along with you.

Yummy Mummy Fitness

Work on getting your post baby body back and provide your baby with some cognitive development by joining our Yummy Mummy Fitness Class. Good for baby, good for you. Lisa Parkes takes the class and is a post-natal exercise specialist, and a mother of three (with a newborn February 2015).

Classes commence 1 April, 2015. Tuesdays and Fridays at 12pm. Bookings essential.

Find out more here.

Runners should practice good form, So how do you know what your form looks like? The best is to ask a friend to take a few minutes to videotape you running.( making sure there is a short sprint section) That way you can watch yourself running from front and back, as well as in a sprint, running harder than usual, causing your form to be somewhat magnified.

Some of the more common form technique mistakes are saggy shoulders, arms hanging too loosely by the runner’s sides or moving too far across the chest, the dreaded knock-kneed syndrome, or a runner actually sticking both thumbs straight up (affectionately known as “The Fonz”). Many people assume proper running form begins with the feet, but the opposite is true. “Proper running form is from head to toe,” Lisa Says. “Since you run in a straight line with your energy thrust out in front of you, when you run, your hands and arms are in front, guiding you.” Lisa suggests the way to become most energy-efficient is to realize that form affects pace and the amount of energy that is conserved or expended. She advises sticking to the following guidelines for proper running form: Head: Keep your head tilted down slightly, three to five degrees from your torso. Look forward at the ground in front of you, 10 to 20 feet ahead, and concentrate on trying to run in a straight line. Your jaw and neck should be relaxed. Torso: Bend slightly forward from the waist to create a bit of a forward lean. (You want gravity on your side.) If you lean back, it creates pulling from the hips and is inefficient. Keep your upper body “open,” which will permit easier breathing. Hips: Hips should be in line with head and shoulders. Your foot should strike directly under your hips, your center of gravity. Shoulders: Keep them relaxed and square, and do not hunch over because this tends to restrict the breathing passage, allowing less oxygen to get to working muscles. Arms: Arms should be held low, bent at a 90-degree angle and relaxed. As you run, swing your arms up and down, bringing your hands to your sternum at the top of the swing, and brush them past your waistband on the downswing, bringing them back behind your body. The arm movement should be just that — arm movement — and should minimize the rotation of the torso. Arms should move in conjunction with your legs. Remember that fast arms equal fast feet, so they should be used to propel you forward. Hands: Your thumbs should gently touch the top half of your index fingers with your hand cupped, as though you are holding a small egg that you don’t want to break. If you clench your hands together too tightly, or stick your thumbs straight up, it could cause tightness in your arms, which may drift into your shoulders, neck, and lower back, causing an unproductive and uncomfortable stride. Don’t let your hands cross over the middle of your chest. Imagine a line drawn down your body separating you in half vertically. Your hands should not cross that line. Remember, it’s not easy to break old habits, and you run the way you do because your body has found it efficient, and it’s now probably become a habit. To make your new effort a habit, practice concentrating on your new running style for a few minutes at a time. “Try to make a conscious effort to change only one thing about your form for brief periods of regular easy runs,” Lisa says. Changing your form can make a major difference in the way you feel and the efficiency of your run.

Hill running has a strengthening effect as well as boosting power and speed. To reduce the possibility of injury hill training should only be conducted by someone who has a good base of strength and endurance.What it does for you

In hill running, you use your body weight as a resistance to push against, so the driving muscles from which your leg power is derived have to work harder. The technique to aim for is a "bouncy" style where you have a good knee lift and maximum range of movement in the ankle. You should aim to drive hard, pushing upwards with your toes, flexing your ankle as much as possible, landing on the front part of the foot and then letting the heel come down below the level of the toes as the weight is taken. This stretches the calf muscles upwards and downwards as much as possible and applies resistance which overtime will improve your power and elasticity. You should look straight ahead, as you run (not at your feet) and ensure your neck, shoulders and arms are free of tension. Many experts believe that the "bouncy" action is more important than the speed at which the athlete runs up the hills. Hill work results in the calf muscles learning to contract more quickly and thereby generating work at a higher rate, they become more powerful. The calf muscle achieves this by recruiting more muscle fibres, around two or three times as many when compared to running on the flat. The "bouncy" action also improves the power of the quads in the front of the thigh as they provide the high knee lift that is required. This can all contribute to higher running speeds and shorter foot strike times. Hill training offers the following benefits:

