In the second of our two part series Alex West from Boost Your Body looks at how to get the most out of our local fitness facilities:
Balance Beams
The balance beams will help develop your small stabilising muscles helping you improve your balance. This will translate into the sports and games you play.
Simply (!) walk along each beam, starting with the lower one and finishing with the higher one.
Pull Ups
These are fantastic at sculpting your upper body. If you can master pull ups then you will be truly strong. They really work your arms and back.
Stand under one of the bars that you have to stretch to reach. Hold the bar with hands about shoulder width apart and with your palms facing you. Pull yourself up so your chest almost touches the bar, pause, and slowly lower yourself down again.
Perform 8 repetitions.
If you can’t quite manage to pull yourself all the way up or to do 8 repetitions don’t worry, these are very hard to do. To make it a bit easier jump up so your chest is almost at bar level and concentrate on slowly lowering yourself down. At the bottom, jump up and repeat.
To make these a bit tougher, use a grip where your palms are facing away from you.
Climbing Wall
Climbing is another fantastic all over body workout. There isn’t a muscle in your body that climbing doesn’t work.
To use this piece of equipment just climb up one side, swing your leg over the top (be brave!) and down the other side. If you are sprinting around the course just remember to take a little care as a fall could be painful!
Stilts
These are the last obstacle on the Fitness Trail and finish off working all the muscles in your legs.
Just hop/jump or stretch your way between the 5 posts in a zig zag and your done.
Once you have finished you can either go around again or stretch off and go for a well deserved cup of tea and piece of cake!
If you prefer something indoors, I run a Class every Tuesday night from 6:30 to 7:30 at West Bridgford Baptist Church. For more information check out http://boostyourbody.co.uk/nottingham/
