You know your forehand from your backhand.  And for two weeks every year you are glued to your seat in front of the TV - yelling your lungs out at your favourite players. Wimbledon.  One of the greatest inspirations in tennis.  Ever. No other Grand Slam comes close to its drama and action - on the court and off.  And once it’s all said and done you just want to get out there and play.

Here are a few tips so you can be on top of your game:
1. Practice makes perfect.  If you don’t get that swing right the first time just keep going.

2. Build your confidence by knowing the different grips and their strengths and weaknesses.  Switch from one grip to another while practicing against a wall, thereby improving your control of the racquet and the ball.

3. Strokes, footwork and focus.  Three elements that can make or break a game.  Start by practicing all your strokes without a ball.  Do at least 10 strokes slowly to ensure that you have the proper form and follow through.

4. Take note of what you need to improve on during a game, and work on those points at your next practice session.

5. You will never reach the top if you can’t conquer the basics.   So don’t think you can take a shortcut and become a pro.  Improper techniques are a lot harder to unlearn that taking the time to do it right from the start.

Contrary to what it might look like after a particularly rough night, and despite the fact that I like movies about cops and cowboys, I am a girl.

I like shoes. I cry during every single episode of Grey’s Anatomy, without fail. I imagine what my life will be like after my very extravagant wedding to Wentworth Miller. And, I love celebrity gossip, even though I can feel the intelligence draining from my brain with every hour I watch E! Still, I’ve accepted that about myself and I’ve decided to run with it.

I figured that if I base my outfits around Kate Moss’s, and my shoe collection around Sarah Jessica Parker’s, why can’t I base some of my training around what the shlebs are doing? I jumped online to check out some of the new fitness fads.

Apparently, Madonna works out doing yoga, pilates or horse riding 7 days a week. Plus she has a 15000 dollar Power Plate Machine (it’s like the Sylvester Stallone of exercise equipment). I do not have 15000 dead presidents. Next!

Uma Thurman did a whole wack of martial arts and sword fight training for Kill Bill. Now, kick boxing I could try, but the judge says I’m not allowed to be within 50 metres of a sword again, so…

And then there’s Britney. She swears that her tight little bod comes from dancing. Now that I can do! I’m a chick! I’m going to trawl every dance class until I find the perfect dance-ercise, and then I’ll tell you all about it.

If you have any suggestions on cool, new dance classes, let me know. After all, being a girl also means we get to bust a move whenever we like without fear of being (seriously) mocked by our buddies.

I know that if you ask a bunch of people who work out regularly what their training essential is,  90% of them will say ‘an iPod’ (that’s not an actual stat, so don’t go quoting me on that). And, I tend to agree. Even outside of training hours, I find it much easier to get working / dusting / writing / washing when I have a good play-list on the go.

And, the other day, while I was cleaning out my hard drive, I discovered one of my very favourite get-up-and-go, sing-a-long mixes (that’s if you can call what I do singing. Maybe it’s groan-a-long mix). I put it on and suddenly I was running around like nine-year-old after a bag of MSG. It was amazing. I’m going to share it with you here.

Let me know if you have songs you think I should add to it, or ones that made you want to snore instead of sweat. Oh and I’m including a link to the Nokia music store, which is great for getting the tunes that make you jiggle, in case you wanna buy some of them. And, don’t judge me for the pop songs.

Starlight - Muse
Saturday Night - The Dirty Skirts
Molly’s Chambers - Kings of Leon
The Dance - aKing
Nuflex Cowabanga Mix - Sweat.X
I want you back - The Jackson 5
Twister - Flash Republic
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
A Place for my Head - Linkin Park
Pon de Replay - Rihanna
The Bucket - Kings of Leon
Life your Life - T.I
Valarie - Amy Winehouse
Standing in the Way of Control - Gossip
I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor - Arctic Monkeys
Man Eater - Nelly Furtado
Faith - George Michael
Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen

Check out Nokia music.

What does it mean to be healthy and fit? Does it mean that you have a killer six pack, eating fruit and vegetables, or that you can run for hours on end without breaking a sweat? Being healthy and fit is a lifestyle; a way for your mind, body and soul to converge.

Doing exercise, but then feeling depressed and eating chocolate on the couch is most definitely not what is meant with being healthy and fit.

Life is all about living
It is so easy to get caught up in the negativity of life and letting this drag you down. I realise that this is harder than it sounds, but try and be happy with yourself and others around you. Don’t judge yourself or others too harshly and soon this cheery disposition will change your outlook on life.

Change is as good as a holiday
This is the time-old saying that seems to have some kernel of truth behind it. Sometimes all we need is to change something in our lives. Take a critical look at your life; be honest with yourself and pro-active about your choices in life.
Your actions and thoughts make up who you are.

Dream and live your dream
A dream will always be a dream until it’s actioned; at this point it becomes a goal. Write down your dream and plan it. Once you have fulfilled one dream find another and another and another… Never give up dreaming.

Training the soul and the mind is about focusing on the inner self (your thoughts and your well-being), rather than just doing physical exercise for your body.

You are your most important alley, now is the time to take care of yourself. Considering your inner self and your physical body will make a huge change in your life. It’s well worth a try.

No, this is not what it seems. We are not looking at the body shape of our fellow swimmers, but rather at the inflammatory condition called swimmer’s shoulder that results with repetitive overhead arm movements when doing freestyle. Although swimming has various advantages, if not done properly,  this overuse injury, for example, could result in immense and unnecessary shoulder pain.

It all comes down to bad technique. When you next in the pool try to see how you do your strokes. Does your arm cross the mid-line when you begin your stroke? Does your hand enter the water with the thumb facing downwards and your palm outwards?

