Britain’s remarkable year of sporting success is celebrated in the New Year’s Honours list which is dominated by medal winners from the Beijing Olympics.
But in addition to Olympians like Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington and Eleanor Simmons, comes recognition for some of Britain’s unsung sporting heroes.
These include coaches, administrators and the people who work tirelessly at grass roots level encouraging and nurturing young talent and without whom those famous sports stars could not have achieved greatness.
Some of them are ex-sportsmen and women who have used their experience to put something back into sport whilst others are largely anonymous outside of their own institutions or communities.
After the Christmas ‘blowout’ comes the guilt and the realisation that the price to pay for too many mince pies and glasses of wine is extra inches on the waistline and extra pounds on the scales.
The answer for many people will be a new year’s resolution to get fit and that often means a subscription to a local gym. But before rushing to sign on the dotted line there are a few things that are worth considering.
Selecting the correct gym is as important for the gym itself as it is for the prospective member. The Gym Manager should be keen to ensure that members are satisfied with the services and equipment on offer and enjoy the experience of their visits – a happy member is more likely to be a long term member!
A NatWest TV advertising campaign which focuses on the cost-saving benefits of giving up gym membership in favour of ‘running down the street’, has been withdrawn following lobbying by the fitness industry’s trade organisation, the FIA
The Fitness Industry Association argued that the initiative “Money Sense” portrayed an incorrect impression of the cost and usage of gym membership and constituted a damaging attack to the fitness industry.
With over seven million members and 5700 facilities, the fitness industry contributes enormously to the level of physical activity in the UK by providing one million people every day with the safe facilities and professional service which allows them to be active.
In the context that obesity and lifestyle related diseases are estimated to cost UK Plc £50 billion by 2050, NatWest’s approach was branded by the FIA as being thoroughly irresponsible.
The global economic downturn has wiped at least £250m from the leading British universities’ endowment funds, a Guardian survey has revealed.
The universities of Cambridge and Oxford, whose endowments were valued at £907m and £680m respectively in July, are understood to be the biggest losers. Cambridge’s fund plummeted £84m in the year up to July – before the credit crunch began to really bite – prompting fears that the worst is yet to come.
The plunging value of the funds comes as universities face unprecedented hikes in their wage and fuel bills alongside squeezed public funding. One senior vice-chancellor warned that the cutback in government spending on universities would be the worst in 25 years.
The survey of the 20 members of the Russell group of research-intensive universities showed nearly all have already lost millions in the downturn. All but three gave a measure of the performance of their funds. The losses declared so far add up to £190m with most institutions acknowledging there are more to come.
A warm-up programme focusing on improving strength, balance, core stability and muscular awareness cuts injury in female footballers by a third and severe injuries by almost a half, according to the British Medical Journal website.
In an accompanying editorial, John Brooks an injury expert for the Rugby Football Union, says that people participating in any sport at all levels should adopt a warm-up programme like this to reduce injury.
Previous studies investigating the effect of warming up on the risk of injury have focused on key warm-up elements, such as raising the core temperature, stretching the muscles used and conducting movement specific exercises, but the effect on injury has been unclear until now.
2008 was a great year for sports fans, with highlights including Usain Bolt shattering both the 100m and 200m world records at the Beijing Olympics and knocking tenths of a second off each in the process. The fact is that athletes have been getting faster and faster since times have been accurately recorded, but is there an upper limit to how fast athletes can run?
American marathon runner Mark Denny, from Stanford University thought that there were and set about trying to predict what those limits were. To do so he scrutinised the running performances of humans and two other famous racing species, greyhounds and thoroughbred horses, to find how close their modern participants are to the peak performances for their species.
He has just published his predictions for their top speeds in The Journal of Experimental Biology.
Cultural issues have become a significant aspect of the sport psychology field. As clinicians develop their practice to include more diverse athletes and sport psychologists expand to work in multicultural settings, Cultural Sport Psychology will prove to be a beneficial reference for the field.
It is the first full text to focus entirely on cultural awareness and its timeliness will spark increased discussion, reflection and research of cultural considerations in sport psychology practice.
Cultural Sport Psychology offers researchers, practitioners and consultants an excellent starting point for future research and practice. With contributions from a diverse group of established and aspiring experts in sport psychology, the text offers a complete and authoritative look at this developing field.
