Category Archives: Fitness

7,000 steps a day could be enough to improve health, say researchers

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Target easier to achieve than 10,000 steps and linked to 37% reduction in cancer deaths

Walking more could reduce your risk of dementia, depression and dying from cancer, as well as being good for your heart, according to research. And you may not need to walk as far as previously thought to reap those benefits.

The NHS recommends a brisk 10-minute walk every day. Many people aim to walk 10,000 steps, but struggle to achieve it. Now researchers have calculated that even 7,000 steps could be enough to protect health.

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Aqua lungs: how Rod Stewart’s underwater swimming may help his singing

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Singer trains underwater like Frank Sinatra once did and scientists say it may be useful in maintaining vocal prowess

Frank Sinatra did it his way, taking to the pool to boost his vocal prowess, and it seems Rod Stewart is singing from the same songsheet. Now scientists say the approach might not be somethin’ stupid.

Stewart, 80, is still entertaining fans with his raspy vocals and energetic stage performances and earlier this month he revealed that as well as running and playing some football, swimming also played a key part in his campaign to stay forever young.

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Healthy but lonely gen Zers drive UK gym membership to record high

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More health-conscious young people take total to 11.5m memberships, report finds, as experts cite social aspect alongside fitness

Record numbers of Britons are going to the gym, as the desire of many gen Zers to socialise while getting fit instead of drinking in the pub drives an unprecedented surge in membership, a report shows.

In all, 11.5 million people aged 16 and over– a new high – now belong to a gym in the UK, a rise of 1.6 million from 2022. It means one in six people have taken out a membership.

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People doing intense exercise experience time warp, study finds

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Research suggests those who push themselves when working out perceive time to move more slowly

If your sessions at the gym seem to drag on for hours, you are in good company. People who push themselves when working out report a form of time warp, making it feel as if they have been exercising for longer than they have, researchers say.

Adults who took part in 4km cycling trials on exercise bikes perceived time to have slowed down, scientists said, with the cyclists underestimating how long they had been pedalling for by about 10%.

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Police in London urge public to use different pins for gym and bank cards

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Criminals stealing hundreds of pounds by snooping locker codes and using them to access accounts with same pin

Police have urged the public to use different pin codes at the gym after a prolific thief stole hundreds of pounds from a man he snooped on while entering a locker code that he also used for his bank card.

Last September Declan Murphy, 35, secretly watched the victim as he typed in a locker code at a luxury central London gym. After stealing the victim’s phone and bank card from the locker, Murphy then successfully guessed that the four-digit code on the card would be the same as the locker code.

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People urged to do at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week to lose weight

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Review of 116 clinical trials finds less than 30 minutes a day, five days a week only results in minor reductions

People who want to lose meaningful amounts of weight through exercise may need to devote more than two-and-a-half hours a week to aerobic training such as running, walking or cycling, researchers say.

The finding emerged from a review of 116 published clinical trials that explored the impact of physical exercise on weight loss, waist size and body fat. In total, the trials reported data for nearly 7,000 adults who were overweight or obese, meaning their body mass index (BMI) was more than 25.

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Marina Hyde on the ‘brave’ inciters of Britain’s race riots; lightning struck my plane and I plunged 3,000m; the delights of the dead hang – podcast

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Where are you Tommy and Elon? Marina Hyde finds that those provoking the race riots are far, far away; the dead hang delight – how this quick, surprisingly simple exercise can change your life; and ‘A bolt of lightning struck my plane’ – one woman’s incredible story of survival

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Weightlifting at retirement age keeps legs strong years later, study finds

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Year of heavy weights resistance training around retirement age has long-lasting benefits, research suggests

Lifting heavy weights three times a week around the age of retirement could dramatically preserve your leg strength long into the later stages of life, research suggests.

People naturally lose muscle function as they get older, and experts say faltering leg strength is a strong predictor of death in elderly people.

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Peloton CEO steps down as beleaguered company cuts 15% of workforce

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Fitness company’s sales boomed during the Covid pandemic as gyms closed but sales collapsed as the world reopened

Barry McCarthy has stepped down as CEO of Peloton, the company said on Thursday, as it decided to cut 15% of its workforce to tackle a post-pandemic slump in demand for its connected fitness equipment.

In a note, McCarthy said: “Hard as the decision has been to make additional headcount cuts, Peloton simply had no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue.”

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Getting fitter can reduce prostate cancer risk by 35%, study finds

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Increase in cardiorespiratory levels of 3% annually found to be beneficial, Swedish research suggests

Men can reduce their risk of prostate cancer by as much as 35% by doing a little more jogging, cycling or swimming, a study suggests.

Boosting cardiorespiratory fitness by only 3% over the course of a year was linked to a much lower chance of developing the disease. The findings prompted the researchers to encourage men to boost their fitness levels to help cut their prostate cancer risk.

