Longer days often mean more spare time for exercise. If you don’t like going to the gym one of the best alternatives is to take to your bike and get cycling.

Advantages of Cycling

• Its easy, once you know how to cycle you never forget.
• You get to see more of your neighborhood.
• Will help to keep up your energy levels.
• Keeps weight down by burning approx 300 calories per hour.
• Boosts your metabolic rate.
• Increases muscle tone especially the leg muscles.
• Helps to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by up to 50%.
• Raises heart rate to increase stamina and fitness.
• Low impact meaning less jarring of the joints.
• Suitable for all age groups even the over fifties and sixties.
• Exercise reduces stress and so does cycling.
• You may be able to  cycle to work therefore reducing pollution.
• Cycling improves lung function.
• Cycling is fun and can be a shared exercise.

Bicycles are on sale in many main street retailers  but if your bike is old you should make sure it is in good condition and road worthy by performing regular maintenance. Never cycle after dark without lights. Carry a basic toolkit with you and a spare inner tube for emergencies.

Make sure you follow the highway code and wear a safety helmet at all times.

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The London 2012 Paralympic Games will have twenty different sports each with their own disciplines and events for both men and women.
The Sports are: -

• Archery

• Athletics

• Boccia

• Road Cycling

• Track Cycling

• Equestrian

• 5-a-side Football

• 7-a-side Football

• Goalball

• Judo

• Power lifting

• Rowing

• Sailing

• Shooting

• Swimming

• Table Tennis

• Volleyball

• Basketball

• Fencing

• Rugby

• Tennis

For those not familiar with Boccia, it is a sport originating in ancient Greece and developed in medieval Italy. This skilful game is played between individuals, pairs or teams, on a long narrow court.

The objective is to throw, toss or bowl a ball to land as close as possible to a target ball, known as a jack. There will be seven medal events at the London Olympics, open to competitors of both sexes who suffer from severe cerebral palsy and related neurological disorders.

The Portuguese in particular excel at Boccia and will be the favorites for medals in 2012.

Goalball has been developed for players who suffer from visual impairment. Teams of three compete against each other on a volleyball court, aiming to roll a ball into the opposition goal who try to prevent a score by blocking the ball with their bodies.

The Paralympics are truly inspiring competitive events that illustrates the indomitable spirit of human beings in the face of their personal adversities of severe physical handicaps.

Believe it or not table tennis commonly known as Ping-Pong (a trademarked name) is the second most played sport in the world and is recognized as one of the worlds major sports.

It originated in the late 19^th century in England and its popularity rapidly spread throughout the world. Table tennis today is huge business in Asia.

Although you might think this isn’t what you had in mind when you began to think of an exercise regime, playing table tennis is very energetic and if you take it up regularly as a part of your regular work out it will help make the weight should roll off.

Advantages of Playing Table Tennis

• If you have a large enough space table tennis can be played indoors and all the year round if not you can play outdoors in an area sheltered from the wind.
• Tables can be purchased that are weatherproof and can be folded up and stored.
• It is a very sociable game and joining a table tennis club can lead to a new circle of friends.
• The tables are not expensive and adequate bats and balls cost very little. No special clothing is necessary
• Playing singles or doubles with friends is fun and competitive which makes a change from the usual exercise regimes where you have no company and all too easily lose focus through repetition and boredom.

Disadvantages

• You can become hooked on the game as millions already have all over the world.

Definition of Table Tennis

The following is from the Encyclopedia Britannica

Game similar to lawn
tennis that is played on a tabletop with wooden paddles and a small, hollow, plastic ball. The object is to hit the ball so that it goes over the net and bounces on the opponent’s half of the table in such a way as to defeat the opponent’s attempt to reach and return it. Both singles and doubles games are played. A match consists of the best of any odd number of games, each game being won by the player or team who first reaches 11 points or who, after 10 points each, gains a two-point lead. Invented in England in the early 20th century, it soon spread throughout the world. Since the mid-1950s, East Asian countries have dominated the sport. It has been an Olympic sport for both men and women since 1988.

Useful Sites for followers of table tennis tournaments

International Table Tennis Federation

Table Tennis – usatt.org – The Official Web Site of USA Table Tennis

Watch this incredible video of two really rather good players and then try your hand at online table tennis

Take a sport – any sport – and add to it an element of danger and a dash of speed, and rework it in such a way that the player will need volumes of energy, adrenaline that loves that element of danger, and a passion for acrobatic stunts, and hey presto, you have an extreme sport.

