Essentials: Fitness at home

Back in January, I joined a gym close to work. I figured that it'd be the perfect motivator to get me out of the office during my lunch break and free up the time I used to spend working out at home in the evenings. Since joining, I can count on both hands the number of times I've been, and what's more surprising, I found myself missing my evening workouts at home. For me, 30 minutes of yoga or cardio when I got home from the office was the perfect antidote to a stressful day, and is a routine that I've really relished reviving. Needless to say, I've cancelled my membership, and thought I'd share with you my essential kit for the perfect home workout. More importantly, all this works out at less than my monthly membership!

I've accumulated this equipment over a number of years as I've realised what works for me and will help me get the best from my training, so if you're looking to build a home routine, please don't rush out and buy everything here! Instead, take some time to work out what you enjoy and take it slowly from there. I consider these things my essentials: yours may look completely different, but hopefully this provides you with a bit of inspiration.

My fitness routine is a blend of weight training, cardio and yoga, and the combination is more to keep things interesting for me than some expertly crafted blend of exercises. For me, finding what feels good and what you enjoy is the key to a successful fitness routine, as you need an iron will to stick with a training programme that you don't enjoy! I try and run once a week, do at least one session with my kettlebell and one 30 minutes session of yoga - although I make time to stretch everyday. I'm definitely a solitary exerciser which makes working out at home perfect for me. Plus you can get as sweaty, red-faced and noisy as you like without ever feeling self-conscious!

So, onto the kit! The picture above shows (clockwise from bottom left) an 8kg kettlebell, Magnesium Oil spray, an Everlast 3lb hand weight, and a Gaiam yoga block. The kettlebell is by Matt Roberts (unfortunately, they're not available anymore), but you can pick them up from Amazon from around £15. This is honestly the best bit of home exercise equipment I've ever used, and I saw a massive change in my physique within a couple of weeks of training with this. I read some time ago that 8kg is the perfect weight for women starting to train, but I was pretty sceptical that I could do anything with it when I got it - it was so heavy! Although the first few sessions were very tough, I pushed through and am so glad I got that weight, as anything less would have quickly become too light. As well as resistance training, it really gets your heart rate up, and is therefore the perfect cardio exercise if you live in a flat, and don't want to be leaping about the place and disturbing your neighbours!

The Magnesium Oil is a recent additional and one that I know I will now never be without. Most of us are deficient in magnesium, but this mineral is essential for muscle repair. I find spraying this onto my body after I've showered helps keep almost all the post-workout aches at bay and it's improved the quality of my sleep considerably. This one is from Better You and costs around £12.00.

Next are the Everlast hand weights, which I've had for years (again, these have been discontinued but Calmia have an almost identical set of two for £6.99). I tend to use these when I'm doing sit ups or lunges at home, which helps up the intensity of your workout. Lastly, I think a yoga block is a fantastic addition for all you at-home yogis. It really helps you to progress into slightly deeper stretches, and is great to help stabilise you. Having two is probably more beneficial for certain postures, but I've never struggled with one. It's also great if you need to get something down from a high shelf! You can get the same one I have for £5.30 here.

If you're going to do yoga at home, it goes without saying that a mat is essential. I haven't photographed mine, but again, it's from Gaiam and it retails for £24.99. You can pick them up much more cheaply than this (I was sent this to review a few years ago), but I'd say it's worthwhile investing in a mat that's at least 5mm thick, as they're much more comfortable to work on.

The photo above shows my beloved Bed of Nails pillow (I also have the mat), which is the perfect way to de-stress. The pillow and the mat are covered in plastic 'spikes' to deliver the most heavenly accupressure - don't worry; you want be full of holes when you stand up! Just don't make the mistake of wriggling to the side while you're lying on it, as it does scratch! I got both of mine from Amazon (the pillow was £19 and the mat was £35). You can read more about Bed of Nails here.

Next are my Gaiam grippy yoga mitts (if you're prone to a sweaty paw, these are for you!) and a yoga strap to help stretch out my hamstrings and back, but you can use this to help you deepen into all sorts of postures. I picked both of these up from TK Maxx for next to nothing, but they can both be found online cheaply (and you can use a belt or scarf instead of the yoga strap!)

Lastly, I have a few videos I go back to time and time again. This kettlebell workout from Fitness Blender is incredible, but boy will you sweat! For yoga, it's anything and everything from Yoga with Adrienne - she's got such a great, easy style, but her videos are still a great challenge.

I hope you found this useful, and do let me know your favourite workout resources and at-home kit in the comments below!

Health: Winter

Hands up if you are prone to coughs, colds, sniffles and generally feeling a bit 'ick' in winter? *raises hand*

I love the colder months, but absolutely loathe the number of bugs that start to spread at this time of year. At the start of last winter, I was working for a big University and I seemed to be constantly fighting one bug or another, so this year, I'm taking action with Operation Zap that Cold! If your health suffers at the onset of winter, read on!

The reasons why we are more prone to infection in the winter are varied: we spend more time indoors where UV light is unable to kill some viruses, air conditioning units spread viruses across buildings, our diets change and often include less fruit and vegetables, and children returning to school is obviously a hotbed for bacteria spreading! All in all, making it through the winter without a sniffle is a tough challenge. My fight this year begins with taking a cocktail of supplements to give my body a much needed immunity boost.

I'm currently taking Vitamin C and a high dose of Echinancea to keep the bugs at bay. Vitamin C is an essential element for a healthy immune systems, and Echinacea is proven to reduce the risk of catching a cold by half. Bee Propolis and Blue Green Algae supplements are also excellent anti-viral supplements, but I stopped taking both given the high dosages required (bee propolis is taken up to 8 times a day!). Taking a daily zinc supplement helps the body to fight off rogue viruses, but you can also get zinc from your diet by eating lean meat, cereals and seafood. Bright coloured vegetables not only add a bit of vibrancy to your meals but give you a much-needed boost of essential vitamins: make sure to add red, orange and dark green vegetables to your daily diet.

Although they've been on sale in every chemist since the outbreak of swine flu, alcohol hand gels are not always recommended by medics on the grounds that they reduce our immunity to bacteria that the body can easily fight off. A very senior medical colleague of mine once said to me that we shouldn't even wash our hands that often, which really made me think twice about tucking into the sandwich platter he'd just unwrapped! They're also incredibly drying for skin, so if you can, avoid using them unless you have an immune deficiency that requires you to do so.

Finally, if you are a glasses or contact lens wearer, you can take comfort in knowing that you at a reduced risk of picking up bugs than those of us who don't wear them. The eyes are one of the easiest routes for infection into the body, so you have a handy first line of defence!

Image courtesy of listzblog.com