Just the other day I had a dietary epiphany! Something that I had been ignoring for so long has now become a central part to my daily food intake – Chillies! Ok, what’s so great about chillies, well they’re hot, but in addition: -

1. Increase your metabolism – Chillies have a thermogenic compound which increases the metabolism and thus helps burn fat. Tests have shown it to increase the metabolism by 23% for up to 3 hours after consumption.

2. Lowers Cholesterol – Recent tests have shown that Chillies also decrease cholesterol levels, though I’m not sure by how much so don’t stop exercising just yet!

3. Decreases Blood Sugar levels – Apparently research in 2006 suggests that after eating chillies, the amount of insulin required to lower the body’s blood sugar level after a meal was reduced by 60%.

Ok, what else...how about....

4. Reduces the spreading of stomach cancer;
5. Reduces the risk of prostrate cancer;
6. Clears a blocked nose.

Oh and let’s not forget that capsaicin, the active component in chillies is the active ingredient in pepper spray..so many wonderful benefits...

Back to haunt us....

Last nights' Kettlebell Class was a real eye-opener for me. We had a small class, and of the class 2 of those in attendance had seriously inhibited hip flexibility - this translated into an inability to maintain a straight back (as opposed to upright) during the Kettlebell Swing. As a means to try and increase their awareness of where their back was at, so to speak, I had them do squats facing and as close to a wall as they could. Both of the pupils also had weak abductors and this was extremely evident from the manner in which their knees tended to collapse inwards during the downward phase of the squat.

I sent them both home after the class with some homework to complete before the next class, chiefly consisting of lots of wall squats!

Anyway the above led me to consider that probably 70-75% of the irish nation cannot maintain a straight back if required, certainly not in a situation where they are flexing from the hips! So that rules out sitting down, picking up the shopping, driving etc. everytime somebody with poor back posture does any of these they are compounding their problem and making it worse! It truly boggles the mind that we would let this happen to us.

So how do we resolve this? Well, by becoming more aware of our back, and what it is doing as we go about are day to day lives, sounds ridiculous I know, and worse it's something which doesn't come naturally. Certainly in my own experience it was through introduction to deadlifts and squats that I became more aware of the importance of our hips and backs in day to day life and also more conscious of the position my back was in. Since I have discovered Kettlebells I have found my posture has not only improved dramatically but also my back strength and my hip flexibility and it just keeps getting better!

So, if you're reading this with a sore lower back, what are you waiting for?

GET KETTLEBELLING! (under instruction of course!!)

Road to Nowhere

Every evening I see the same old thing - walking. Women walking. Lots and lots of women walking. All shapes and sizes, some accompanied by husbands, friends and dogs, chatting away amiably as they go for their stroll. Walking seems great - increase the heart rate (a little) burn away some fat, maybe swing your arms while your at it, or even - use nordic walking sticks!

Anyone who is walking to lose weight or to tone their flabby body is wasting their time! Well OK maybe at the beginning of an exercise regime, if the participant has never exercised in their life then walking is a nice gentle start - however once the weight starts to drop away at the start the walker will relatively quickly reach a plateau which can only be crossed by changing the type, intensity and length of the work-out.

Now consider that most of the women in Ireland today who are walking have been doing so for some time, are they healthy? Certainly they may have a reasonable level of cardiovascular fitness, how about functional fitness? Can they lift their shopping of the ground correctly, can they get off the couch easily, run up stairs, climb a gate/wall/fence, play with their children/grandchildren without tiring out? POSSIBLY NOT!

One great way of increasing ones functional fitness, and when I say functional I mean the ability to carry out and live our everyday lives without physical impingement, is Kettlebell Training. Kettlebells focus on our core strength specifically the Posterior Chain, however there are also many moves which utilise not just the core but the whole body as a unit, anybody using Kettlebells will see significant fitness gains.

The fear which many women seem to have of Kettlebells is totally unfounded, as anyone reading this will know. This fear is partly fuelled by a media which is in one part obsessed with skinniness but on another level is all to quick to imply that women who use weights such as Kettlbells are overtly muscular and unfeminine, whereas generally this is far removed from the truth.

Women who use Kettlebells benefit from the following: -

• Increased lean muscle mass - though not excessive, remember women have 10% the amount of testosterone that men have!
• Decreased fatty tissue - after a while walking can actually lead to storage of fatty tissue!
• Increased flexibility!
• Increased levels of mobility.
• Increase in Strength, power, speed & endurance!

See how I put 4 benefits in the last bullet point, they are all terms which frighten off women.#

I don't know why!