Early Bird Classes

Posted on 10/14/2011 by clubchf

Do you lack energy and motivation during your working day? CHF fitness instructor Caroline has just the answer for you…

Exercise at 6:15 in the morning…..really????

If like me you are not a morning person and the thought of getting out of bed at silly o’clock to exercise fills you with dread, read on to uncover why I am now actually an advocate of early morning activity!

For most people the idea of exercising first thing in the morning is not something you would happily chose, however studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity! This is a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends; therefore exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you’re snoozing.

We all know that after a workout you feel energised and full of oomph so why not make the most of that feeling first thing in the morning?! Leave that sluggish start to the day behind you and reap the benefits of increased energy levels during the day.

Invariably people work harder when in a class; you get caught up in the atmosphere and feed off other people’s energy, so effectively you are getting more from your workout.

Exercising first thing in the morning is the most foolproof way to ensure that other things don’t overtake your fitness commitment, particularly if you have a hectic work or family life. It’s so easy to get home at the end of a long day and wimp out of getting yourself down to the gym, especially if you’re tired or faced with the tasks of making dinner, helping with homework etc.

Make the decision to join in one of our ‘Early Bird’ classes and end your working day knowing that you can get home and stay there and not face that internal battle of ‘shall I go to the gym or shall I stay right here and relax?’

Early Bird Classes at CHF
Monday – 06.30 to 07.15 – Early Bird Spin
Tuesday – 06.15 to 07.00 – Early Bird Spin
Wednesday – 06.15 to 07.00 – Early Bird Killer Circuits
Thursday – 06.15 to 07.15 – Early Bird Pump
Friday – 06.15 to 07.00 – Early Bird Box Fit

Exercise of the Month – Press Up

Posted on 10/10/2011 by clubchf

Why do press ups?
The press up isn’t just a chest, shoulders and triceps exercise, it’s a whole lot more. It’s quite possibly one of the most undervalued exercises that you’re ever likely to come across. Literally every muscle in your body, from your toes to your upper back is activated to stabilise your whole body. In principle, the press up is a simple movement; lie on the floor and push yourself up off it! In practise, there are so many variations that make it the most diverse upper body exercise that you’re ever likely to encounter. Whether you’re looking to build muscle mass, increase posture, improve endurance, core strength or just looking for a party trick (Nothing impresses a crowd more than doing press ups with a friend on your back!), there’s a press up variation for you.

So how do you do them?
As above, there are hundreds of press up variations (Ask a member of the gym team for information), but I’ll start with explaining how to do basic, bread and butter press ups:

Start the movement by getting into a prone position with your hands underneath your shoulders, legs straight, bracing the abs and squeezing the glutes as if you’re trying to crush an apple between your buttocks.
Under control, breathe in, lower your chest to the floor and squeeze the upper back muscles as you go down.
Pause briefly and push the floor away from you, breathing out as you push.
Reset back to the first step and repeat.

If you’d like any advice on how to include the ‘exercise of the month’ into your workout routine just ask a member of the Club CHF fitness team.

Don’t forget to check out our fantastic offers on personal training with our in-house personal trainers. ‘Fast Track Your Fitness’ – 1 hour sessions from as little as £20!

Squash Weekend at Club CHF

Posted on 09/12/2011 by clubchf

We are happy to report that the tournament went very well! A few surprise results and many great quality matches at all stages of the competition.

Well done to the Winners:

Main Draw Winner: Jack Turnell

Main Competition Runner Up (Eric Garson) & Winner (Jack Turnell)

Runner Up: Eric Garson

Plate Winner: Sarah Parr

Runner Up: Rak Bhandari

More photos on Facebook.

A special thanks to our tireless organisation team & staff at the Club for working together to make the event run so smoothly.

Thanks to Luc Gojnic for the coaching taster sessions provided for many grateful players.

Thanks to Rick Weatherall & Stuart Milton for showcasing their talents & expertise in a hard fought exhibition match enjoyed by many.

In case you missed the final or exhibition matches you can see some of the action on You Tube.

Look out for the next competition – pencilled in for the end of January 2012. Get your match practice by registering on the in-house leagues if you haven’t already!

We have a Club Team Squad training match organised on Thursday 15th September from 7.30pm till late – in preparation for the winter season starting on the 22^nd. Good luck to our four Club Teams. All are welcome to come along and support.

The squash court refurbishment will be completed on Thursday 15th September so all booking will be back to normal. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Social Squash will be running from 2.30PM every Sunday so if you fancy a hit then come on down!

