April Newsletter

Hiya and welcome to April in class  it’s been a brilliant March in the classes, lots of laughs along with some great workouts, I went along to the Move it convention at Olympia, three halls full of dance workshops, displays and lessons and I was so inspired, so much energy and so many dance styles, and to go with this I have just taken delivery of some new music for classes, Diva fever is going to hit our sessions! This music will get you singing along and make the classes fly by, it is great for the Latino classes and I can use CD2 for step and the body toning classes. Talking of music I have also had some rather special music for the relaxation, I am especially enjoying those tracks.

While I am writing this, I am watching a programme about short tourist trips into space, at a cost of £125,000. If you had that kind of money to throw around, would you go up and look down on earth? How do you think it would make you feel?

Did you have lemon juice on your pancake? I hope so, it will have increased your intake of calcium from the milk in the pancakes. We absorb about 30-50% of the calcium in our diet, this become more of a problem as we age, as stomach acid decreases with age, and we need stomach acid to absorb the calcium. Pouring lemon juice over the pancakes boosts the acidity in our gut and helps increase calcium absorption.

Class of the month – ahhhh, my Friday morning team, who work so hard at the end of the week, and dealt with a 10 minute boot camp section last week, tough love indeed!
Client of the month – has to be Sonia Harvey, who ran round all day in a wonderful pair of gold hotpants, to raise money for Comic Relief, she did the morning step class and the evening Pilates class, and looked great in both.

Missing classes – due to Easter, Royal Wedding and A gym trip to Slovakia, some classes are affected, there will be no adult classes on the following days.
Gymnastic trip to Slovakia - Thurs 14th, Fri 15th, Mon 19th - Gymnastics as normal!
Easter - Fri 22nd, Mon 25th . – Gymnastics on sat as normal
Royal Wedding - Fri 29th – No gymnastics
Bank Holiday - Mon 2nd (May) – No gymnastics
This is going to really hit the Friday Girls  so maybe try another class that week, we do Pilates on Thursday 8-9pm at the Potteries, or instead of the Friday morning step class, try the Monday evening class, or the wed evening body toning session.

Stress Incontinence – if you don’t know what this is count yourself lucky, if you worry when you sneeze or cough, you are definitely not alone. However you do not have to suffer in silence, pelvic floor exercises can help, if after a few weeks they are not helping, then seek medical help,
PELVIC FLOOR
The pelvic floor is a hammock of muscle that sits between the pubic bone through to the coccyx or tail bone. Within this band are three important bands of muscle; one around the urethra (where you pass urine), one around the vagina and one around the back passage. To train these muscles may feel strange to begin with, but with daily training will prevent an embarrassing leak of urine when coughing or sneezing in the future!
Action
Draw the muscles around the back passage, hold them tight and continue to add the muscles of the vagina and urethra, as if you are bursting for the toilet. Hold these muscles in for a count of three and release them slowly from front to back. As you draw the muscles in, breathe normally and don’t hold your breath. Repeat this as many times as possible through the day. You can never do too many!
One way of checking whether the muscles have good tone is to stop the flow whilst passing urine. DO not do this more than twice a week as it can cause irritation to the urethra.

Homework – Healthy spine, shoulders and flatter abs,
A lovely sequence of moves that can be completed ay time of day, perform between 5-10 cycles, and feel free to modify the cobra, by bending the elbows, remember to pull abs up and in. Hold each position while for one breathe in and move slowly into the next as you breathe out, the sequence is designed to flow smoothly, and really open up the back, chest and shoulders. After the cobra return to the child pose
1) Child pose 2) The Plank,
3) Downward facing dog 4) Cobra

Yoga has its last class of the term on Tuesday 5th April and we start back for a 5 week term on Tuesday 26th April, £20. 

Tesco and Sainsbury Vouchers, we are collecting both of these for the gym club, so please bring any of yours in –thank you.

Easter Raffle – Amazing hampers are being made up for Easter, so grab your raffle tickets asap.

Stay and Play – for non gymnastic club members. We have now opened the gym with all the soft play and equipment to toddlers, on Fridays 12.30-2.30pm, its a great way to let toddlers play in a safe and fun environment.

Catch more food, fitness and health tips on www.debbiesaunders.co.uk and be sure to leave your comments and messages on the facebook site, Debbie Saunders Workouts.