1) Go hand in glove
Reason: Several. Firstly, padded cycling gloves help protect your ulnar nerve; the part of this nerve in your hand can get compressed as you lean on the handlebar, causing numbness. Secondly, if you decide to go hands-on with the tarmac, you’ll leave less skin and more grit behind if gloves are there to take the brunt. Gloves also help prevent blisters. And help you get a grip on things, of course.
2) Regularly move your hands around the handlebars
Reason: Again, this helps prevent compression of the ulnar nerve. Use to the full your drop bars or aero bars if you have them. Regularly moving your hands also helps you keep the upper hand on blisters.
3) Don’t burst blisters
Reason: Human nature, yet you are increasing your chances of the area becoming infected.
4) Wear sunscreen
Reason: Sure, this tip partly depends on your choice of gloves, but many people overlook the finger/back of hand/wrist area in the ritual smearing on of the Factor 50, in spite of the fact that parts of this area might be taking the full force of the sun’s rays for most of the ride.
5) Don’t fall off
Reason: You really need to ask?
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
The Benefits of TV
Not all television-watching is bad for a child. Here are some ways it may actually be of benefit to their sporting performance:
* Allowing children to watch their sporting heroes in action can be a great motivating force in getting them to take part in sport themselves.
* If the child is old enough, you could explain some technique/strategy points while they are watching. Watching an expert is a tried and tested path to improving performance at anything. If the child is really keen on doing well in a certain sport, you could even purchase specific instructional videos for them to watch.
* If you have access to a video camera, another excellent use of television is to film the child taking part in the sport and review the tape with them later, pointing out where they could improve. Many elite sportspeople make use of this method. Watching yourself from ‘outside’, in slow-motion if need be, is often the only way to understand and eradicate certain flaws.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
* Allowing children to watch their sporting heroes in action can be a great motivating force in getting them to take part in sport themselves.
* If the child is old enough, you could explain some technique/strategy points while they are watching. Watching an expert is a tried and tested path to improving performance at anything. If the child is really keen on doing well in a certain sport, you could even purchase specific instructional videos for them to watch.
* If you have access to a video camera, another excellent use of television is to film the child taking part in the sport and review the tape with them later, pointing out where they could improve. Many elite sportspeople make use of this method. Watching yourself from ‘outside’, in slow-motion if need be, is often the only way to understand and eradicate certain flaws.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
A Cheat's Guide To Keeping Fit (Part 1)
We can’t be perfect all of the time. Some days (or maybe every day) you just won’t be able to face trekking to the gym to pump some iron. However, there is a cheat’s option: doing those odd jobs around the homestead can build muscles just as effectively as a session in the gym can. Laying stepping-stones in the garden, making that tree-house that little Billy’s been on at you to make (using hand tools instead of power tools, of course), reorganising the junk in the loft, and so on, will test your muscles in a wide variety of ways. And certainly won’t do your fitness any harm in the long run. To avoid the real risk of injury, it is vital that you take all the usual safety precautions as regards bending, stretching, lifting, etc. that you should take when doing any form of exercise. But the ‘odd job workout’ provides a unique bonus that you simply can’t get from any other workout – millions of brownie points with your other half. They will think that you’re perfect … even if you know better.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Keep Your Kids Fit
It can be upsetting enough seeing an adult struggling with a weight problem. Seeing a child struggling with this problem can be heartbreaking. But the statistics show that more and more children are struggling.
On top of the social and practical torments that go hand in hand with being fat, the condition often carries on into adulthood and frequently causes very unwelcome health problems. Type II diabetes and coronary heart disease are two such problems. Frighteningly, there are an increasing number of reports of signs of these serious diseases, normally only seen in older adults, occurring in children.
So what is causing this problem? A major reason is the obvious one - lack of physical activity. Today's children aren't getting enough exercise in or out of school. Getting children to take more exercise, however, can be difficult. They can't comprehend the risks of a sedentary lifestyle and will happily spend their time playing computer games, watching TV and texting friends. Here, then, are five top tips for encouraging your kids to be more active:
* Enjoyment is vital. If they are enjoying themselves, children won't even think about the fact that something is doing them good, and will want to do it again and again. So take notice of what physical activities they want and don't want to do. Don't force them to take up a particular activity just because you think it would be good for them.
* A varied range of suitable activities is ideal. But exercise doesn't have to be a big deal - a kick-about in the park is far more appealing to many children than a Sunday league match.
