Learning to breathe correctly for daily living and for exercise is one of the most important things you can ever do to improve your health. I have spoken in great detail about this in numerous articles about breathing before, explaining how poor breathing mechanics can disrupt everything from PH balance, emotions and gut health, to posture, core function, and even how well we metabolise our food. Unfortunately, many people remain completely ignorant to learning good breathing techniques and do not even know what good breathing is, yet alone be able to execute it. What is the best technique? Well, just like everything to do with health and fitness there is no one way, or “only” way to do this. There are many different methods and philosophies of how to do this. Some are harder to learn than others, and many have a specific objective or population in mind for teaching the breathing method a particular way. However, the one thing that they all share in common is that you need to significantly slow your breathing rate down and keep your mouth closed. In this article, I will look at several different breathing methods and allow you to decide which version is best suited to you.

Many people will tell you the answer to this question is to join a Yoga class. To some degree they are right as there are many poses that demand these two skillsets, however, not all Yoga classes provide this and not all of the exercises will relate to functional movement. Holding a pose for set period of time is great, but the timing is not what you would encounter in a real-life situation that often moves fast and requires instantaneous reflexes. There are many people who come to see me for help who possess great flexibility but lack joint stability and control of movements. On the flip side of this are others who have incredible stiffness but lack mobility. Finding ways to improve both of these essential skills is critical for improving their movement efficiency so they can achieve their goals with health and fitness. In this article, I will share with you a workout I have used successfully with many people in the past. Not all of the exercises may relate to your specific needs so you can easily add or subtract exercises as you feel necessary.

Whenever I discuss the process of weight loss with someone one of the first things that always comes up is the role our metabolism plays. Very few people realise that metabolism has much more to do in the body than affect how much weight you lose or gain. Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. Even when your body is at rest, you are still using energy for basic functions such as breathing, circulating blood, and repairing cells. The energy your body uses for these basic functions is called your basal metabolic rate. The faster your metabolic rate, the easier it is to burn the foods you eat for energy and maintain a trim physique. There are many factors that contribute to this and in this article we will discuss the various things you can do to either improve your metabolic rate or maintain it as you age.