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‘I just count the laps’: Canadian swimmer, 99, breaks three world records

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Betty Brussel sets records in the 100- to 104- year-old age class in Saanich, while inspiring members of local swim club

By the time an exhausted Betty Brussel finally swims to the finish and pulls herself from the pool, an Olympic athlete could have covered the same distance at least three times. But the 99-year-old Canadian’s quiet determination has led her to shatter world records and transformed her into an unlikely celebrity within the amateur swim community.

At a weekend swim meet in the British Columbia city of Saanich, Brussel broke the existing world record in the 400-metre freestyle, knocking nearly four minutes off the previous standard in the 100- to 104-year-old age class. She repeated her record-breaking performances in 50-metre backstroke and the 50-metre breaststroke that same day.

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He’s unimpressed with his physique, but wins bodybuilding competitions … at 90

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Jim Arrington, who was recognized as the planet’s oldest bodybuilder in 2015, explains how a ‘low opinion’ motivated him

Like many in the US who are grappling with pressure to look better, Jim Arrington is unimpressed with his physique – but he says that self-perception has motivated him to keep winning bodybuilding competitions at age 90.

The nonagenarian great-grandfather spoke about how he has achieved a level of physical fitness which is superior to that of many people more than half his age in an interview published on Wednesday by Guinness World Records, which first recognized him as the planet’s oldest bodybuilder in 2015.

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Body of US bushwalker, 78, found in NSW national park

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Woman went missing on Friday night and extensive ground, sea and air search located her body on Saturday near Pearl beach on Central Coast

A body found in bushland on the New South Wales Central Coast is believed to be a missing 78-year-old American tourist.

Police were initially notified on Friday night that the woman had gone missing while bushwalking. They were told she was in bushland near Middle Head between Pearl and Patonga beaches.

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Researchers warn of potentially fatal condition for open-water swimmers

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Swimming-induced pulmonary oedema involves the accumulation of fluid in the lungs of swimmers without it having been inhaled

A potentially life-threatening condition that can affect fit and healthy open-water swimmers causing them to “drown from the inside” may involve a buildup of fluid in the heart muscle, researchers have suggested.

Swimming-induced pulmonary oedema – SIPE – is a form of immersion pulmonary oedema and involves the accumulation of fluid in the lungs of swimmers without it having been inhaled. The condition is thought to be a result of increased pressure on the body’s blood vessels as a result of exertion, immersion and cold.

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GPs to prescribe walking and cycling in bid to ease burden on NHS

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Suggestion of activities to help improve mental and physical health part of wider movement of ‘social prescribing’

GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health.

The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities.

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‘It’s a crisis’: US summer pools closed or cut back amid lifeguard shortage

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Officials say not enough lifeguards to open pools safely but critics say decision to cut services during Covid has had knock-on effect

A nationwide shortage of lifeguards is forcing local pools across the US to close for the summer, according to reports.

In major cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and elsewhere, public pools are reducing their hours of operation, or shutting down entirely amid an apparent shortage of lifeguards.

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Female fighters to make boxing history at Madison Square Garden

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Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano face off in April at legendary New York venue where Ali fought Frazier

At the end of April, boxing history will be made. For the first time, two female fighters, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, will face off at New York’s legendary venue Madison Square Garden, in a fight that is predicted to supercharge the sport’s rapid rise in popularity.

For two women to go 10 rounds at the same venue where Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier – twice – and Rocky Marciano knocked out an ageing Joe Louis shows the remarkable, rapid progress that has taken place in the past two decades.

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Future of popular NSW walking track through sacred site in doubt after floods

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Wollumbin track reopening delayed after floods, while hikers asked to reconsider climb out of respect for Indigenous sacred place

The fate of one of northern New South Wales’s most popular walking tracks remains uncertain after authorities chose to delay a controversial decision regarding its future for the fourth time.

Situated near the flood-hit town of Murwillumbah, Wollumbin national park previously attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year, and its summit is renowned as the first place in Australia to catch the sunrise.

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Going places: 10 inspirational female adventurers

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To mark International Women’s Day on Tuesday, these great women offer inspiration on how to power up your own adventures

Rhiane launched the non-profit organisation Black Girls Hike in Bolton in 2019 to create a safe space for Black women to explore the outdoors and connect with nature. It’s now a nationwide organisation hosting hikes, training events and activity weekends, and she won a positive role model award for gender at the National Diversity Awards in 2021.

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‘Fascist fitness’: how the far right is recruiting with online gym groups

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Anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate says extremists present self-improvement as part of wider political struggle

The far right is increasingly recruiting via online fitness groups, whose popularity soared during the pandemic, prompting fears that new members are being radicalised to commit acts of violence, new analysis shows.

Researchers have detected a network of online “fascist fitness” chat groups on the messaging app Telegram with a large number directly linked to the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative, Britain’s biggest extreme right group.

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