Strength. Do you struggle with simple daily chores such as bringing the groceries in & lifting the kids. Developing more strength will make light work of these chores and will also support and protect your body from injury or pain while doing your thing.

Lose body fat. Right. So you’re slogging it out on the stepper but getting nowhere. Maybe it worked for a month or two? By now your body’s onto it and doing it with the least possible exer-tion. Throw some weights in to increase your basal metabolic rate and transform your body into a fat burning furnace.

Ladies you will NOT bulk. It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard in the past - it’s not true. Women’s bodies simply do not produce enough testosterone to produce massive size gains. Aside from that, your strength ‘limitations’ rela-tive to that of men mean that we can’t lift enough to build. You’ll just get ’lean’.

Bone Health. Bones need to be worked on too. Weight lifting enables bones, which continu-ally regenerate, to grow back stronger & health-ier. Weight training has been proven to improve spinal bone mineral density by 13% over just 6 months. Banish fragile & brittle bones forever!

Improve your athletic performance. Want to hit that ball further? Cycle harder? Ski better? Hit the weights, improve your strength & im-proved power will follow. Trust me - people who are big & strong can hit the ball much fur-ther, cycle longer & ski better than twiglets!

Reduce risk of back pain, injury & arthritis. Along with the improved protection your joints get from better muscles, strength training will also build you stronger connective tissue (tendons & ligaments) and increase joint stability. This works

on everything from shoulders to ankles to your back. That and improved posture should allevi-ate your back pain.

Reduce your risk of Heart Disease. Weight training improves your cardiovascular health, but not in the way you expect. Strength training lowers your LDL (bad) cholesterol, increases HDL (good) cholesterol & helps lower blood pressure. Healthy heart & fit, firm body - what more can a person want?

Reduced risk of Diabetes. Strength training may help improve the way your body processes sugars, which helps reduce the risk of suffering adult onset (or type II) diabetes. Regular training also helps regulate insulin levels, another factor in developing diabetes.

Improve your brain. No, it doesn’t make you smarter (well, it might, but that’s just my theory) but it can improve your attitude, outlook and help ward off depression. A recent study found 10 weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms more than standard coun-selling. Strength training also improves self confi-dence, body image & just makes you happier.

Exercises! All said & done, you need to do the right exercises. Fluffy exercises like triceps kick-backs & inner thigh exercises may give you the fuzzy feeling in your stomach like you’ve done something; but it’s not the best way to results. Get on the squat train, do some push ups & work your body hard for the best results.

Start now. Whether you’ve been working away for years and getting nowhere or if you’re a newbie in the gym there is a program that is per-fect for you. Start now & watch the benefits come flooding in.

Top Tips...10 things you should love about weights

E D E N M O R E G O L F & C O U N T R Y C L U B

To sculpt you must first have concrete. You are only as

strong as your weak-

est joint

Country Club News

October 2009 Health & Fitness Team

Spending hours slogging it out on the treadmill, bikes, glidex and stepper might make you sweaty & feel all fuzzy inside, but it’s not getting you anywhere… Your body & your health will benefit from a switch to a combination of weights and cardio. Here’s why...

You can never

achieve great suc-cess with-out great exertion

P A G E 2 The Importance of Lifting Weights If the mere mention of ‘weights’ conjures up the image of a grunt-ing, groaning, muscle packed meat-head listen up! It’s not always like this. And it doesn’t have to be you.

Getting in on the strength training action will boost your results, improve your overall health & step up your self confidence.

Strength training is, in our humble opinions, a vital part of any pro-gram and essential to your suc-cess. While we know strength training is an essential part of any program; we can also see where it gets it’s reputation. I’m here to tell you they’re just myths.

First the benefits. Strength train-ing builds strong, healthy muscle tissue. Muscle burns more calo-ries every second of the day. More calories burned throughout the day means a leaner, more toned you.

Strength training is also great for your bones. Working with weights helps protect your bones from the effects of ageing. Our bones are an active tissue, con-tinually breaking down and regen-erating. Low impact weight bear-ing activities (i.e. strength training)

stimulates improved bone mineral density (BMD) during the regenera-tion process. BMD has been clini-cally proven to be a major risk fac-tor for osteoporosis - a condition causing brittle, fragile bones as we age. And men, it’s not just a women’s menopausal issue - this affects you as well.

Joint stability & integrity are also improved through weight training. Performing a moderate weight lifting routine 2 - 3 times per week will protect your joints by strengthening their surrounding & stabilizing mus-cles. Using weights, particularly free weights (dumbbells) forces you to use your stabilizers to control the load.

A prime example is your rotator cuff. The rotator cuff muscle com-plex supports and stabilizes your shoulder & makes sure everything is in place. Performing upper body strengthening exercises, with cor-rect postural alignment & technique develops the ability of these 4 tiny muscles to switch on when the shoulder joint is under stress. This is a good thing.

With improved strength, all your everyday activities become easier & less stressful on your body. From lifting the groceries to gardening to housework, the fitter & stronger you are the easier these chores become.

The weight debate

Body mass is not the be all and end all in this day and age. Higher body fat percentages are strongly corre-

lated with increased risk of mor-bidity & mortality and as such can be considered the more relevant issue for general health.

Quite often when we train with weights our ‘scale weight’ stays the same, even though your clothes feel looser. This is be-cause you’re burning fat but at the same time developing more mus-cle tissue. Muscle stores energy in the form of glycogen (broken down carbohydrate). Each mole-cule of glycogen stored in muscle can hold onto 3 - 4 grams of wa-ter. More muscle = more water = more ‘weight’. On the other hand, more muscle also means more fat burning & fat loss. Mus-cle takes up less room than fat, so all things considered, you might be the same weight, but you’ll be smaller (and healthier).

