Fitness with Georgina Bell

EXERCISE

Georgina Bell, Fitness Trainer and Les Mills instructor

One of the most overlooked aspects of exercise is stretching after a strenuous workout. Stretching tired and sore muscles after a workout is essential as it enhances flexibility and reduces muscle tension after a workout. Stretching should be a part of your well-balanced workout routine, given the same importance as strength and cardiovascular training. We always carry out a warm up to loosen joints and then spend 5-10 minutes after each workout class on stretches. The benefits of stretching before a workout are obviously injury prevention. When you stretch after a workout, you benefit from both physiological and psychological effects.

Benefits of Post Workout Stretches: Increased Flexibility

One of the foremost benefits of stretching is increased and enhanced flexibility of the different muscle groups. It helps constricted and contracted muscles release back to their more comfortable state and your body will eventually become more flexible, which can help prevent injuries With consistent post -workout stretching, the body becomes more flexible. You will find it easier to bend, stand, squat and do a host of other flexibility related exercises, which would have otherwise not been possible. It has been seen that leg stretches done after a long run increases muscular power and endurance especially for runners.

Improved Blood

circulation When you indulge in an intense workout, the body pumps blood faster to the heart making it beat at a rapid rate. Stretching allows the body to cool down and also helps the heart beat to return to normalcy. The release of lactic acid during an intense workout is broken with stretching. This allows muscle recovery and repair. The blood circulation to the muscles is once again resumed with stretching. This also allows the heart rate to come back to its original resting rate.

Eliminates Lactic Acid

The moment you workout muscles, the body produces lactic acid which makes the muscles fatigued and sore. Hence, it is important to stretch as stretching eliminates the lactic acid that has accumulated inside the body and also relaxes the muscles.

Boost your energy

If you stretch properly, you’ll likely notice that your energy level is steady and consistent. When the body cools down, the brain releases endorphins, a natural and healthy feel-good chemical. After a good post-workout stretch, you’ll be energized and ready to meet any challenge.

LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE How your fridge temperature can help save the planet

For food’s sake – stay cool!

The ultimate heartbreak: going to put milk in your tea and finding it’s gone off. For a nation of tea (and coffee!) lovers, there’s nothing worse than having your brew ruined by sour milk. And it might shock you to hear that, in our homes, we waste the equivalent of 3.1 million glasses of milk every single day! The main reason? We simply don’t use it in time.

Luckily, there is a quick and easy thing we can all do to keep our milk fresher for a little longer, as well as all our other chilled foods.

All you need to do is chill the fridge out! Food survives at under 5.

When was the last time you checked your fridge temperature? It’s not number one on most people’s to-do lists, but it can prevent food from being wasted – saving you money as well! Less than half of UK adults know the best temperature to keep the fridge at, so at Love Food Hate Waste we’re on a mission to help you all keep your cool. Millions of UK fridges are set too warm for all of our fresh foods. Dialling down to below 5⁰C means your food stays safe and fresher for longer, giving you more time to enjoy your milk, veggies, yoghurts, apples, smoothies, cream cakes, and tomatoes.

One of the main reasons why we waste food is because we don’t use it in time. Making this small but simple change can extend the life of your food by stopping it spoiling too quickly! Many of us also keep some foods at room temperature, when they will actually last longer in the fridge. Apples and tomatoes are key examples – these both last longer when they are nice and chilled! Just remember to bring your tomatoes out a few minutes before eating to enjoy them at their best. Our food storage A–Z has plenty of information on where’s best for all your different foods. Not sure how to check or adjust your fridge thermometer? You’re in luck – we can help! Our handy Chill The Fridge Out tool can show you how to master your fridge temperature in seconds. Good for your pocket and the planet. Checking and changing your fridge temperature to below 5°C – and storing everything in the fridge that should be in there – could stop up to 70,000 tonnes of food from ending up in the bin every year. But it’s not just the food you’ll be saving. Those 70,000 tonnes of food are worth £160 million, meaning every household has money to save by chilling the fridge out!

On top of that, saving all this food from the bin would stop roughly 270,000 tonnes of C02e being emitted every year. So, by keeping an eye on your fridge temperature, you’re really taking action against climate change. Globally, wasting food creates six times more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation, so wasting less by keeping your fridge cool is a big positive act for the planet. But, does running your fridge at a lower temperature have an impact on energy use, which could be just as bad for the planet? According to our research, it’s actually still a good move, so long as all your fruits and veggies are stored correctly. The reduction in food waste and emissions from chilling your fridge out – and perfecting your food storage game! – more than offsets any increase in energy and emissions.

Saving money and doing your bit for the planet – win-win!

Relevant stats:

• UK homes waste the equivalent of 3.1 million glasses of milk every day. • 290,000 tonnes of milk are wasted in homes every year – mostly because it’s not used in time.

• Millions of UK fridges are at least 2C too warm, milk will last three days longer if kept at 4C.

• Lowering your fridge temperature to 4C is estimated to save 70,000 tonnes of food from being wasted – this is worth £160m, and generates roughly 270,000 tonnes of C02 emissions annually. • 4.5 million tonnes of edible food is wasted every year in

UK homes. (We generate 6.6 million tonnes of food waste.) • Only 48% of UK adults know that apples will last longer in the fridge than at room temperature, and only 45% know that their fridge should be kept to under 5C.

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Keeping your fridge at under 5C: • Prevents food going in the bin – food stays safe and fresher for longer! • Saves money by helping you waste less food.

• Is an easy thing we can all do to prevent climate change. Not sure how? Love Food Hate Waste can help you check and change your fridge temperature. 23