Perfecting that toned and sculpted body before the big day is no easy feat, and doing the same routine over and over again can get monotonous. For brides who want to revamp their workout or get serious about exercise, Louise Day, wellbeing director at Champneys, has shared her top five tips for brides wanting to get in shape...
1. Turn your commute to work into a workout... cycle to work, jog if you're close enough, or get off the train/bus a few stops earlier and walk the rest of your journey. 2. Multitask on the treadmill... do ten minutes of cardio/sculpt by holding a 3-5 pound dumbbell in each hand and set the speed to a brisk walk. As you improve, work up to doing four-minute sets. 3. Instead of a normal lunge... do the lunge with a twist as it's a great core exercise that builds lower body strength and improves balance. Doing this while holding and rotating a medicine ball from right to left engages the quads, glutes and core. It's also a great warm-up exercise to get blood flowing to many muscles at one time. 4. If running is your way for exercising... increase the speed of your running strides — not their length — to get faster. Your foot should always land under your body rather than in front of it. Push off with the toes of your rear leg for propulsion. Add wall sits to the end of every run which will strengthen quads, hamstrings and glutes, improving your speed and endurance. Lean against a wall with feet shoulder-width apart then squat until knees are bent at 45 degrees. Hold for 30-60 seconds. 5. Don't just sit there and watch TV... hit the floor with crunches, Russian twists, leg lifts and planks or cycle away while your favourite show is on.
© Photo: InstagramTom Fletcher: "Nothing beats stepping outside and taking a long, deep breath of fresh air"
For brides who aren't keen gym bunnies and looking to exercise outdoors, follow the tips posted on Champneys' Twitter page with the hashtag #inspireTHEnation to learn how to get active. Ditch the cross trainer for some cross country running, swap your spinning classes for a bike ride or take a hike through the sensational forests and parks the UK has to offer. Celebrities such as Tom Fletcher, Dave Berry and Roxanne Pallett have joined forces with other stars to urge people to work out in the fresh air as part of the spa house's Inspire the Nation campaign, in association with the Pink Ribbon Foundation. "Spending hours on tour buses travelling up and down the UK has made me realise how awesomely beautiful our country is," said Tom. "Nothing beats stepping outside and taking a long, deep breath of fresh air and clearing your mind with some exercise. "I find running outdoors so inspiring for writing songs, I always carry something to record any ideas I have as I run. We spend so much time inside staring at our computers and phones that it's easy to forget how good sunshine, or even a drop of rain, feels on your skin. Time to get off our wobbly bums and outside!"
