We are all of course aware of the physical benefits that exercise provides us with. It tones up your limbs, strengthens your core, aids in keeping your heart strong, and can add years onto your life. But what about the benefits of exercise on how you feel, your brain development and overall health?

Eat more leafy greens

Leafy greens like spinach and kale are already known to be packed full of essential nutrients like iron, vitamin A, vitamin K and magnesium, but they’re also a rich source of folate, which helps the body to produce feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

Our bodies need to be fueled correctly in order to function to the best of their ability when working out. Consuming the right foods and fluids before and after you exercise is crucial to get the best out of your exercise.

Yoga can reduce cortisol

Cortisol is the body’s primary “stress hormone”. It not only contributes to those familiar, unwelcome feelings of stress and anxiety, it also promotes the breakdown of tissue around the body, including muscle. When cortisol levels are chronically high, you can expect to feel terrible, and struggle immensely trying to gain mass.

Here are six food swaps to help make your next barbecue a bit lighter and kinder on your waistline.

Balancing college and finding time for the gym can often be very difficult. Many of you might have part-time work to throw into the mix, making it a whole lot harder to manage it all. With these priorities at hand, we get it, it's easy to let go of looking after your fitness and health. Before you know it, your energy levels are down and you're finding that running isn't as easy as you remember, leaving you to wish there was a way to juggle it all.

WHAT IS STRENGTH TRAINING?
Strength training is a type of resistance training that involves lifting weights in order to build muscle strength and size.

EXERCISE RELEASES HAPPY HORMONES

As you work out, different chemicals get released into your body; one example of these is endorphins, which are produced by the central nervous system. These work with the opiate receptors in the brain to reduce the sensation of pain and provide a boost of positivity and pleasure. This can lead to a feeling of post-workout euphoria that’s a natural and healthy way to feel good.

Aside from physical changes, there are major mental benefits to exercising. As we age and become more sedentary, our cogitative ability is negatively affected, so you can start to see things such as mental reasoning, memory and thinking start to decline. By keeping active, you can help ward off some of these symptoms and also alleviate symptoms of depression which is all the reason to get moving, no matter what age you are.

Whether you’re wine tasting in Italy or sampling the local delicacies in France, most holidays involve major food indulgences. There’s almost an unwritten rule that when you’re away from home, there’s a no-holds-barred mindset where all healthy eating habits are thrown out of the window.

 As the days get shorter, the evenings get darker, and the weather gets chillier, heading outside for a jog isn't quite so appealing, is it?! 

There’s no getting around the fact that for some of us the gym can feel like an intimidating place when you’re first starting out. Our latest research shows that 50% of non-gym members say they find the idea of going to the gym scary, with one in five saying they would find it very scary. But don't worry, because we have found the best ways of overcoming this.

Body composition will change as you age.

The first thing to understand is that weight gain really does seem to be a natural part of the ageing process, with various research confirming the trend. One 2014 cross-sectional study1 of Czech women found, for example, that body fat mass increased with age, and that even when lean body mass (think “muscle”) decreased with age, weight gain still occurred due to the increased fat gain.

Successful muscle definition isn’t the result of luck or magic, but rather the culmination of hard-work and dedication to training and nutrition. Training alone will not result in muscle definition so it's important to keep your diet in check.

Ready to return to weight training after a long break? Getting back into lifting after a while away from the gym? Here's a guide to help you plan your return to the gym safely and effectively, so you can get your strength and fitness back.

They are high in fibre which improves digestive function and bulks up the stool to make bowels more regular

When we think of exercise we often think of all-out, high intensity running, cycling or sports and aerobics. But it might surprise you to learn that one of the most effective ways to safely condition your body is by practicing Pilates.

Get on the front foot with your children’s eating habits and start to pave the way. Healthy eating is a skill that must be taught. They’ve got to learn it from us.

If you’re a little bit unsure as to where to start, here are the four ‘P’s  for raising healthy kids and toddlers:

There are many schools of thought when it comes to the term ‘sweat it out’. 

The goal of your post workout “meal” is to replace your glycogen stores and digest some protein to help repair your muscles. This should be done as soon as possible and as shakes are much faster to digest and prepare than whole foods they tend to be the preferred option.