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Great Gifts

Garmin  Forerunner 305

Garmin Forerunner 305Arguably the most advanced training aid on the market. Monitor your speed, pace, distance and also your heart rate and use a series of features designed to help you get the most from your training.
Price £255
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Hilly Twin Skin Anklet

Hilly Twin Skin AnkletTwo layered technical socks to keep your keep comfortable for mile after mile.
Price £8.95
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Ultralife Detox

Ultralife DetoxUltralife Detox is one of the most effective cleansing and detoxification products available. It has been scientifically developed to improve digestion, bowel function and eliminate toxins.
Price £9.25
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Garmin  Forerunner 205

Garmin Forerunner 205Use cutting edge technology to monitor your training with this speed distance system. It does far more than tell you how far and how fast you have run!
Price £200

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Hilly Runners Pouch

Hilly Runners PouchVersatile running pack suitable for carrying a range of items such as a mobile phone/iPod/mp3 player and plus larger items in the main compartment. Price £17.50
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Ultralife Max

Ultralife MaxThe ultimate sports nutrition and energy drink, combining bioactive vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, ginseng and other potent nutrients for the very best in sports nutrition!
Price £ 12.55
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Walking For Fitness

Page 1: Walking for fitness

Many people feel they ‘can’t run’ or if they try to run feel that they are ‘hardly moving’.

Very often people are far too harsh on their own abilities. There is no need to let the fact you are not Paula Radcliffe be a barrier to your getting fit. As with all fitness routines all you need to do is develop a sustainable schedule that suits you're level of fitness so that you can stick to it and build fitness. Walking for fitness is a very positive way of having a healthier lifestyle.

Stage one for many people can be to 'just' go out walking. In fact there is no 'just' about it. As soon as you are doing this you are doing far more than the majority of the population!

The main factor in determining how many calories you burn each time is not how fast you go but how far you go (although the faster you cover a given distance the more calories you do burn). So the first thing to consider is how far to go. Start with walking a distance you know you can manage three or four times a week.

Walk faster than you normally would to begin with and aim to gradually up your pace over the course of a month or so.

As your pace increases you will be able to move more towards ‘power walking’ this will see you adopting this technique:

  • Keep your head up, focussing your eyes straight ahead will help and keep your neck relaxed. Imagine someone was pulling gently on a hook on the top of your head and this will help you get the right posture from head to toe.
  • Keep your shoulders relaxed and do not slouch them forward or let them tighten and rise up.
  • Bend your arms to slightly less than 90 degrees and swing them backwards and forwards keeping your hands relaxed
  • Your hips will rotate/wiggle as you walk. This will happen naturally so don’t try to prevent it or exaggerate it
  • Let your feet hit the ground directly under the middle of your body (centre of gravity) as though you were walking along a line.
You should be slightly breathless as you walk, able to have a light conversation with a few breaths needed in longer sentences. Find someone to walk with to help your motivation, build you confidence, add a social dimension and reduce any feelings of self consciousness.

Remember you’ll burn more calories in two miles fast walking than in a mile of running so building up distance is a good way to lose weight and build fitness. Only increase a little at a time and do not make all your walks the same length. Over the course of a fortnight mix some longer walks with shorter ones. If you find yourself getting overtired back off for a week before building up the training again and don’t go out if you feel ill. It slows down your recovery and you risk making yourself more ill.

So go out, lose your hang ups and keep building up your fitness.

Walking, power walking and people who want to mix walking and running are all covered in our coaching section with Sonia O'Sullivan. You can select from a variety of goals and the training schedule will be adjusted to match your fitness level.

Great value for Money from Sports Fitness

We at Sports Fitness have reduced the prices on all our running shoes so that you can get the best products at great prices NOW!

With a stack of top sports clothing and accessories also available at www.sports-fitness.com Stocks are limited so act fast.

Nike Air Pegasus

Nike Air Pegasus

The Pegasus is the best selling cushioning shoe of all time. Great cushioning and a stable feel for a neutral shoe. Good protection and enough responsiveness for when you want to push the pace. A well designed outsole means the shoe is suitable for running on varied terrain too!

adidas Supernova GCS

Adidas Supernova GCS

adidas's top support shoe is their ground breaking GCS and it's a cracker. The GCS system deals with impact forces and starts controlling pronation from the moment your foot hits the ground! There’s adiPRENE+ cushioning for even more protection – a great ride.

Nike Air Vomero

Nike Air Vomero

Designed to bring all the benefits of Nike’s legendary Air cushioning and the Control At Origin technology that gives comfort from the moment your foot hits the ground. But the shoe also gives the freedom of allowing the foot to move naturally giving a beautifully smooth feel to the shoe.

Nir Air Zoom Percept

Nike Air Zoom Percept

A women's shoe combining of the principles behind the Pegasus and Free (the Nike shoe designed to train your foot to work more naturally). But there’s extra cushioning and stretch panels in the upper to make the overall feel a real delight.

Adidas Supernova Cushion

Adidas Supernova Cushion

This is a shoe that gives great cushioning whether you are running the miles on the road or on the treadmill. The shoe is also spot on for when you want to push the pace.

Nike Air Structure Triax

Nike  Air Structure Triax

Great cushioning comes from Air units in the heel and forefoot plus a PU 'Crash Pad'. Then for support the Structure Triax has a combination of features including medial support, specially placed flex grooves and forefoot WARP.

Adidas Response Cushion

Adidas Response Cushion

Highly effective running shoe that shows why the Response range has been a 'go to' line for runners for years.

Adidas Response Extra

Adidas Response Extra

A new Response shoe that includes cushioning from adiPRENE and adiPRENE+ and adidas' Pro-Moderator system to guide your foot through it's correct movement.

Adidas Nova Cushion

Adidas Nova Cushion

A great shoe at this price! Good cushioning and protection with a smooth feel to the shoe.

 

 

 

Walking for fitness
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Looking for a Challenge?

Looking For a Challenge

With the New Year on the way it’s time to be picking your next challenge.

Take a look at the Sports Fitness events section to find your next test of fitness or act of planned craziness.

Just click here


If you want our recommendations you should take a look at the Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K, Trollers Trot 25, Milton Keynes Half, or Offas Orror.

Looking for a Buddy?

Searching for a Buddy?

If you want some encour- agement, support, and banter to help you stick to those New Year's Resolutions we have just the thing – Sports Fitness Partners.

You can swap messages with kindred spirits through our secure system which means you can check their profile before accepting their messages, don’t have to share your email and can 'bar' people at any time.

Just click here to register