When it comes to learning a musical instrument we know that technique is everything and coaching will make it so much easier to learn the necessary skills required. The learning process is simple in the beginning before gradually progressing to more complex skills as you improve. Simply playing more and hoping you just work it out will not make you a better guitar player. You need to learn the technique and spend time with fundamentals to get better. This exact principle applies to exercise, yet many ignore the need for learning technique in the sake of getting more done. This is a dangerous road to head down for if we lack fundamental movement skills and place more emphasis on quantity instead of quality we are now building fitness on a dysfunctional body. Unlike the musical instrument where poor technique just sounds bad, poor technique with exercise over a period of time inevitably leads to poor performance, injury and pain. Today’s society tend to treat exercise like going to war with their body, instead of trying to gradually challenge and allow the body to adapt. We forget there must be a balance between quality work and rest to ensure we move well. In this article we take a close look at everything to do with exercise technique and why quality beats quantity every time.

Having worked closely with older adults the past 5 years in our Stronger for Longer program we have seen  a real shift in the way seniors look at exercise, in particular strength training. It is fair to say the older population is EXTREMELY interested in not just maintaining their health and vitality as they age, but finding ways to improve it. Right at the top of the list of things that most seniors would like to improve is their leg strength. There has been many studies completed showing how leg-strength is associated with the ability to rise from a chair, walking speed, and risk of falling. These studies also show that deteriorating leg strength is a good predictor of frailty and mortality with older adults. Due to the cumulative effects of aging and physical inactivity a certain percentage of older adults struggle with performing many basic functional tasks such as walking and climbing stairs both requiring a fair degree of leg strength. Those who are unable to perform one task are much more likely to be unable to perform additional tasks and very quickly the likelihood of functional impairment increases. The good news is you can reverse this decline by using carefully selected strength exercises and in this article we will show you exactly how. The pictures and videos shown in this article are all from 70-80 year old clients in our Stronger for Longer program.

There is one thing that is guaranteed in life, we are going to get older. Good nutrition is vital for everyone, every day, but as we age good nutrition is more important than ever. Even though we are less active in the later stages of life, eating well is vital to ensure our body gets the optimal amount of vitamins and minerals needed for a quality life. The need to eat quality food increases as we age. A lot of people nowadays rely on medication to help them live longer, but are these people enjoying a quality life? In my opinion I'd rather live longer and live well, than just live longer. In this article we look closely at nutrition changes for older adults, and also asked our nutrition expert Mel to help explain what modifications older adults may need to consider to remain as healthy as possible. She also shares some of her amazing recipe ideas to give you many ideas of how to make healthy food taste great. Enjoy.