A friendly game of soccer works off more fat and builds up more muscle than jogging, new research shows.

Danish scientists, who conducted their research on 37 men, also found the soccer players felt less tired after exercising than the joggers because they were having more fun.

This is good news for men who prefer to play football (soccer) with their mates,” said Dr. Gary O’Donovan, a sports medicine expert at the University of Exeter who was not connected to the study.

To measure how hard the men were working out, the researchers strapped heart monitors to their chests and compared blood samples and muscle tissue before and after matches and jogging sessions. Click here for full report.

The Exercise Bike is an indoor piece of equipment that simulates the action of cycling.

It is very popular in gyms and can be purchased for home use. You can use the bike to get a great cardiovascular workout. It’s a low impact machine which means that there is less stress placed on your joints when exercising.

Exercise bikes have the advantage of being smaller than other cardiovascular machines such as a treadmill, or elliptical trainer.

Exercise bikes can help you to get the maximum benefit from your workout within the time available. When you’re on the bike you are in control of your session. You can repeat a session and compare your performances.

The bike provides you with a cardiovascular workout and engages the major muscles of your legs.

Most good exercise bikes have the following features:

• Variable resistance levels
• Console that displays elapsed time, distance, revs per minute, calories burned, power output
• Pre-programmed workouts
• Heart rate monitoring
• Adjustable seat
• Pedals with adjustable toe straps

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and adidas today announced that adidas has become the latest Tier One Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games – becoming Official Sportswear Partner.

A host of international sports stars attended the central London launch including World sprint Champions Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix alongside legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, British sprint hopeful Craig Pickering, gold medal winning decathlete Daley Thompson, Paralympic hopeful Shelly Woods and BMX rider Shanaze Reade.

To celebrate the announcement adidas turned various parts of the capital into unexpected sports venues. The Millennium Bridge became a 100m track, there was pole vaulting over London buses in Horse Guards Parade and Olympic 2012 hopeful Louis Smith hung under Marble Arch. Flash Judo sprung up in Covent Garden, there was fencing on the Centre Point and BMX bikes raced around a track floating on the Thames. Read more »

Influenza, or flu, is a highly infectious disease that occurs mainly in winter months and infects up to 10% - 15% of the UK Population.

Most people recover within 1 - 2 weeks, but in people who have already got lower immunity due to treatment or disease, then complications can arise. In the UK approximately 3,000 to 4,000 deaths are due to complications caused by flu during a typical winter.

A flu vaccination gives protection for up to a year. The best time to be vaccinated is between September and November, just before the winter period when flu is more prevalent. You should not wait until there is a flu epidemic before being vaccinated.

The Department of Health (DoH) recommends that the following people be vaccinated each year to protect them against flu:

• people aged 65 years and over
• adults and children who have one or more of the following conditions: chronic chest conditions including asthma, diabetes, heart, liver, neurological or kidney disease or lowered immunity due to disease or treatment
• people living in a residential or nursing home
• healthcare workers
• carers who receive a carers allowance or those who are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk in the carer falls ill.

If you think you need a flu vaccination, speak to the receptionist at your GP practice or occupational health department.

Source: gsk

Kettler have just launched their new range of multi-gyms that includes the new Basic E Power Centre, the Ultra E and the Ultra Pro E.

All three models come with the new Gymmonitor computer that allows you to store settings for 6 different exercises and data for upto 4 people.

The Gymmonitor measures time, exercise repeats, raining sets, display of weight per repeat and total weight. An audible signal is heard when the target range is reached.

The Kettler BASIC Powercentre (right) is a compact power pack that occupies less than 1.5 square meters and has an 80Kg weight stack. RRP £750 / €1073

The Ultra E (left) is a complete workout centre for the home that allows you to work the major muscles of your chest, back, legs, arms and shoulders. The 80Kg weight stack can be further increased to 100kg for a more intense workout. RRP £995 / € 1423

The ULTRA-PRO E (right) is a complete fitness studio that occupies 4 square metres. Due to two weight blocks independent of each other it’s possible for 2 people to exercise at the same time. Now you have no excuse for not working out with a friend. RRP £1500 / €2146

Buying a multi-gym is a significant investment and can be a daunting experience. With so many different brands and types to choose from it’s difficult to know which is the right one for you. However, if you follow a few guidelines then you should be able to narrow your choice and select a multi-gym meets your needs.

Why do I want a multi-gym?
It may seem obvious, but make sure you ask yourself this question before you decide to buy a multi-gym. They’re not cheap and you’re probably going to have to set aside a significant area of your house or garage to accommodate it.

However, there’s no doubt that if you invest in a multi-gym you can save yourself a shed load of money rather than joining a gym.

Read more »

It may not be the first supplement to be called a “wonder vitamin”, but it is one of the few to have lived up to the name. Last week, the biggest review of the role of vitamin D in health found that people who took supplements of the vitamin for six years reduced their risk of dying from all causes.

Overall mortality

It was the proof that researchers had been waiting for. Earlier studies had suggested that vitamin D played a key role in protecting against cancer, heart disease and diabetes – conditions that account for 60 to 70 per cent of all deaths in the West.

The new study, by scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and published in Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that it does.

The review of 18 trials involving 57,000 people found that those who took the supplements had an 7 per cent lower risk of death overall during the six-year period of the study. Click here for full report.

Most UK adults are so unwilling to exercise that not even the threat of an early death is enough to get them off the sofa, a survey suggests.

Only 38% of people questioned by YouGov said they would do more exercise if their life depended on it.

And British Heart Foundation figures show only a third of people manage to do enough exercise to achieve the minimum recommended amount.

Experts warned inactivity is dangerous even in those who are a healthy weight.

Click here for full report.

In simple terms your maximum heart rate (MHR) is the highest number of times your heart can beat in a minute. It is genetically determined. In other words you are born with it and it will vary from person to person.

There are a number of ways you can determine your maximum heart rate. These include:

• Laboratory testing
• Comfortable pace test/Graded three point test
• Mathematical formula

Laboratory testing
A laboratory test will normally be conducted on a treadmill or an ergometer. Studies have shown that MHR on a treadmill is consistently 5 to 6 beats higher than on a bicycle ergometer and 2 to 3 beats higher than on a rowing ergometer.

Laboratory testing is normally conducted by a Sports Scientist and is usually performed on conditioned athletes, i.e. individuals who have been training for many years. Typically, these tests will take you to your maximum where you are unable to continue with the workload that is applied. Read more »

Children as young as 15 months should be screened for high cholesterol in an attempt to cut the number of Britons suffering from heart disease, doctors say today.

A national screening programme, which would involve a blood test for babies, possibly at the same time as routine vaccinations such as MMR, could help to slash the number of people in the UK with heart disease caused by hereditary high cholesterol, according to the doctors, who publish their work online in the British Medical Journal.

About two in every 1,000 people are affected by familial hypercholesterolaemia, which carries a high risk of a build-up of cholesterol in the blood and premature death from heart disease. But it is difficult to ascertain who in the population has the genetic disorder.

David Wald, a consultant cardiologist and senior lecturer at the Wolfson institute of preventive medicine at the University of London, and colleagues carried out a study to find out the best way to screen for the disorder. They reviewed 13 studies involving a total of 1,907 people with hereditary high cholesterol and 16,221 without.

Click here for full report