helps develop power and muscle elasticityimproves stride frequency and lengthdevelops co-ordination, encouraging the proper use of arm action during the driving phase and feet in the support phasedevelops control and stabilization as well as improved speed (downhill running)promotes strength endurancedevelops maximum speed and strength (short hills)improves lactate tolerance (mixed hills)

The benefits of short, medium and long hills are quite different, and can be used at different times of the year.Short Hills

A short hill is one which takes no more that 30-seconds to run up and has an inclination between 5 and 15 degrees gradient. The energy source on short hills is entirely anaerobic. Here the focus should be on a running technique which has vigorous arm drive and high knee lift, with the hips kept high, so that they are 'running tall', not leaning forwards. The session is anaerobic so the recovery time can be long, a walk back down the hill, or a slow jog of 60 to 90 seconds. The total volume will depend on the fitness of the individual and the reason for doing it. A sprinter looking for strength might do 10 repetitions of 15-second duration up a steep slope with a long recovery where as a distance runner who is trying to improve sprinting speed might do 30 repetitions of 15 seconds duration. Short hills of 5 to 10 second duration will help improve the Adenosine Triphosphate and Phosphate-creating (ATP+PC) energy system and hills of 15 to 30 second duration will help develop the ATP+PC+muscle glycogen energy system. Example of short hill sessions:

8 to 10 repetitions over 50 meters (sprinters and hurdlers)8 to 10 repetitions over 40 meters (jumpers and throwers)8 to 10 repetitions over 150 meters (middle distance athletes)8 to 10 repetitions over 200 meters (long distance athletes)

Medium Hills

A medium hill is one that takes between 30 to 90 seconds to run up. This is the length of hill is a good distance for the middle-distance runner, because it combines the benefits of the short hills with the stresses on local muscular endurance and tolerance of lactic acid. Use a hill as steep of one in six to one in ten, so that you can run at something near race pace. The energy source is both aerobic and anaerobic and you will experience the build up in blood lactate as they go further up the hill. Although the session will usually be quite fast and competitive, it is important that style is emphasized. Scuttling up the hill with a short stride and forward lean may be the best way to get up in a race, but in training, we are trying to develop particular qualities. It is better, therefore, to go for a longer stride and higher knee lift: running tall with the hips pushed forwards, keeping the back upright. Again, the volume of the session depends on the individual. You can try six to eight runs of 45 seconds, followed by some 10 second sprints on a steeper hill. As you become a more competent runner you can do 12 to 15 runs of about 70 seconds, so that it is the equivalent of an interval training session on the track. A good practice is to increase the number by one or two each time the session comes around, while trying to run them at about the same pace. The recovery is a slow jog back to the bottom, and when the times start falling much below those of the first few runs, it is time to stop.Long Hills

A long hill takes from 90 seconds to three minutes plus. Here most of the energy comes from aerobic sources, but if parts of the hill are steep and they are running them hard, there will still be an accumulation of blood lactate. There will be local muscular fatigue in the leg muscles, and possibly in the abdominal muscles too, but the main limiting factor will be the athlete's cardiovascular system. These hills can be used in two ways:

as a hard aerobic training session during the pre-competition seasonas a hard time-trial session in the early part of the competition period

As these hill sessions are aerobic, the athlete will not use as much power per stride as the shorter hills, and so perhaps would not be used by middle-distance runners, except for one or two time-trial runs. They are particularly good for the cross country or road runner who are running distances of 5km and upwards. A session of, say eight three minutes, with a run back of four or five minutes will make a good hard workout.Mixed Hills

