FIT IN THE CITY
FITNESS & DIET EXPERT
WE may be approaching the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but there are still plenty of fun, fabulous, fitness-based activities on offer that will enable you to contribute to this great cause. I’ve rounded up the best of the bunch still on offer: from pink bootcamps to bra binning to skydives. These will give you the ultimate feelgood factor.
You’ve still got nearly a week left to participate in Curves Gym bra recycling scheme. For every 1kg of bras (roughly 17 bras) that you donate, womens-only gym franchise Curves will match the donation by giving £1 to Breast Cancer Care. Bras in tip-top condition will be sent to developing countries (where bras are welcomed with open arms), while those that have seen better days will be recycled. For more info, visit curves.co.uk
If you fancy working out with a military trainer at the same time as doing your bit for charity, sign up for Sunday’s New You Bootcamp training day in Richmond Park. Tough, bootcamp-style exercise is all the rage nowadays; I think the combination of hard work and team spirit helps if you struggle to push yourself – and all proceeds from Sunday’s bootcamp will go to breast cancer charities. But if six hours of waist-whittling, disease-preventing exercise still isn’t enough of a pull, maybe the prospect of a hunky bootcamp sergeant sporting a bright pink T-shirt will be (newyoubootcamp.com).
Entry is now open for one of the most popular breast cancer fund raising events, the famous MoonWalk. The walks take place in London on 12 May and in Edinburgh on 9 June (it gets full quickly, by the way). This is a power walk (around 4/4.5 mph) of either half marathon or marathon distance that you get to do in your bra. So, what are the health benefits of power walking? As long as your heartbeat remains raised and you’re pushing forward at a brisk pace, you’re going to be giving your heart and lungs a good workout for starters. Power walking also burns around 400 cals an hour so you’ll be burning off that pre-walk brekkie too. Visit www.walkthewalk.org for more info.
But if walking, bootcamp-ing and bra recycling don’t sound high octane enough for you, what about skydiving? Breakthrough Breast Cancer organises everything from static line jumps to solo jumps all year round. Not just good for an almighty adrenaline hit, a skydive’s a pretty good workout too. Not only do you have to jump with a pack on your back, you also have to control, co-ordinate and position your body correctly in mid-air. Back, stomach, legs and shoulders will all benefit from some strength training in advance of your jump – a great incentive to head to the gym over the coming months. www.breakthrough.org.uk
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