Exercise Tip of the Week

The squat is, perhaps, the single best exercise for leg strength and development. Squats are multi-joint exercises which significantly strengthens the muscles responsible for knee and hip extension: quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as the smaller stabilizing muscles such as the torso musculature. It has benefits not just for your strength, but for balance, confidence, daily-life strength, cardiovascular capacity, and active flexibility.

Problem is, the squat is often taught incorrectly, and it's stigmatised as difficult and dangerous. People warn that it is bad for your knees and back (probably the worst myth of all), inappropriate for beginners, too hard to learn, blah blah. People who know nothing about a topic, especially a very technical one, that requires specific training, knowledge, and experience, are not due an opinion about that topic and are better served by being quiet when it is asked about or discussed.

Few people can do a perfect squat on the first try, or even the first several tries. Learning the basics of a squat is relatively simple, but perfecting the technique takes time and practice. Technique must always take precedence over weight. Don't be scared of adding weight once you get the hang of things, but never add weight that you can't handle. Don't cut the depth to be able to add more weight, either.

Using the squat has numerous practical applications in daily life: picking up a child, bags of groceries, manual labour in the garden etc. It's also great for anyone wanting to add more functionality into their lives because it mimics the movements we do each time we sit down or
stand up.

Make way for the treadmill toddlers

The Telegraph prints a large picture of three young children working out in a classroom gym at Torryburn Nursery in Fife. The gym includes a treadmill, an exercise bike and an air walker. About 50 pupils aged three and four have apparently been regularly using the nursery gym over the past month. Staff bought head bands, towels and wrists bands to encourage the class to exercise.

Do you think this is a step too far?

As a personal trainer I believe this is not the right direction to be taking for children of 3 and 4 years old, there are so many other options to keep fit and healthy. I can understand the concerns associated with infant obesity, but should we be getting them to exercise within a gym environment using equipment such as treadmills, air walkers etc.

The GP who knows when I’ll die

A GP who has devised a computer program that can predict when people will die. He uses data such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking habits and medical history to make predictions. By next year he will have refined the model to include stress, family history, weight, exercise and ethnicity. Following a prediction the GP hands a patient a graph showing how ‘lifestyle changes’ could extend life. He also points out that moderate cardiovascular exercise can increase lifespan by two to four years.

What do you think?

Have your say...

Young Olympians Boost 2012 Hopes

Britain's success at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney has been hailed as very encouraging for Team GB's chances at London 2012. Team GB won 13 gold medals, 20 silvers and 14 bronzes during the four days.

British Olympic Association chief Simon Clegg said: "It was a tremendously positive experience and they performed exceptionally well."

One of the most encouraging things was that the team did well in sports like taekwondo and gymnastics. Mark England, the head of Team GB in Sydney, said: "The fact Team GB achieved a position on the medal podium in all 10 Olympic sports in which we competed shows the depth of quality and talent that exists across the board at this age group."