The attraction of mixed hill training is that it can be fitted in with the terrain that you are running on and can, therefore, be interesting and full of variety. Two advantages can come from this type of hill training:

Race simulation. It is a good principle to rehearse in training the situations they are likely to meet in a race, such as trying to break open a gap by running hard over the top of a hill and keeping the pace going instead of easing up, as many runners do.Downhill running. This is something that often causes jarring and strains. I do not advise doing repeated fast downhill runs, but I would suggest that they practice to find the most relaxed way of running downhill without strain

Mixed hill running can also be used to improve running economy and boost your VO2 max. (Volume of Oxygen uptake) To do this identify a two or five kilometre undulating hilly course, commence the session jogging at a modest pace and gradually pick up the intensity as you move through the hills. The key is not just to run up and down a few hills in your workout but to find a place where you can run up and down hills nearly constantly. If you cannot find a two or five kilometre course with constant undulations, use a shorter course and run back and forth on it. The key is not to let the flat ground running total more than 25% of the workout. During most of the run, your heart rate should be close to 85% of maximum (85% of maximum heart rate matches up with 76% VO2 max). Don’t blast up hills in the early part of the workout, this can stop you working though subsequent kilometres. The idea is to run constantly at a hard but not super fast speed. You should not feel like you are racing but as though you are running just slightly slower than lactate threshold, even if the actual pace is even slower than that. Alternatively, you can use heart rate, which should be at around 85% of maximum during at least the last two-thirds of their run. A run of two to five kilometres in this manner is enough for a great workout, but you can expand the session as much as you want with some additional hilly, but easier kilometres. If you plan in a mixed hill session once a week over 7 to 10km course, you will be amazed at how your running takes off.Rough Terrain

There are many advantages of combining hills and hard going e.g. sand. When the sand is soft, you have to work a lot harder, and increase your leg speed to keep yourself going. At the same time, there is a reduced risk of damaging your legs through impact injuries. In general, it has the same effect as hill running, but the distances can be reduced because of the difficulty. Other methods of building leg strength are running in boots, running through snow or running with a pack on your back. The tougher the session the more carefully it must be integrated into the overall training plan.Planning Hill Training

Once you are fit enough to train, hill running can form a regular part of the pre-competition build-up. To avoid monotony, a 12-week 'strength' program, based on a 14-day cycle, will provide the right build-up to a period of racing. Within the 14-day cycle, you would include one session of long hills, two of medium hills, plus a session of mixed terrain and hills. The harder and longer the hill session, the easier the training must be the next day, until the athlete's body has learnt to cope. As the competition approaches, you should drop the hills to once a week, making the other days a more race-specific sessions. The middle distance runner might drop the long hills, but keep the medium ones going until he/she starts the track training - even then, hills can be done once every two weeks to maintain strength. The runner who is trying to increase finishing speed might well want to keep the short hills going right through the early part of the track season. However, there must come a time when the main work becomes race-specific, and will be done on flat ground. There is one situation where a hilly course can be used in the track or road racing season, and that is in the time trials or tempo runs in the last couple of weeks before a major event. You may want to do something to see how fit you are and to test out your ability to push yourself. For a middle-distance runner, a grassy hill or a sand-dune course of, say, 1-km, is just the thing for a pre-race test. Running up a hill on a soft surface is much less damaging than doing, say, 1000m on a synthetic track, yet it gives all the pain and all the pleasure of a really hard work-out and that, after all, is what we are trying to achieve.Downhill Running

Many runners develop muscle soreness after strenuous workouts or races. (Research Muscle function after exercise induced muscle damage and rapid adaptation, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol 24 (5), pp 512-520 19922) has shown that the muscle pain and loss of strength can be minimized if runners undertake regular sessions of eccentric training. For runners this would involve downhill running, since downhill’s put the muscles in the front of the leg under intense eccentric duress. A single downhill session (6 to 10 downhill runs over 300 meters) on a 300 to 400 meter hill with an inclination of 10 to 15 degrees should provide protection against muscle pain and loss of strength for at least six weeks. More examples of Hill sessions With all hill sessions, it is important to warm up before and to cool down after the hill session - easy jog for 5 to 10 minutes followed by stretching exercises. Two sessions a week for six to eight weeks will improve your overall fitness and running speed. Session 1 (strength development)