The unease over the Speedo LZR racer suit felt by many swimming coaches prior to the Beijing Olympics, flared into outright revolt when Fifteen of the 17 top European nations, including Great Britain, signed a protest which is to be presented to world governing body Fina calling for a number of regulations to be discussed and implemented.
The LZR Racer is one of the most controversial pieces of sports equipment ever introduced. Critics have accused its manufacturers, Speedo, of ‘technological doping’ and complained it gives its wearers an unfair advantage. But there is no doubt that it works: 74 world records have fallen since the launch of the revolutionary swimsuit in March this year.
Their concerns centre around the technological advances in the design of the swimsuit and the fabrics used, which many feel has pushed its use over the line from performance maximisation to performance enhancement.
Adding nuts to a healthy diet may help release people from a dangerous combination of health problems. Up to 25% of people in the UK are thought to have “metabolic syndrome”, which includes obesity and high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.
A Mediterranean diet of vegetables, fruit and fish plus daily nuts boosted health in more than one in eight at-risk volunteers, a Spanish study found.
A new craze could sweep British gyms over the coming months – upside-down yoga.
As unlikely as it sounds, converts of ‘AntiGravity Yoga’ say the technique enables them to reach positions other exercises can’t reach, leading to a better all-round work-out.
Participants use a hammock suspended from the ceiling to carry out yoga, pilates and dance moves while defying gravity.
It is becoming more and more popular in America and fitness experts believe it is only a matter of time before it ‘takes off’ here.
The technique was invented by gymnast and Broadway dancer Christopher Harrison, who also came up with an acrobatic fitness regime that he called ‘Cheernastics’, based on American cheerleading.
It may be grim outside and with the party season almost upon us we all may look a little pasty, but some people may be risking their long term health for the sake of a fake tan.
Experts say that an illegal tanning drug which is injected into the skin may have serious health implications and has already been to linked to nausea, high blood pressure and panic attacks
Muscle & Fitness magazine’s Joe Wuebben and Jim Stoppani, have joined forces to write Stronger Arms & Upper Body and provide the most effective exercises and programmes for seriously increasing strength, definition, power and size.
Targeting the development of shoulders, arms, upper back, chest and abdominals, Stronger Arms & Upper Body features over 100 exercises for serious lifters, including specific instructions for mastering technique and advanced exercise variations to help lifters advance to the next level.
Containing 33 programmes and ready-to-use workout plans, detailed anatomical illustrations, explanations and variations for equipment needs and the latest in advanced training methods, Stronger Arms & Upper Body provides the comprehensive, hard-core instruction you need for the results you want.
The International Olympic Committee will re-test around 500 doping samples from the Beijing Games to check for traces of a new blood-booster drug.
In October it was revealed that nearly 5,000 samples would be analysed. But the IOC says it will now “primarily target endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics”.
Britain’s remarkable year of sporting success is celebrated in the New Year’s Honours list which is dominated by medal winners from the Beijing Olympics.
Posted by humankinetics 
After the Christmas ‘blowout’ comes the guilt and the realisation that the price to pay for too many mince pies and glasses of wine is extra inches on the waistline and extra pounds on the scales.
Posted by humankinetics 
Posted by humankinetics 
A NatWest TV advertising campaign which focuses on the cost-saving benefits of giving up gym membership in favour of ‘running down the street’, has been withdrawn following lobbying by the fitness industry’s trade organisation, the FIA
The global economic downturn has wiped at least £250m from the leading British universities’ endowment funds, a Guardian survey has revealed.
A warm-up programme focusing on improving strength, balance, core stability and muscular awareness cuts injury in female footballers by a third and severe injuries by almost a half, according to the British Medical Journal website.
The unease over the Speedo LZR racer suit felt by many swimming coaches prior to the Beijing Olympics, flared into outright revolt when Fifteen of the 17 top European nations, including Great Britain, signed a protest which is to be presented to world governing body Fina calling for a number of regulations to be discussed and implemented.
Adding nuts to a healthy diet may help release people from a dangerous combination of health problems. Up to 25% of people in the UK are thought to have “metabolic syndrome”, which includes obesity and high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.
A new craze could sweep British gyms over the coming months – upside-down yoga.
It may be grim outside and with the party season almost upon us we all may look a little pasty, but some people may be risking their long term health for the sake of a fake tan.
The International Olympic Committee will re-test around 500 doping samples from the Beijing Games to check for traces of a new blood-booster drug.
