Could watercress be the key to exercise injury prevention?

The benefits of regular exercise are well documented, but the effects of intense training can often take their toll on your body, leaving you with niggling injuries and feeling fatigued.

Highly energetic exercise increases the demand on our body to produce energy to sustain activity. This increased demand can create a build-up of free radicals which may damage our DNA and contribute to ageing. New research by scientists at Edinburgh Napier University and Ulster University has found that watercress can help to prevent DNA damage caused by intense bouts of exercise.

Dr Mark Fogarty, from Edinburgh Napier’s School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences says, “Although we are all aware of how good exercise can be for our bodies, pounding the treadmill, lifting weights, or doing high levels of training can take its toll. What we’ve found is that consuming a relatively small amount of watercress each day can help raise the levels of important antioxidant vitamins which may help to protect our bodies, and allow us to enjoy the rewards of keeping fit.”

For eight weeks, ten healthy men, were given 85 grams of watercress and asked to participate in high level exercise on the treadmill. The results were then compared to an eight-week study that was conducted without watercress consumption. Findings indicate that participants who had taken part in intensive exercise, but had not consumed watercress, were found to have more DNA damage than those who had consumed watercress.

Additionally, the effect of eating watercress was not reliant on an accumulative build-up in our bodies, those that ate the vegetable just two hours before exercise experienced the same benefits as those who had consumed the vegetable for eight weeks.

In order to help our bodies prepare for the increased demand of intense training, it’s vitally important to warm up and cool down after each session and make sure that your body has enough time to recover.

Power Plate is an excellent tool to help you warm up and cool down and it’s also perfect for injury rehabilitation. Vibration training helps to increase your flexibility by allowing your muscles to contract and relax multiple times a second, increasing the blood circulation to your joints and muscles to enhance stretches and prevent injury.

Check out Power TV for all the latest Power Plate warm up and cool down exercises as well as new stretches and exercise programmes.

Posted by: Ashley
Under: Blogs, Our Stream, Scientific Research, Tips & Advice

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Exercise of the week!Dynamic lunge with stability ball

This integrated version of the lunge will challenge your stability and strength.

Posted by: Nush
Under: Our Stream

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Freshen up your weekend with Frae!

This weekend is set to be sunny and warm in London town so why not complement some outdoor exercise with a post-work out treat courtesy of our lovely friends at Frae frozen yoghurt.

Frae is the ultimate healthy snack, it’s fat-free and super delicious! Lovingly made on a British farm from real yoghurt, it’s the ultimate snack to keep you both satisfied and trim as the new season approaches.

Over the next two days we have 15 Frae vouchers to give away to redeem at any of their London-based stores. The voucher entitles you to a cup of their delicious frozen yoghurt and two healthy toppings of your choice!

All you have to do is post your best tips on our Facebook page on how to stay healthy the fun way. Whether it’s spicing up your diet or jazzing up your exercise routine – we want your most inspiring tips. We’ll pick the top seven suggestions today and top eight tomorrow and if you’re one of the lucky winners, we’ll post out your prize, easy! ** This competition is limited to our London audience and vouchers will be redeemable at any of Frae’s London locations:

• Kings Road
• Chelsea
• Notting Hill Gate
• Notting Hill
• Topshop, Oxford Circus
• Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge
• Camden Passage, Islington
• The Broadway, Hammersmith
• Boxpark, Shoreditch

Want to know more about Frae? Find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted by: Nush
Under: Our Stream

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Come and join Power Plate at this year’s Leisure Industry Week and be one of the first to experience the brand new pro7

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