RUNNING Into the New Year

Fitness columnist Lauren Green gives her advice on the benefits of starting and loving running.

Last year I fell in love with running. Running has really helped me physically and mentally and I wanted to find a way to share what running has done for me with others, other women who have never run before, women who don’t know where to start, women who don’t have the confidence to run alone.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RUNNING? HEALTH

• improves your cardiovascular health

• increases fitness levels

• can help to maintain a healthy weight

• strengthen muscles

• improves sleep

MENTAL HEALTH

• Helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

• Releasing endorphins, which will make you feel happy and improve your mood.

• Regular exercise will help to improve your confidence.

• Being Outdoors - being outdoors improves mood, reducesstress and helps us to practice gratitude.

GOAL SETTING By setting yourself mini goals and working hard to achieve them, you will build in strength and confidence, physically and mentally.When you set yourself goals and leaving your comfort zone, you are pushing your mind and body to do things unfamiliar, you are challenging yourself. By continually challenging yourself, you are continually improving yourself.

HERE’S MY TOP TIPS FOR RUNNING IN THE WINTER

1. Layer up - sports bra, base layer, body warmer or jacket.

2. Extras - gloves, hat/ear warmer, snood, (when you get warm you can always put these in your pocket)

3. Footwear - make sure your trainers have plenty of grip to prevent you from slipping.

4. Wear an extra pair of socks, make sure they cover your ankles.

5. Company - if possible, run with others. Running in numbers is so much safer for women and also having someone to chat to keeps your mind off how cold it is

6. Most importantly STAY SAFE & HAVE FUN

My Tips To Stay Safe Whilst Running

As women we must stay safe whilst running especially with mornings and evenings being dark throughout the winter.

Here Are My Tips To Stay Safe

• Let your friends/ family know when you are out running and what your route is.

• Use tracking on your phone (GPS)

• Stick to a route where there are a lot of people.

• Run with a friend/ group.

• invest in a safety alarm.

• Avoid running extremely early/ late.

• Take your dog out with you.

• Wear only one earphone or keep music low www.empoweredfitplan.com @empoweredwomenfitness

The body achieves what the mind believes - if you think you can’t! You can’t! And if you think you can, you can!