Once upon a time there was cycling (there still is), and then suddenly out of the blue an element of risk was added to it and BMX was born.

Similarly, conventional sports such as skating and boarding were modified and snowboarding and skateboarding became the norm of the day with the urban youth.

Any which way you look at extreme sports, you will realize that they are here because of the passion for excitement of today’s urban youth, who seem to have a penchant for flirting with danger.

The danger element in extreme sports comes from the introduction of speed and height obstacles in conventional sports, which have to be overcome by using advanced stunts and tricks.

Needless to say, these sports require the player to protect himself from physical injuries by strapping on special protective gear.

Why does anyone want to participate in extreme sports?

These participants, who are the youth, identify with danger and a fast-paced life and are not afraid to take on risks when they feel like satiating their adrenaline.

Extreme sports are one way of expressing individual feelings – because these sports are played on an individual level – and having fun while doing so.

Nowadays, extreme sports are being brought into the limelight even by major sports organizations.

In fact, snowboarding is now part of the Olympics! With time, many extreme sports-persons feel that more and more extreme sports will be validated by these sports authorities and then these sports will no longer be played for the “fun and slam-bang” feel – they will also be played to compete with other participants on an international scale.

Popular extreme sports

Here are a few types of extreme sports that are immensely popular with the urban youth:

Snowboarding: This is when skiing meets surfboarding and skating. Participants have to descend from a steep snow-covered incline on a snowboard bound to their feet.

BMX (Bicycle Moto Cross (X)): This is cycling on earth-filled tracks that are packed with steep ups and downs. Oh yeah, the wheel width of the cycle used in BMX is about 20 inches.

Skateboarding: This extreme sport is basic in nature but very risky nevertheless. The participant has to display acrobatic stunts using just a skateboard. Participants normally show off their skills by skateboarding on railings or on very steep, specially constructed inclines.

Wakesboarding: This is when you strap on a single board on your feet and perform stunts as a boat pulls you around a water body.

No single sport mentioned above is played in a linear fashion. Every participant is expected to generate plenty of acrobatic razzmatazz by displaying signature stunts while performing the sport.

That was a little bit about extreme sports. Remember, extreme sports have originated from the feats of several unconventional and recognized but highly creative and daring individuals, but now they are getting into the mainstream sports activities.

Though it may take a few years for some extreme sports to be adopted into the mainstream, it will happen – and that is because extreme sports are hot and happening!

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Skiing, snowboarding, skating and sledding are all great fun and wonderful exercise.

Before setting off to one of the snow clad winter resorts some sensible preparations will make these activities much more enjoyable as well as beneficial.

There’s not much point in spending the first day of a winter sports vacation enjoying the skiing if the next day or two are spent with back pain and other aches and stiffness that can make any activity at best uncomfortable or at worst can keep you off the slopes.

The answer is to get in shape before setting off

Winter sporting can be dangerous and a cardinal rule is to stay warm.

Easy enough when you are active but the cold can very quickly catch up on you even if you have worked up a sweat 5 minutes earlier.

Even the fittest can’t keep going all day without a rest or some leisurely recreation.

It is essential that you wear the right clothes that will keep you warm throughout the day.

The correct winter sportswear is designed to allow proper freedom of movement that doesn’t interfere with your enjoyment while still giving the necessary protection from the cold.

This way your body will need less energy to stay warm and you will be able to expend more of your energy on enjoying your sport.

The correct ski equipment and accessories are also a safety must, one of the most important of which are good quality goggles that keep the intense glare reflected from snow from damaging your eyes.

Appropriate ski boots that are a good fit and comfortable, and wrist guards and a safety helmet are sensible safety precautions for snowboarders to take.

The most dangerous of all is fatigue

The more tired you get the more your concentration suffers and muscles become increasingly slower and weaker to respond.

Imagine that after a hard day on the slopes and you are getting really tired and stiffening up, so a rest before skiing back seems a good idea.

After a short time maybe the cold is just beginning to be noticeable so you set off. Something happens like you hit a half hidden broken branch or another skier cuts across in front of you without warning.

When you are fresh – no problem but when you are tired, reactions and muscle response times are slowed down and, weaker with the result, you lose control and if you are unlucky break a leg or worse.

If you want to avoid the consequences of fatigue and get the most enjoyment and benefit from your valuable time on the slopes or ice start training at least 4 weeks before you go by targeting the muscles that control your skiing, snowboarding and skating.

Strength training exercises concentrating on the lower body and the legs are a priority.

