Huge congratulations to Sarah, who has run the Great Glen Way (79 miles) in 4 days. Amazing resilience and determination after some really committed training. Brilliant personal achievement.

'HiiT & Run' - weighted circuits class now comes to Kelfield Institute on Tuesdays 6.30pm-7.15pm

A new Wholehearted walking group began in January and grows steadily. The group takes part in one organised walk per calendar month (on a Sunday). There are bonus walks throughout the year too and each group member gets a file to keep with details of each club walk in, for their own future reference. All of the walks are based in Yorkshire, within easy driving distance of the York & Selby area. Group members are offered the opportunity of walking breaks and events, should they wish to take part in them.

Yorkshire 3 Peaks team - you raised £2552.60 in sponsorship, which we handed over to Wendy in class this morning, shown here with two members of the 32 strong challenge team, Shan and Judith. The money will be spent on Wendy's 15 year old daughter, Natasha, who has a rare genetic condition called Angelman Syndrome. Natasha has learning difficulties, no speech and mobility, balance & co-ordination problems. Life can be a struggle and very frustrating for her. Wendy plans to buy a range of new equipment for Natasha with the sponsor money, as suggested by a specialist occupational therapist, including an iPad with communication software which with a lot of time and effort can give Natasha a voice and allow her to participate in life more fully.
We'll keep you up to date with the new equipment so hopefully you can see it in use. In the mean time, thank you so much to all that trained hard to complete the Yorkshire 3 Peak Challenge for Natasha - your blisters, aching legs and sunburn will make a huge difference to a lovely young lady with a very challenging life.
Fantastic work 'Wholehearted Y3P team' - you're all very amazing.

​Huge congratulations to John & Diane, who have lost 55cm in body measurements between them since they started training together just before the summer. 
Brilliant fun to work - they encourage and help each other and laugh a lot - some fantastic results to date!!

​Your body will work hard to accommodate you, no matter what you do - that's it's job - so, following the initial swear and involuntary shiver do your job too - get your base layers on and enjoy the benefits of cold weather work.
Boost your immune system, through regular exercise and you're likely to feel better over the winter period.
You'll burn more calories as your body works hard to maintain it's core temperature.
You'll strengthen your heart as it works harder to distribute blood.
You'll get a good dose of Vitamin D - need to get it where we can over winter.
You'll feel happier - cold weather exercise can boost your mood as your body works hard to stay warm, the amount of endorphins also increases, leaving you smiling.
You'll build tolerance to the cold but only if you get out there regularly, so as the winter develops, prepare well, layer up and get going with whatever it is that you enjoy doing.

Great fun at St Leonard's Hospice event 'Bubble Rush 2016'

Lots of our Wholehearted boxers turned out in force last Saturday to raise money for local Selby based charity 'Spirit of Christmas', with their weekend workout raising over £100 for the charity, which runs Christmas parties for families facing financial hardship.

Get some cherry juice into your diet.
It can accelerate recovery following an endurance event and promote recovery and prevent muscle damage, following heavy weight training.
Flavonoids and anthocyanins in cherry juice improve cell health and prevent muscle oxidative damage and inflammation associated with exercise 
(American journal of clinical nutrition - May 2016)
Particularly effective if you're increasing effort and changing distance / weights / routine. I've used it after endurance events and find it good for recovery (though like anything you never know how you would have felt without it!).
A great addition nutritionally, so I'm going with it. Give it a go.