* A confident child will take part in physical activities more eagerly, so try to avoid putting them in situations where they are of a lesser standard than most/all of those around them.
* Set a good example. If you regularly take part in physical activities, it will encourage the child to do the same. Taking part as a family can be fun, though don't try to force this on older children - they will probably do their utmost to avoid it (very uncool).
* Not all television is bad for a child's fitness. Allowing them to watch their sporting heroes in action can be a great motivating force in getting children to take part in sport themselves. Just don't tell them this…
Please note: If a child is significantly overweight or has any special medical considerations that need to be taken into account, seek their GP's approval and advice before they embark on changes to their current physical activity habits.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Building Confidence in Children
Confidence has so many potential benefits for a child’s sporting success that it is difficult to overstate its importance. A confident child will pursue their training more eagerly and will stick at it longer, further improving their chances of success. Lack of confidence, on the other hand, can make a child give up sport altogether. So here are a few confidence-boosting tips:
* Try to avoid putting children in situations where they are of a lesser standard than most/all of those around them.
* Remember "Whether you say you can or you say you can’t, you are right." Whenever you hear the child voicing a negative thought such as "I’m useless at...", "I‘ll never be able to...", etc., remind them of a past success they have had. And after they finish each session, make a point of telling them what went right, what they achieved, how they improved, however small.
* Where possible, surround the child with positive, encouraging people.
* Of course, success is the ultimate key to confidence. If they are frequently successful, the child is obviously going to be highly confident of achieving success next time around. But what is success? It isn’t just about winning. If they‘re a runner, they might lose a race but still get a personal best time. Success or failure? Confidence could take a dive or go sky-high, depending on how they choose to look at it. Your job is to make sure they judge themselves by how well they do, not by whether anyone else happens to do better that day.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
* Try to avoid putting children in situations where they are of a lesser standard than most/all of those around them.
* Remember "Whether you say you can or you say you can’t, you are right." Whenever you hear the child voicing a negative thought such as "I’m useless at...", "I‘ll never be able to...", etc., remind them of a past success they have had. And after they finish each session, make a point of telling them what went right, what they achieved, how they improved, however small.
* Where possible, surround the child with positive, encouraging people.
* Of course, success is the ultimate key to confidence. If they are frequently successful, the child is obviously going to be highly confident of achieving success next time around. But what is success? It isn’t just about winning. If they‘re a runner, they might lose a race but still get a personal best time. Success or failure? Confidence could take a dive or go sky-high, depending on how they choose to look at it. Your job is to make sure they judge themselves by how well they do, not by whether anyone else happens to do better that day.
Copyright Playnasium. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To ask for this permission, please contact copyright@playnasium.com
All information on this page is general in scope and does not constitute advice. Always seek personal professional advice before making any decision or applying anything mentioned in any way. Use of information on this page is entirely at your own risk.
Welcome to The Playnasium Blog
Welcome to The Playnasium Blog.
Playnasium (http://www.playnasium.com/) specialise in supplying football goals, Taktifol static tactics sheets and other sports equipment to clubs, schools, local authorities and individuals across the UK. We have been up and running since 2002, and during that time we have served all levels of players and clubs, right up to the Premier League and international.
This blog has been created to enable us to provide our loyal customers (and future customers...) with news and interesting articles from our incredibly knowledgeable and talented staff (nobody said we were modest).
Feel free to phone or e-mail us if you want advice within our area of expertise. We are consultants not salespeople and one of us should be able to provide an answer (or we know a man who can). Try to stick to sensible questions, though, unless you want to make it onto the list of gems on our noticeboard. Top of this list at the moment is the chap who asked whether one of our footballs would fit in his mouth...
We look forward to hearing from you.
Playnasium (http://www.playnasium.com/) specialise in supplying football goals, Taktifol static tactics sheets and other sports equipment to clubs, schools, local authorities and individuals across the UK. We have been up and running since 2002, and during that time we have served all levels of players and clubs, right up to the Premier League and international.
This blog has been created to enable us to provide our loyal customers (and future customers...) with news and interesting articles from our incredibly knowledgeable and talented staff (nobody said we were modest).
Feel free to phone or e-mail us if you want advice within our area of expertise. We are consultants not salespeople and one of us should be able to provide an answer (or we know a man who can). Try to stick to sensible questions, though, unless you want to make it onto the list of gems on our noticeboard. Top of this list at the moment is the chap who asked whether one of our footballs would fit in his mouth...
We look forward to hearing from you.
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