Need a hill with a slope of approx. 10% and a length of 200 meters to 400 metersRun up at approx 5km pace with rapid stride rate and good knee liftRecovery jog back downStart with 2 sets of 4 repetitions and gradually increase over time

Session 2

Need a hill with a slope of approx 5% and a length of 1kmRun up at approx 10km pace with rapid stride rate and good knee liftRecovery jog back downStart with 3 or 4 repetitions and gradually increase over time

Session 3 (treadmill)

Treadmill at 3% inclineRun up at approx 10km pace for 3 minutes3 minute jog recoveryStart with 3 or 4 repetitions and gradually increase over time

Session 4 (treadmill)

Set treadmill pace to your 10km pace and with no breakRun for 5 minutes with a 4% inclineRun for 10 minutes with a 5% inclineRun for 10 minutes with a 6% inclineRun for 10 minutes with a 7% incline

Speed development over speed training can be achieved by running down a hill. The difficulty is finding a suitable hill with a safe surface.

Need a hill with a slope of approx 15° decline and a length of 100mRunning down use 40 meters to 60 meters to build up to full speed and then maintain the speed for a further 30 metersRecovery walk back upStart with 2 sets of 4 repetitions and gradually increase over time

Sometimes health advice gets preachy, especially the ‘eight glasses of water a day’ adage. Like, stop nagging already, right? But, it turns out there's major truth to this one. This transparent, tasteless liquid holds the key to your mood, cognition, cardiovascular output, and even your lifespan. So, what purpose does all that H20 really serve? And why are eight glasses so necessary? We dug into the fascinating biology of why water improves your heart, mind, and treadmill sprint. It's time to get down with viscosity. Dehydration makes you crabby & distracted. What are the signs and symptoms of dehydration? It's not just thirst. These two studies found dehydrated participants felt anxious and unfocused. The experiments measured vigilance, concentration, reaction time, learning, memory, and reasoning in both a hydrated and dehydrated state. The dehydrated participants experienced headaches, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, increased tension, and anxiety. Amazing, right? Imagine next time you're feeling annoyed or frazzled - you could just need a glass of water. What's more, the studies show that dehydration is not just a gym concern. Mild dehydration will sneak up on you over the course of a working day. The University of Connecticut reports, “The tests showed that it didn’t matter if a person had just walked for 40 minutes on a treadmill or was sitting at rest – the adverse effects from mild dehydration were the same.” The study's lead author, Lawrence E. Armstrong, said, “Staying properly hydrated is just as important for those who work all day at a computer as it is for marathon runners, who can lose up to 8 percent of their body weight as water when they compete.” Without adequate hydration, bodies can experience more muscle soreness, the need for longer recovery times and less desire to push oneself – in short, dehydration can make you feel less motivated to achieve at any activity. - TrueLemon.com Dehydration makes you physically weaker. If you don't properly hydrate, you're restricting one of the most precious resources to the heart: blood flow. That's gonna really going to stuff up your workout. Dehydration impairs your heart's performance in three ways:

Lowers your potential max - It reduces your “maximum cardiac output,” the highest pumping capacity your heart can achieve during exercise

Reduces blood volume - Dehydration decreases plasma volume. This leads to an increase in blood thickness (viscosity), which lowers the blood pressure in your veins. When your blood pressure is reduced, your heart doesn't have the "oomph" it needs to return blood into the ventricles. When you go hard on the cardio equipment, this reduced blood volume means your heart doesn't have the strength to “fill up” between heartbeats (known as the diastole phase in the cardiac cycle).That means you won't have the endurance or strength you normally do when fully hydrated. Heavy.