Floor exercise such as sit-ups, leg presses etc. are good and press-ups will strengthen the arm muscles used when poling.

Building up stamina is also important so alternating jogging and sprinting on a daily run will get you there.

A well equipped commercial gym will have a variety of exercise machines that will have specific benefits for winter sports, a favorite being a cross-country ski simulator.

A half-hour on that and you know that you have been through a proper workout.

So be fit, take care and enjoy!!

The healthy mind has control over all our senses and physical activities.

Our emotions, habits, perceptions, powers of concentration and behavior patterns are dictated by and originate from our minds.

Our ability to push our bodies that little extra, the coordination between eye and muscle, the desire to compete and win emanates from our mind.

If we put to one side external influences such as the quality of food available to us, the environment we live in, disease and injury and other factors over which we have no direct control, there is no aspect of our physical well-being and mental attitude that is not within the power of our minds to alter, for better or for worse.

And that is exactly what is happening throughout our lives

For example today we may think positively about our ability to undertake a long term course of physical training to achieve a goal in sport, lose excess weight, or just to feel fitter and healthier.

Next week our resolve disappears, our confidence drops, now we think that however hard we try we are not going to make it so why bother!

Probably the most obvious example is the addiction to smoking. Nicotine is recognized as an addictive drug making it that much harder to give up the habit despite being aware of the life threatening consequences.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have strong will power can be successful in breaking the habit; others need help of one sort or the other.

Again just because some people can give up a long term smoking habit unaided and by the power of their mind does not mean that they have the ability to be as determined in other situations that they should be confronting.

Look at how many ex smokers compensate by overeating and become obese.

If we could influence our minds to the extent that even extreme pain becomes bearable, that we feel confident in our abilities to handle the most unpleasant of situations, never let our emotions get the better of us, stay calm and logical in all circumstances, never succumb to our cravings however tempting, in fact have absolute control over the workings of our mind then we would be the most exceptional of human beings.

It is from this premise that the practice of Hypnotism came about and Hypnotherapy developed.

Hypnosis is not mind control as many believe, it is a way of reaching into the subconscious and developing the emotions, perceptions and behavioural attitudes that lie within.

Many hypnotists consider that the subconscious is similar to a computer in so far as the information it contains has been put into it through all the experiences that we have had since birth and that it operates as a result of this programming. Some of these experiences will be negative and adversely affect our emotions perceptions and behaviour.

The Hypnotherapist attempts to reach into the subconscious mind to turn these deep-seated negative influences of which we are usually unaware into benevolent positive attitudes and capabilities.

Hypnotherapy has become a recognized and effective remedial practice able to resolve many emotional and behavioural problems. Amongst these are stress, low self-esteem and confidence, insomnia, pain management, smoking, food addiction, nail biting, painless childbirth and others.

Over time many Hypnotherapists have tended to focus on specific areas within their profession in much the same way as medicine has its specialists

One such speciality is Sports Hypnotherapy

Sports hypnotherapists have had some outstanding success by opening the portals for sports men and women to believe in themselves, their abilities and skills and the confidence to display their aptitudes in a competitive environment

Some of the most outstanding sports stars can experience emotional or other mental problems that can affect their focus and contribute to a premature decline in their abilities.

Modern sports management and coaches have mostly come round to accepting the benefits that a good qualified specialist sport hypnotherapist can be to resurrecting a stars´ career or just tweaking the edges to improve their performance.

Wherever you live there is likely to be a qualified hypnotherapist not too far away.

It is not essential to have a specialist to help constructively with any problems that you may be experiencing with your chosen sport or exercise program.

You do not have to be a star, whether you are an occasional golfer, an exercise devotee having trouble with the resolve to commit to a daily time consuming exercise routine, somebody who just wants to lose a little weight and feel a bit fitter but needs a prod, whatever your situation, hypnotherapy can, if given a chance, be life enhancing.

We are told that about 95 % of us are susceptible to hypnosis providing we approach it with an open mind.

Hypnotherapists are most unlikely to put you into a deep coma; this only happens on the rarest of occasions and with those very few subjects who are particularly susceptible.

In 90% of cases the subject will be aware of every thing that goes on in the session.

Our advice is to approach hypnotherapy with the same attitude you would have with your doctor, their business is to help, and curing the mind is as important as healing the body.

Hang ups in your favorite sport or lack of motivation to get fit, lose weight, stick to a diet or work out?

Then our advice is to seek out a qualified hypnotherapist.

Digging into your subconscious can get the best out of you!