Other than that, overtraining could also lead to this inflammation and pain. If you are tired and you keep on swimming the condition may worsen. When your muscles fatigue, your muscles will have to work harder to keep you going, while having to perform more strokes to cover the same amount of distance.

I remember in school being told that I need to only breathe out on my right side while doing freestyle. It turns out that this is a big no-no and this could actually overexert one shoulder, whereas if you ensure that you breathe on both sides you actually transfer the load equally between both arms.

If not corrected, these together could lead to the infamous swimmer’s shoulder.

A good start is to do some shoulder strengthening exercises to complement your swimming routine, and ask people around you for advice.

Exercise and training should be fun and beneficial, lets  do the right thing and make sure we treat our bodies with respect. So listen to it and become aware of your body and its limitations.

People keep on mentioning the fact that they are off to a spinning session, or that they had such a great work out during spinning last night. But what exactly is spinning and why would anyone put themselves through such torture?

This aerobic exercise takes the shape of a stationary bike that an instructor puts you through the paces on. A really great instructor will actually be able to simulate various outdoor scenarios, such as climbing hills, during a session. The greatest appeal, however, is the fact that at the end of the day you can control the tension and pace and in turn control the training. (As much as this is done in a group, it is very much an individual sport. Meaning we can all excel at our own speed- bonus.)

Sitting on a small seat, peddling away until my lungs burst really doesn’t sound like a ball of fun to me. I am told that spinning increases your heart rate and burns lots of calories (425 in 40 minutes to be exact), and that this is a great way to tone legs. Mmm…. Well then maybe it does have some merit to it.

This aerobic exercise does seem a lot less painful than a traditional aerobics exercise, where I would be the one losing my footing and going in the opposite direction to the rest of the class. The fact that I can set my own pace and that very little hand-eye co-ordination is needed does make me take a huge liking for spinning.

So I think I am going to give this a try, most definitely not forgetting my water bottle (or two)- I hope that my instructor isn’t called Olga.

Gyms usually offer a few spinning classes during the week, give your nearest gym a call to find out more information.

Train like an athlete and have your own workouts set up for you.
Sign up at NikeWomen.com and start your training, focusing on core, strength and cardio in the comfort of your own home.

For more information and to join the Nike Training Club click here

Gone are the days where exercise needS to take up most of your time, if done properly 10 minutes daily could result in an effective workout.

When doing short workouts like these, you would need focus on intensity, work harder than what you normally do and try to keep it as high as possible throughout the duration of these 10 minutes.

Cardio Workouts
Try and get at least 2 of your 10-minute sessions to include some cardio, allowing your heart rate to fasten. Great cardio workouts are:

* Running
* Walking as fast as you can
* Running up the stairs
* High intensity moves like jumping jacks, squat hops, step jumps, kickboxing, jumping rope, vigorous dancing
* Cycling with both speed and high resistance
* Any cardio machine at the gym - work at a high level of intensity (speed, resistance and/or incline) for 10 minutes

Strength Training
Try and get in some strength sessions into some of these 10-minute workouts. For this you could either follow a sequence of exercise or check out the video where Sonja Moses, Nike trainer, gives some strength exercises.

Have fun and enjoy it. You are privileged enough to be able to train, so make the best of it.

Training in cold weather brings some unique challenges. A few precautions need to be taken in order to stay comfortable, safe, and still perform at an optimal level when the temperature drops while training.

What you eat and drink before, during and after exercise in colder weather will actually help you perform your best, while staying comfortable and safe at the same time. Proper nutrition can actually help regulate your core temperature, keeps you warm and provides you working muscles with enough fuel to keep on going. In warmer temperatures your body can easily regulate its temperature by sweating, but in colder weather your body actually needs to generate more heat to stay warm.

Recommendations for Cold Weather Nutrition
* Drink plenty of water
* Eat a variety of high carbohydrates foods
* Plan to eat a small snack every 30-45 minutes (100-200 calories)
* Eat warm or hot food when possible
* Decrease caffeine consumption
* Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol dilates the blood vessels and increases heat loss.

In colder temperatures your body performs amazing tasks to overcome the drop in heat:
* Your metabolism increases so that the air you breathe is warm and humid
* You tend to burn slightly more calories to stay warm
* Breathing in cool, dry air forces your body to heat the air, thereby losing significant amounts of water

Dehydration is one of the main reasons for reduced performances in the cold due to the water lost in heating the cold, inhaled air. This, coupled with the decreased desire to drink, which is activated through the cold weather, proves that the biggest nutritional need during winter exercise is replacing lost fluids.

Original article

Tempo…it’s how we run our daily lives. We start and stop, we increase the pace and reduce our speed on a minute to minute basis. It’s why so many people train with music in their ears. It helps us push ourselves to other level or tempo than we are used to during the day.

Everyone runs at a different tempo. Music allows us to focus on one thing only and that is our pace. It allows us to push up those hills when running long distance, burst through our sprints our of the starting blocks, quicken our strokes on the ergo machine or push that weight a little higher in the gym.

Be honest, if you’re at the gym and a high tempo, fast rhythm song comes on your body consumes the beat and uses it to workout. If you have your ipod on while you’re training and a slow chilled out song come on you either change it or you slow your pace down a little bit.

Why does the tempo of music dictate the way we move, train or prepare for an event? It’s all in the rhythm, momentum and your breathing. We begin to stride to the beat, gain momentum and set the tone of our workout to the music we listen to.

That’s why people listen to psych up songs before competing. It gets us visualising goals, and sets our frame of mind. We need to be switched on and aware and often it starts with our tempo, attitude and rhythm.

So find your song, your beat and ultimately your rhythm that will set the tone of your workout or competition.