Tag Archive for: Fitness Goals

The Relationship Between Exercise and Mental Health

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Everyone knows how important exercise is for our physical health, however, many underestimate, or simply neglect, the importance of exercise for maintaining a healthy mental state.

For that reason, Studio Pulse Wynnum is here to help you understand the relationship between exercise and mental health.

Those who include exercise in their everyday life, like reformer pilates Wynnum for example, are at a lower risk of suffering from mental illness and report having better emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Surprising but true, research shows that exercise has almost the same effect as psychological treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy, and antidepressants for those who have mild depression.

But, how does exercise affect us mentally?

 

The relationship between exercise and mental health can be quite easily explained. Exercise stimulates the production of chemicals in the brain responsible for improving mood. Plus, it pumps blood to the brain which improves your cognitive skills.

Additionally, exercise increases the part of the brain responsible for memory called the hippocampus and improves connections between the brain and nerve cells which helps to boost memory and protects your brain from diseases.

Simply put, exercise makes us feel better, and makes our body happy. Not only will exercise improve your mood, alertness, and concentration, it can also help to increase your motivation levels.

The following is a list of how exercise can positively impact you and your lifestyle:

  • Improves Sleep: a good night’s sleep regulates mood.
  • Exercise boosts self-esteem, coping abilities, and sense of control.
  • When exercising you forget about the negative things in your life and can allow you to gain new perspectives.
  • Exercise provides new opportunities to socialise and meet people.
  • Exercise changes the levels of serotonin, endorphins, and stress hormones in your brain.
  • Your energy levels increase while exercising.
  • Exercise is a great form of stress and anger release.
  • Exercise makes you feel relaxed by decreasing muscle tension.

How Much Exercise do we Need?

 

Luckily, to give your mental health a boost, you don’t really have to spend hours in the gym or jump straight into strenuous exercise. According to the Australian Government, around 3 hours of moderate exercise or 2 hours of strenuous exercise per week is what we should aim for. Even if that includes 1 moderate bike ride, 1 reformer pilates class and 1 brisk walk per week… that is more than enough! Especially as a starting point.

Pulse offers a fresh and unique opportunity for those embarking on a quest for greater physical, mental, or spiritual fulfillment.

So, all you need to do to ensure you keep both physically and mentally healthy is to contact Studio Pulse Wynnum and get in touch with the team to find out what class would best suit your needs.

Comparison will Kill You

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Regardless of how much we achieve in our life, it’s almost too easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others. After all, we’re only human. In some cases, comparison can be be useful as a form of inspiration. However, we suggest you only compare yourself to a prior version of yourself. For example, if this time last year you were more motivated, or perhaps visiting your loved ones more, or a lot fitter than you are today, that should be your motivation to do better.

So, if fitness or health is a concern of yours, Studio Pulse Wynnum offers classes to cater to all levels of fitness. Contact us today to chat about your fitness goals.

Let’s explore why it is that we compare ourself to others:

Why do We Compare Ourselves to Others?

Namely, we compare ourselves to others for many different human reasons, but surprisingly not because comparison makes us feel happier, smarter, or more productive. It is both a human reaction and emotion which we can’t control. However, we can control what we do with it… whether we choose to let the emotions control us or whether we decide to control them.

Not to mention, the world we live in makes it extremely easy to fall into the trap. Just look around you: the billboards, newsfeeds, TV screens, social media – they are all full of ‘twisted’ conventional norms that are designed in such a way to make us feel we have to change and fit. After all, if we didn’t feel like we had to change, we wouldn’t purchase the products they are dangling in front of us. It’s no wonder we feel like we aren’t enough. But, remember – we are more than good enough just the way we are!

Comparison Shortcomings

As aforementioned, comparing ourselves to other people has many shortcomings including the following:

  • An unfair game – comparisons aren’t fair because we tend to compare our weaknesses to other’s strengths.
  • Takes a lot of valuable time – we should spend that time on something that makes us happy and fulfilled instead of comparing ourselves to other people.
  • Uniqueness cannot be compared – we are all different and unique individuals, therefore comparison isn’t logical at all.
  • No benefits gained – when comparing to others we don’t gain anything, we just lose time, joy, energy, and motivation.
  • It’s an everlasting game – there will always be someone else to compare to or some other feature to focus on.
  • It results in resentment – not only do we gain nothin from it, comparison actually results in resentment both towards others and ourselves.

