Beat those change-of-season sniffles

Autumn has arrived suddenly and those cool mornings and nights are playing havoc with our bodies. Boost your immune system with some good info from our:

• Health magazines on Zinio, Press Reader, Health databases and our library catalogue
• Books and eBooks on health
• Keep your fitness up
• Healthy home, healthy you

Or search our catalogue for specific health terms.

Local groups with a health focus

• Healthy Christchurch
• Christchurch City Council Healthy Home Assessment
• Community Energy Action
• Health groups and agencies in Community Information Christchurch (CINCH)

Make sure you have plenty of sleep, eat well, exercise, keep warm and retain social contacts. If you’re in an at risk group, you may be able to get a free flu vaccine.

Winter is coming!

Crossfit at the Library

Chances are you will have heard of Crossfit. It will either strike fear to your bones or have you salivating, depending on what side of the fence you sit (or jump ) on. Perhaps you have tuned into the Crossfit games, labeled rather grandiously as the “premier test to find the Fittest on Earth”, personally I would rather stick needles in my eyes, but each to their own.

Crossfit runs, jumps, pulls and pushes beside its slightly friendlier cousin HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Gone are those long hours spent quietly slogging away on the treadmill or bike, now it’s all over in 30 minutes max and you are left in a pool of sweat, gasping for breath and wondering “why? why? why”?

Crossfit comes with its own language…

Training takes place at The BOX…whatever you do, do not call it a gym, gyms are for sissies. The box is where you do WODS (workouts of the day) and AMRAPS (As many reps as possible) and you embrace the SUCK…ie you get to feel really really bad.

I am not particularly enamoured of the trend. My daughter has joined up and I have been abandoned to muddle my way around the gym on my own, so I am feeling a bit bereft, however in an attempt to get to grips what is obviously appealing to many here is a list of crossfit and HITT titles.

Having a bad hair day? Need a makeover? A new look for summer?

You don’t need to host mice in your locks to have a bad hair day!

Christchurch City Libraries may just have the solution for you.

Check out our many books, e-books, dvds and magazines on do-it-yourself:

• hair and beauty
• manicures and pedicures
• making your own beauty products at home
• health and exercise programmes
• home fashion design

These are just a small sample of the many resources we have on our shelves. So, how about giving it a go? It’s inexpensive and very rewarding. Be adventurous – try something new and do it for you!

Trim down this Summer

Summer’s here. It’s time to get out and enjoy the good weather. Maybe you’re a little worried how you’ll look in your lighter clothes or still feel sluggish after winter.

Try eating better to lose weight and get fit.

Join a dance class.

Get stuck into the garden.

Whatever you do this Summer, get out in it. Every little bit of exercise helps even just playing with the kids or the dog, but most of all – enjoy!

Time to go awandering

The best thing about spring is being able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air without having to don hat, coat, gloves and three jerseys over head-to-toe polypropylene. Walking to work now seems more like a happy possibility than an inevitable grind. Gardens are flowering, birds are singing and fellow walkers pass with a cheery wave and ‘Morning!’ rather than a furrowed brow and a dripping nose.

Christchurch has some wonderful walkways which are well worth exploring. Many of these have been repaired since the earthquakes and they’re a great way of getting out and about in the city. There are walking groups catering for every level of fitness. Take for example the Sunday Walking Group which meets weekly or the thirty minute Walk and Talk programme for people wanting to combine exercise with some social interaction.

If you’re already fighting fit and in need of a challenge, there are tramping groups that head to the hills for day hikes or longer. Walking sports such as race or Nordic walking are guaranteed to give even the hardiest outdoor pursuiter a great workout. These groups are a great way of getting to know like-minded souls.

It seems the whole of Christchurch is getting into walking mode. The Breeze Walking Festival starts next weekend with a programme that celebrates everything the Eastern suburbs have to offer. There are 22 walks taking in the wildlife, local history, forest and coastline around Pegasus Bay and three ultimate walking prize packs to be won.

In the meantime, why not take a mellow stroll around the Christchurch Botanical Gardens? The blossoms are out and the magnolias are looking splendid. The Gardens would be my favourite walking spot. What’s yours?

Get ya geek on: Really useful resources for NCEA Physical Education

Taking NCEA Physical Education this year? Get fitter, faster, stronger and smarter with these great resources.

• Study your way to success by borrowing an NCEA Physical Education study guide from one of our community libraries now open;
• We also have all sorts of sports, fitness and health books, magazines and DVDs;
• Get inspired on The Pulse;
• Health Reference Center Academic provides access to articles on fitness and more;
• Learn the secrets of the world’s best athletes on our website;
• NZQA can coach you through your NCEA assessments;
• Create a training plan tailored to you at ActiveSmart;
• ACC offers good, commonsense tips for preventing injuries while being active;
• Check out sports and fitness news and research on Everybody.co.nz.

Want some more really useful resources for another NCEA subject? Go to The Pulse, the library’s website for teens.

Fire up your internal heater

Winter is fast approaching and if you’re anything like me you reckon it’s going to be pretty cold.  It feels natural to go into hibernation mode and wrap yourself up with warm clothes, warm blankets and eat substantial one pot meals sitting by a warm fire (or heatpump).  But let’s be honest here, that can pile on the kilos.

So how about some light exercise out in the elements or in our cosy homes to keep us slightly fit and motivated? It doesn’t have to cost anything. Your library has many books on walking around Christchurch and its surrounds, running, cycling, and home exercise.

How about joining a local walking group? There are many walking groups around Christchurch and surrounds with differing levels of exercise, some even have a speaker and a cup of tea afterwards.

So instead of turning up the heater, get your internal heater fired up!

Get fit 2010

The New Year is here, and I’m looking forward to another year of exercise. Yes, this couch potato does have an exercise programme which I have followed for over two years. For many people the New Year is the time of resolutions, and the resolution to get fit is possibly the most common. There is lots of advice out there on the internet, our web site and in books, but we are all different. This is how I managed to put exercise into my life.

First it is very important to know why you want to exercise more. We all know that it is important but why is exercise important to me?  Here are my reasons for exercising:

• to go tramping. Despite my official couch potato status I like tramping but was not able to enjoy it because of my lack of fitness.
• fix up my knee, which hurt while tramping and during everyday life.