See you at the club.

Daniel Newman

Junior Pilates Classes

Posted on 09/01/2011 by clubchf

From the beginning of September Pilates instructor Julie will be introducing a Junior Pilates class to Club CHF for 11 – 16 year olds. Pilates classes for teens are becoming increasingly popular as teens are more aware than ever before about keeping fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Pilates can help increase strength and flexibility in core muscles and teach young people how the body works and feels, helping to build confidence and body awareness.

Junior Pilates is a great way to maintain over all fitness into adulthood by helping to improve:

Posture

Pilates helps to improve posture and strengthen surrounding muscles. Correct posture will reduce the likelihood of suffering in later life from problems in the back, knees, and neck and shoulders.

Co ordination & Breathing

Pilates focuses on the breathing, helping to keep the core muscles pulled in when performing the exercises. Focused breathing will make you more bodily aware so the movements are fluid and controlled and whilst some movements can be difficult a strong centre helps to perform the exercises correctly.

With practice this internal focus becomes second nature and can be applied in every day life not just in the class situation. The class can help to relax participants giving way to the overall sense of well-being regular sessions bring about.

Core Strength

The internal effort used to engage the core muscles of the pelvis, abdominal and back is used to create the flat stomach, defined waist and to aid correct posture.

Junior Pilates starts from 6^th September for 11-16 year olds.

Tuesday evenings 5pm to 6pm – £7.50 per person

To book a place please call us 0118 948 48 49

Fun and friendships at CHF Kids

Posted on 06/14/2011 by clubchf

We’ve had an excellent past month in the soft play & crèche….Bob the builder and his friends Laura and Tina have been busy with their tools… a new bumpy entrance has been added providing an excellent way up for the dinky ones, generous grey grandads and expectant mums. In addition soft cubes under our soft ball guns give a boost to those who need it as well as extra steps making life a little easier.

Face painting has remained popular with our regulars and some lucky wanders in. You may have seen snow and heart princesses tip toeing along the corridor and even beautiful butterflies fluttering around celebrating the sun shine. Its been (nice) to see our little dribblers, a few who have been away with bugs, back on form and giggling away…and there’s nothing quite as heart-warming as seeing their little gummy smiles appear when they recognise you or when two baby buddies hold hands…aaaawwwww.

Hopefully we will be able to put a few pictures up soon. Sharing is very important in CHF soft play and creche especially when we have so many exciting toys like cars, trains, buggies, and shopping to play with. Laura and I are very proud of our little creche cubs who have been practicing the art of sharing and it has now lead to beautiful friendships. At CHF kids we really enjoy and value talking to the mums and dads that come in for soft play. Not only is it great for the children to socialise with other children, we often find our confident creche cubs guiding the newcomers round the soft play off on their own little adventures. Many parents are surprised at how self-assured their little ones become when they take a back seat to our preschool tour guides.

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind parents that our creche caters for non-members as well as our treasured members. For those who like to come in and explore as much as their little ones we have water dispensers to quench your thirst along with a variety of hot and cold drinks (including freshly ground coffee), soft sofas for when your body finally gives in, along with magazines/ newspapers and FREE WI-FI for you techno dads. If anyone is unsure of our opening times or access during public holidays we encourage you to ring in on 0118 948 4849 and book or check www.clubchf.co.uk for updates.

Bye for now

Tina (Creche Manager)

Beach Ready Summer Circuits

Posted on 05/27/2011 by clubchf

For some, summer conjures up thoughts hot sticky days and lazy warm summer evenings, relaxing times with lots of happiness and laughter. With summer 2011 just around the corner, I’m sure there are lots of you getting excited about planning your beach holiday, purchasing your new summer wardrobe and buying some fabulous new beachwear!

Yet for others, the thought of summer brings on nothing but stress and the whole “showing that little bit of extra flesh” can be quite daunting. I believe the main trigger for this is linked to how we view ourselves, internally and externally. How confident are we with the way we look? But, most importantly, it could just simply be that you just don’t feel “beach ready” and this is where I can help.

Every Saturday morning, throughout the summer months, I’ll be at Caversham Health and Fitness teaching a “Beach Ready S ummer Circuits” class. This is a class specifically designed to get your body beach ready. The most important way to achieve this beach ready body is by changing your workout routine, this will prevent that weight loss plateau we all suffer from. Beach Ready Summer Circuits is one hour long and designed to help you reach your goals and target those problem areas. But, I’m a great believer in making my classes entertaining, hard work yet fun, as well as being a support for you to understand your needs and your own personal goals.