The Myth!

Ladies, weights won’t make you big & muscular or look like a man. You simply do not have enough testosterone to pack on pounds of muscle.

Yes, sometimes weights and strength training are intimidating, particularly for inexperienced women - but that’s no reason not to do them. Ask your trainer for a program that will ease you in gently while still getting you the results you want.

Stay off the scales for a month, start lifting weights & see what happens.

start a workout - to introduce you to the world of weights. Machines are generally considered safer for beginners due to their ‘fixed range’. This means that there is less potential for technical error & injury. For more experienced trainers though, machines are simply the starting point to a com-plete workout.

Free weights offer just about end-less possibilities for exercises, ranges of motion & angles - limited

nearly only by your (trainers) imagination. With this flexibility however, comes safety issues. Less control over the weight’s movement pattern makes it easier for you to slip up and break your arm off. Always ensure you’ve full control over the weight and the movement, are executing the technique correctly & ask the advice of a qualified trainer. We’ve a lot of experience & are here to help.

E D E N M O R E C O U N T R Y C L U B N E W S

Of all the exercises there are, which one is for you should be determined with your trainer. It will be a matter of your training history, injuries or injury history & general confidence in the gym.

Both free weights & fixed range machines have benefits, both have downfalls and both can help you get to your ultimate goals.

Fixed range machines typically would be the perfect place to

Fixed Range Vs Free Weights

Healthy Nosh: Speedy Chicken Chow Mein P A G E 3 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9

What you need:

150g wholewheat egg noodles 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp light olive oil

2 skinless chicken breasts, sliced 1 tsp five spice powder 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 carrot, julienne 4 shitake mushrooms 1 red pepper, sliced 50g sugar snap peas 2 tbsp rice wine 2 tbsp tamari wheat free soy sauce 50g bean sprouts

What you do: 1. Cook noodles, drain & refresh under cold water. Add to bowl & toss in sesame oil.

2. Heat wok with olive oil. Add chicken, 5 spice powder & garlic and stir fry for 3 - 4 mins until chicken starts to brown.

3. Toss in vegetables, except bean sprouts & stir fry for another couple of minutes.

4. Add noodles, rice wine, tamari & beansprouts; stir & heat through. Serve immediately.

Serves 2. 378 cal, 20.6g carbohydrate, 48.6g protein & 9.9g fat per serve.

they can encourage you during trying times 4.Keep an exercise journal-keeping record of your pro-gress can increase your suc-cess of meeting your goals 5.Create a food-free reward system-Treat yourself to a new outfit or weekend away when you achieve your goals 6.Buy a pedometer 7.Don’t skip breakfast-eating

breakfast kick starts your me-tabolism 8.Ditch late night eating-eat lean proteins, fruit and vegeta-bles at dinner to avoid late night cravings 9. Eliminate processed sugars 10.Have a mid-afternoon snack-eating a healthy snack curbs cravings and keeps en-ergy levels up

Nutritional & Fitness Tips 1.Get real and specific goals-set targets you can realistically achieve as fantasy goals will only disappoint and frustrate you 2.Get prepared-get rid of all junk and processed foods and replace them with fresh fruit and vegetables 3.Get support-whether it be from a friend spouse or pet,

Speedy Chicken Chow Mein

Fitness and food tips

Maximuscle Viper Extreme

For a new

approach to your

goals, see a

trainer for a

strength training

program to

transform your

body.

Boost your workouts and lifestyle with the stimulant version of Viper that blows away other normal carbohydrate drinks... A new version of our best selling energy drink. Viper. This advanced formula contains a whole host of exciting and innovative nutrients; L-Carnitine. Taurine. Glucuronolactone. Bitter Orange peel. Potassium and Magnesium gluconate, together with high levels of Caffeine. All designed to improve mental performance and boost energy levels. You will feel this extreme ver-sion work within 15 minutes of consuming the great tasting energy drink. Since we launched the amazing Viper Extreme formula for people that wanted something 'more' than a normal energy and stimulant drink, the success of it has astounded us. It is now the best selling powdered stimulant drink in the UK. Why people keep buying it and using it is obviously be-cause it works. But it seems it's used not just by people who have intense training sessions, but also by people that go club-bing, work late night shifts and by students studying late into the night. Take your performance to new levels with Viper Ex-treme.

relax after a mighty effort.

Refresh & refuel with a pro-tein packed chicken & salad sandwich or a healthy chicken salad and herbal tea freshly prepared by our excellent team of chefs.

Our menu is extensive with a

wide variety of dishes to choose from including a selec-tion of light lunches perfect after a challenging work out.

The Restaurant is also open on a Friday & Saturday night making it the perfect spot to dine out or entertain friends and family.

Have you tried our award winning Bailies Restaurant yet?

Bailies is the perfect meeting place before a good work out and is open from 9am Monday to Saturday. You can take some time out over a freshly brewed coffee to ready your-self for a hard workout or to

Stuff you need to know...

Did we mention

that as a loyal

member of

Edenmore you

are entitled to

10% off your final

bill?

Take time out @ Bailies Restaurant

New Class Timetable

We’ve thrown together a new class time table to help you beat the winter blues. There’s a new selection of classes for you to fill your boots with & maybe a couple of new ones here & there. When not enough participants are here for spin, it may be run through the virtual trainer. Although we use it as little as possible, sometimes it is necessary.

Opening Times

Mon-Fri 7am - 10pm

Sat&Sun 9am - 5pm

Aerobics

We have added a new aerobics class to our timetable. It will run on a trail basis on Tuesday nights throughout the month of October from 7.30pm until 8.15pm so why not come along and give it a try. Everyone welcome! To find out more contact a member of the gym staff.