The ‘core’ is an important group of muscles at the centre of your body (imagine a box surrounding the middle of your body). The specific muscles that make up the core are mainly the rectus abdominis (‘abs’), transverse abdominis (the deepest internal core muscle that wraps around your sides and ...

Malasana is a popular yoga pose which has many names; Garland Pose, Upavesasana and it's also commonly known as a 'Deep Squat', however the wider-foot stance adopted widely in the west definitely identifies it as Malasana. Eastern cultures have, for centuries worked, socialised and carried out ...

A foam roller is a compressed foam cylinder mostly used to increase flexibility and reduce muscle tightness and work through inflammation. Foam rolling is a self-applied exercise that reproduces a deep tissue massage. Using a foam roller before a workout increases flexibility, allowing you to get ...

To be able to stretch is imperative to help you mitigate the chances of injury, or pain. Flexibility is a key benefit of stretching, but there are numerous other reasons to stretch, especially just before a workout. Even if you're just going for a quick walk during your lunch break at work, (which ...

Many people think you have to be flexible to do yoga. In fact, this is probably one of the most common reasons people don’t do it, but yoga can actually help stiffness tremendously. Regular yoga practice can improve joint flexibility and reduce tension. You don’t have to do handstands and you don’t ...

Your core is a lot more important than you probably give it credit for, yet it's abs-olutely (sorry, couldn't resist that) key in virtually every movement your physical body performs. It helps give you a solid posture, so you can for example, handle increasing amounts of weight in the gym, it helps ...

Tight hip flexors are a common problem, especially if you're spending a lot of time in a seated position. When seated, your hip flexor muscles are in a shortened position which leads to them becoming tight and can result in lower back pain, hip pain and injury. Hip strength will increase when you ...

Ready to hear about another kind of yoga? Of course you are. Yin yoga is based around the concept of yin and yang (the cute symbol on your choker necklace, you know the one) in the sense that this practice involves being stable and unmoving, yet ever-changing and revealing at the same time. Yin ...

Pilates is a form of exercise that was originally developed in the early 1900's by Joseph Hubertus Pilates (born: 9th December, 1883 in Mönchengladbach, Germany), with the aim of helping the body to gain strength and flexibility. Joseph was a self-defence instructor during World War I, and he ...

Most of us this summer will have seen the beautiful Instagram pictures of stretchy people doing back bends in front of sun sets. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this practise, back bends usually involve lying on your back, stomach or knees, with the spine lengthening and stretching as you ...