Newsletter December 2011

Newsletter December 2011

• Surviving Christmas – a fitness guide
• Closing times over Christmas
• New Year specials – free classes and special events.
• New Pilates class – anyone interested ?

 

Surviving Christmas

I’ve posted up an article written for a couple of local papers about limiting the damage from the Christmas onslaught. For a better, less guilt-addled Boxing Day go here.

 

 

 

Christmas Closing times

The Coach House will close on Saturday 24th December and re-open on Tuesday 4th January.

The last Spinning class at Coach House Fitness Express is Wednesday 21st December, classes start as usual on Monday 2nd January.

New Year Specials

We’ll be starting the New Year with a bang and some great events.

Spinning: not only will Jan be taking her usual class on Bank Holiday Monday, 2nd January, she’ll be giving you a chance to try and redress that festive calorie imbalance with a 1 hour special class. Usual time and price, 19.00, £6.

Contact Jan (01666 500 400) for details and to book.

The first Wednesday class of the year, the 4th, is a FREE CLASS ! All are welcome so bring a friend -  just let us know you’re coming.

Contact Mike (01666 500 400)for details and to book.

ENDURANCE CLASS Saturday 7th, 13.00. This is a 90-minute special, twice as long as the usual session. Definitely a chance for the stronger riders to top 1000 calories and certainly not a class for the novice. As well as the usual class format I’ll be throwing in some race-specific training featured in recent sessions.

Contact Mike (01666 500 400) for details and to book.

MMA Fitness

Liam’s so keen for everybody to experience just how fun and effective this Mixed Martial Arts-style fitness class is that his first class of 2012 is FREE ! Just let him know you’re coming and a bring a friend.

Thursday 5th January at 18.30.

Contact Liam (01666 500 400)

 

 

 

 

 

New Pilates Class ?

We have a new Pilates teacher at the Coach House, the ever-buzzing Lottie who has already gone down a storm with existing classes. She’s keen to do a Thursday early evening class so we’d like to hear from anyone who might be interested in this.

Contact Mike (01666 500 400) for details.

Surviving Christmas

Aside from the obvious religious significance, Christmas in the past has been thought of as a staging post to get us through winter, a chance to re-stock and prepare for the rigours of another batch of cold, grey months. Or ‘Summer’ as we have come to call it – the panto season starts here, folks.

He does exist but probably wishes he didn't.

Our survival instinct aids and abets this, prompting us to eat enough to store currently unneeded energy as fat, just in case of unexpected famine. This is one of the obstacles to weight control: gaining weight feels good, losing it doesn’t.

Short of some sort of Anti-Consumerist War on Supermarkets we’re unlikely to go without this winter. As most of us live in an age of a super-abundance of food, from a nutritional point of view we don’t really need Christmas, as I often tell my sobbing children.

So then, a few tips to survive the calorie Tsunami heading your way.

Don’t attempt to eat all the food presented to you. Of all seasons this is the one when you are not going to starve – there will probably be more food around later. Don’t change the way you eat because you can.

Drink plenty of water. This works particularly well if you do it right before eating since it reduces your appetite by tricking your stomach into thinking it has something to work with. It will also limit the dehydrating effect of alcohol. Speaking of which,

Alcohol stimulates hunger, as every successful kebab shop owner will tell you, so drink no alcohol whatsoever. Well, back in the real world be aware that this is happening and that an hour after you’ve finished a meal the size of an aircraft hangar it’s the booze telling you you want to eat not your overworked digestive system. For every alcoholic drink have a glass of water.

Exercise before your big meal. Get your metabolism fired up so that you actually need some food, not just want it. If you are a regular exerciser a Christmas morning workout, run or ride will reduce the calorific overload heading your way a little. The shorter the session, the sharper it should be. If you are not a regular exerciser it’s not a good day to start but even a walk – as stiff as you can manage – will have some positive effect. I am aware that for readers who have to spend Christmas Day locked in a kitchen resembling a Victorian workhouse factory this suggestion of idling some time away with exercise may go down as well as undercooked turkey.

Christmas dinner preparation in the Edwards household

How you eat your Christmas meal will affect your calorie intake. If you eat vegetables first you get some of the best nutrition in early, plus the fibrous nature of them will make you feel fuller sooner. Similarly, the fattier foods will send early signals that you have eaten enough. Carbohydrates like potatoes however, can take up to 20 minutes of digestion to register.

Should it all go wrong and you find yourself making the most of all the things you know you shouldn’t remember the idea of balance: for the extra calories you take in now you will have to expend extra later.

And thus a fitness marketing campaign was born. Happy Christmas !