Mooreabbey ladies celebrate International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day grew out of the labour movement to become a recognised annual event by the United Nations. The seeds of it were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who declared the first National Woman’s Day, a year later.
The idea to make the day international came from a woman called Clara Zetkin. She suggested the idea in 1910 at an international conference of working women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries, and they agreed on her suggestion unanimously. It was first celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we’re technically celebrating the 110th International Women’s Day. Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations started celebrating the day. International Women’s Day has become a date to celebrate how far women have come in society, in politics and in economics.
The global theme for International Women’s Day 2021 was Women in Leadership. Like ourselves, this year purple was the colour to symbolise women’s day. After the turmoil of 2020, it felt particularly important to stand together. So over last weekend we put on that purple colour, took leadership, grabbed our sons/daughters/mams/ dads/ husband/partner/people within our social bubble and got outside to lead them or challenged them in a fun walk/run/game/or an exercise routine.
MUSCLE AND MUSCLE FITNESS WITH TOM
Every single movement in your body is powered by muscles. Most movements use lots of different muscles, even when we sleep our muscles are working. Your heart beats 24/7 and you breathe from the day you are born to the day you die.
We sometimes take our bodies for granted and don’t keep ourselves in as good shape as we should. If you are carrying a little more weight than you should, just remember that your muscles are where fuel is burned. The bigger your muscles the more fuel you can burn. It only makes sense that if you want to burn off excess fat a trip to the gym to build some muscle is a good way to burn off that fuel. One thing that you should remember through this process is that muscle weighs more than fat so your weighing scales may not reflect your progress initially. So try not to focus too much on numbers at the start. It takes a little time to see results but it will all be worth it in the end.
The bigger the engine the more fuel can be burned, and movement is how this engine works best. The body is incredible, it is not like a car which can only burn one or maybe 2 different types of fuel. The body can turn almost everything you eat into energy. The body breaks down each fuel into sugars to burn them. However, it is important to note that the sugar in your tea is a simple
sugar and the sugars that your body works best on are complex sugars, also known as carbohydrates. The best sources of this fuel are fresh fruit and vegetables. In general, a healthy, balanced diet works best. If you just ate sugar it would put enormous stress on the body. We also need minerals and vitamins, proteins and lots more to keep the body in top condition. But what is a fit muscle and how do we get a muscle fit?
A fit muscle is a muscle that is strong, efficient and well fuelled. To make a muscle fit you have to work that muscle, keep it well hydrated and well supplied with good fuel. Muscles can be fit in different ways. A weight lifter will have really strong large muscles, but he may not be very aerobically fit. A sprinter may be really fast and strong but may not be fit enough to do two laps of a running track
without suffering. A marathon runner may be able to keep running for hours but would not be able to lift a fraction of the weight that a weight lifter can, and would probably not be able to run half as fast as a sprinter over a short distance.
So which is the best? The best exercise for you is the one that you will do. Probably the easiest place to start is to walk. Start small, the biggest mistake people make is to do too much too soon and for the next couple of days they are wrecked, feel sore all over and just give up.
So if you want to build some muscle, lift some weights and look muscular, go to a gym and get professional advice. The best way to do it is to work all the muscle groups. To build muscle you need to lift weights that are heavier than are comfortable to lift, maybe do half the muscle groups one day and the next day do the other half. A good rule of thumb to remember is high weight/low rep to build muscle, low weight/ high rep to develop muscle fitness. It may be comforting to know that for each hour you spend in the gym you will only need to lift weights for about 6 minutes of that hour. Your local gym should be able to advise you on exercise programmes and diet and nutrition guides.
To become a sprinter, you will also need to do some gym work, have you seen some of those people? All the top sprinters are big and strong but they don’t have to run huge mileage, in fact sprinting is considered anaerobic. Most sprinters will be finished their race before they even run out of breath. It’s hard to imagine that someone like Usain Bolt could be the fastest man in the world and may not have enough aerobic fitness to beat an average club runner in a mile race.
The other area of training is long distance running, cycling and swimming. I would be slow to recommend long distance training to a beginner. The mileage required to be good at these particular endurance distances needs to be built up over a long period of time, as the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. So, if you are just starting out and your ultimate goal is to complete a marathon, be patient with yourself and your training. I would suggest a training regime spread out over four years to reach this goal. This may seem like a lifetime but there are no shortcuts and to stay healthy and injury-free this is the best course of action in my opinion. Building endurance and fitness takes time and you just can’t rush it.
Any exercise realises endorphins into the system. These endorphins produce a feel-good factor. This means that after exercise
you feel better, both mentally and physically. So, this is a win-win all around. Next time Tom chats about off-road training.
CLUB REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Our door is open to all, from the amateur to the experienced. Adult and juvenile training with qualified coaches will resume as soon as regulations allow. For insurance
purposes juveniles have to be registered with the club, they can register in the year of their 7th birthday. €20 per juvenile, €30 per adult with family rates available. Registration forms/online links are available by messaging us on Messenger or by email to mooreabbeymilersac@ gmail.com. We look forward to welcoming both old and new back to the field when the time is right.