Simple Tips to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Now that you know that there aren’t any positives to comparison, let’s have a look at some simple ways to stop indulging in our weaknesses:

  • Do a social media detox – being bombarded with people living ‘perfect lives’ on social media won’t help, so take control and have a detox… you won’t regret it!
  • Be thankful for what you already have – if you constantly focus on what you don’t have, you will never be satisfied. Instead, be grateful for what you have, especially for your family and friends.
  • Accept imperfection – realizing that no one is perfect (even though it may seem so on social media) is the first step towards loving yourself including strengths and weaknesses and successes and shortcomings.
  • Regular Exercise – Exercise has a range of benefits, one of them being clearer outlook on life, and increased motivation levels.. just what you need to focus on yourself and not others! Just a couple of reformer pilates classes per week will do wonders!

 

Our team at Pulse hope you found this article helpful. And, if you want to focus your energy on something beneficial instead of comparing yourself to others, like reformer pilates, or yoga classes, contact Studio Pulse Wynnum today!

How to Love Your Body (regardless of your size)

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The truth is, body confidence has nothing to do with your size, the numbers on the scale, body fat percentage, BMI, or waist circumference. It is how you feel in your own skin and ultimately loving your body regardless of its size. Sounds easy right? Well, not exactly. Loving your body is a difficult task for many of us and can take years and years of knowledge and learning experiences to truly achieve.

At Studio Pulse Wynnum – Wynnum’s newest Reformer Pilates Studio – we offer a friendly community with top quality instructors and classes which cater to all levels of fitness.

1. Be Grateful for what your Body does for You

First and foremost, it’s important to recognise that your body does some pretty amazing things on a daily basis: getting out of bed in the morning, breathing air into your lungs, tasting amazing flavours, talking, walking, eating. All of that and much more thanks to the 60 trillion cells that make up a complete whole – your body. Your body, regardless of its size, gives you the chance to experience life.

2. It’s about how you Feel, not how you Look

You are going to feel better if you are following a healthy lifestyle, but it’s about how you feel within yourself rather than how you look in the mirror. Namely, there’s no universal body size that we can all strive to reach. We are all made differently. So, while it might be easy for certain people to stay really thin, it may be a lot harder for you to reach the same size because you have different genes. When we follow a relatively healthy diet, exercise regularly, get lots of sleep and drink plenty of water, naturally we are going to feel better (and probably look better too). But it is crucial that you concentrate on how you feel, rather than how you look. So, ask yourself the below questions:

  • Do I have lots of energy during the day?
  • Do I sleep well?
  • Am I lethargic?
  • Am I passing stools regularly?
  • Is my urine clear?
  • Am I eating 5 veg and 2 fruit each day?
  • Do I have unhealthy cravings?
  • Is my skin clear?
  • Do I get sick a lot? Do I suffer from headaches or any other ongoing health issues?

3. Exercise for Fun rather than to Simply Lose Weight

Last but not least, when it comes to exercise, it’s vital to think of it from a different perspective. Exercising shouldn’t be a chore, nor should you dread it. And, if the exercise you are doing makes you feel this way, find something that you prefer! There’s a lot of different types of exercise, so shop around until you find something that you enjoy. Additionally, rather than focusing on the weight benefits of exercise, focus on some of the other benefits: decreased risk of heart issues, decreased risk of cancer, decreased risk of diabetes, increased energy levels, reduced stress-levels, healthier organs, decreased circulation of toxins in the body and of course the list goes on! Exercise isn’t just a weight loss and body-shaping tool, it is actually a great way to love and accept your body, regardless of its size.

The bottom line is that we are all built completely differently, and what works for someone else, might not work for you. Remember to keep things in perspective, avoid comparison, practice positive self-talk and embrace you in all that you are because (corny we know), there is indeed, only one you. Of course, you can always strive for better and you should, it’s a healthy mantra to live by, which we support wholeheartedly. However, don’t put too much pressure on yourself and above all else, enjoy the journey. At the end of the day it’s not all about the destination, it’s about the hurdles, the set-backs and how you got back up after being pushed down.

To join our reformer pilates class, don’t hesitate and contact us today!

Everything You Need to Know about Pilates

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In recent years, there has been a rise in popularity for Pilates. Today, people who hit the gym or take part in workout sessions know it as an activity to utilise all muscles and boost the muscle strength in their body.