Circuit training is a total body workout that involves performing a series of different exercises for a set amount of time. With a mixture of both strength, and cardiovascular exercises, you can realise the benefits from both types of training.

The benefits of circuit training are:

Adapted to all fitness levels
Total overall body sculpting
Faster metabolism – resulting in more calories burned each day
Increased muscular strength
Increased cardiovascular fitness levels
Time efficient
Very sociable
Brilliant fun with lots of smiles, entertainment and laughter

Adding cardiovascular exercises between strength training, rather than resting, increases lean body mass (less fat = more lean muscle) which in turn creates a higher resting metabolism. This means that more calories are burned each day.

With the quick pace of the class, the constantly changing exercises, and a stress placed on the body, which is totally unique to circuit training, this is like no other training programme.

It is really important to remember that a circuits class can be personalised to your fitness levels. Whether you are a beginner or an athlete, it is adaptable on all levels.

For circuit class times see the CHF studio timetable

I hope to see you in the class soon.

Natalie Dance
CHF Instructor

Lunch Fit Zumba with Sophia

Posted on 05/20/2011 by clubchf

Zumba is the latest fitness trend sweeping the nation. It fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms, music and easy to follow dance moves to create a dynamic dance fitness programme that will blow you away!

So with two fabulous new Zumba instructors at CHF I thought it was about time I gave the ‘Lunch Fit’ class a go! I popped in before the class got underway to meet bubbly Zumba instructor, Sophia, to find out a little bit about her and the class.

Sophia what is your background in dance or fitness?
I’m actually a performing actress, and qualified from The Arts Education School London. I’ve preformed in some well known West End shows such as; Fame, Footloose, and in Richard Bean’s play, ‘England People Very Nice’ at The National Theatre.
I’ve recently choreographed a Christmas production of Glee at Reading Town Hall, and I also teach a weekly kids dance class.

..So how did you get into teaching Zumba?
I attended a Zumba class, and knew it’d be something I’d like to teach – as it was so much fun. My instructor at the time was very helpful and prompted me in the right direction for the training course.

How long have you been teaching Zumba?
I’ve been teaching Zumba since the end of January. I qualified from my Zumba training course in October last year. I wanted to be fully prepared for when I started teaching classes and have put lots of preparation into the choreography.

What are the benefits of Zumba?
Zumba works every single bit of the body from head to toe, even muscles you didn’t even realise you had will be worked!!! It is a full body workout cardio and toning. The tracks are sometimes designed to work specific areas at one time and others are there to work everything. The benefits are the same as any exercise or sport, getting the heart rate pumping and the body moving at an intense rate, strengthens the muscles and bones.

Why should you come to a Zumba class?
People should come to Zumba because like all other fitness regimes it’s fantastic for your physical health, the level of exercise in a Zumba class is so high and you can burn up to 1000 calories and tone up all at the same time. The beauty of Zumba is that as well as benefiting you physically, emotionally it uplifts you and you will always leave feeling liberated. It works your brain as far as co-ordination and picking up steps is concerned but the music and party atmosphere is fantastic for simply lifting your spirits and opening your mind and soul to music and dance from all over the world.

What’s your favorite Zumba dance / move?
I love every part of music and moves when it comes to Zumba they are all so different and all so beautifully created it will be difficult to choose just one. But if I really had too it would have to be a good Reggaeton or African beat. You can’t beat a good strong drum sound when you’re working out!

Thank you Sophia!
—–

I loved Sophia’s Zumba class and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to have fun at the same time as getting an extremely good workout! Sophia was an excellent teacher, and really got the class motivated. I’ve been to Zumba classes in the past and found some of the dances and steps hard to follow, but I found Sophia’s easy to pick up. She broke down harder steps and dances, making it easy for people of all abilities to follow – everyone picked them up quickly!

Sophia was right, it really uplifted me; it’s just what you need to get rid of that mid-day tiredness slump! I highly recommend Zumba Lunch Fit to anyone who wants to give their afternoon at work a little boost!

See the Studio Timetable on the CHF website for more Zumba class times. Also check out the other 30 minute Lunch Fit workouts, designed to fit into busy lives.

For a limited period CHF is offering a free crèche to anyone who uses the Lunch Fit classes. Enjoy your workout while we take care of your kids!

Catherine, CHF Marketing

Caversham Health & Fitness

Fitness and wellbeing for the Caversham and Reading community