Are you considering joining a Pilates studio? If yes, then here’s what you need to know.

An Introduction to Pilates

If you are a fitness enthusiast, you would have heard about Pilates. But many of you may be completely unaware of this or have very little understanding. The term ‘Pilates’ came from the surname of the German man who developed this kind of exercise. His name was Joseph Pilates. Initially, Pilates became popular among the dancers. But Joseph Pilates kept developing and advancing the exercises of Pilates and now this is available as a popular exercise form which you can learn by certified trainers all around the world including Australia.

How Pilates Differs from Yoga?

One major difference between yoga and Pilates is that the former is all about holding poses for multiple breaths, the latter is about constant movement. In the case of yoga, the challenging part for a practitioner is to hold on to a particular pose for a specified time. On the other hand, a practitioner needs to stay connected to their body and exercise better control over it while practising the Pilates workout.

Furthermore, yoga does not necessitate the use of any specific equipment but equipment like Reformer Pilates, Cadillac, and Barrels are necessary for performing the Pilates workouts.

How to Begin with Pilates?

To begin with, you can either go for regular classes or hire a private instructor for the purpose. If it is your first time, the latter option would be a better choice as you would get individual attention while learning the ins and outs of the workouts with Reformer Pilates Newstead.

However, it is also a good idea to have the services of a private instructor and supplement it with regular classes at a Pilates studio. This way, you will get sufficient practice. As a result, you will be more likely to get stronger and better with workouts and with more practice.

Helpful Tips to Choose the Right Pilates Studio

  • As a newbie, there are two key elements that you should remember. Firstly, make sure that you are choosing a studio which is fully loaded. Chances are you may not be comfortable with all the sets of equipment. Thus, more equipment means more experience and more opportunity to learn new things.
  • Secondly, it is important to choose the right instructor. They should be cooperative and understand your needs. Also, make sure that they give you individual attention to let you know if you are doing the workouts in a the intended way.

Final Thoughts:

Performing Pilates-based strength workouts is a great way to stretch all the muscles of the body. It does a world of good in boosting muscle strength in an individual. Make sure that you do it the right way to reap the maximum benefits of Pilates.

What You Should Know Before Stepping Foot into a Health Club

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Are you planning to join a health club and confused about where to join and from where you should start your fitness journey? As there are plenty of options today, this is obvious that you will end up getting confused between them.

Before starting your journey to a healthier life, scroll down to these 6 important things you should know:

Good Condition of Machines:

Before stepping into a health club, examine properly whether the machines they have are in a working condition. Are they old or are they new? There should be the right exercise equipment in the club to ensure that you do not end up hurting yourself. If you’re just starting out, ask the health club manager about the safety and hygiene conditions of equipment. Also, ask the staff to help you learn to use the equipment to avoid any kind of injuries.

Professional Trainers:

Look for a health club which has professional trainers. The trainers should be certified else they may instruct you improperly resulting into no results and demotivation. A trainer who is professional can demonstrate how to carry out exercise and how to use various machines available, in the correct way. The professionals should know how to monitor each and every client’s fitness level and what kind of exercise an individual should focus on.

Personal Attention:

Try to find out if the trainers in a particular gym give personal attention. Of course, they have to attend to a lot of clients, but personal attention is mandatory. Every person has different fitness goals in mind, different energy levels, and different capabilities. Whatever it is, a trainer should ensure that they instruct everyone and track the fitness of every individual coming to the health club.

Location and Hours of Operation:

The location of the gym plays a very important role in achieving your health goals. To make things easier on yourself it is advised your gym be located near to workplace or near your home so that whenever you get time, you can head to the gym. Also, the working hours should be convenient for you. If your job doesn’t allow you to leave before 9 or 10 in the night, you will not be able to work out. Look for a gym with extended hours.

Female Trainers for Females:

If you are a female and not comfortable with male trainers guiding you, ask if they have female instructors. They may know your body and abilities in a better way than a male.

Other Facilities:

Staying healthy does not only mean working out on machines but more about having a flexible body and happy mind at the same time. The health club should offer various facilities like yoga, cardio, Pilates, aerobics, all under one roof. So before you choose any wellness club, ensure that it has all these facilities to keep you motivated! Pulse Newstead is Newstead’s topmost health club which offers all these facilities to keep you moving towards a healthy body.

So consider these things before starting your fitness journey so you feel confident in your health club!