In this episode one of our legendary listeners has been in touch and asked the question "does recreational exercise fill the bill if you don't like the gym?" the answer is absolutely  yes! Listen on to find out why and how you can maximize your use of recreational activity to make 'sustainable' positive changes in your health and wellness. 

Big shout out to Mark and 'sustainable_fitness_nutrition' on instagram for the question and interaction with our show.

If you are a legendary listener and have a question for us then please feel free to be in touch. We will do our utmost to answer it with the minimum possible amount of weed whacking (there will always be some) and as usual the cliche stands "There are no stupid questions''.

Send them to [email protected]

We've all suffered injuries from time to time but what factors need to line up in order to have an injury occur? Are injuries an inevitable part of our existence and result of our athletic (or gardening) pursuits?

Listen to this episode to find out the answer to all of those questions and best of all find out how to drastically reduce your likelihood of experiencing chronic injuries! *Clue: look after those acute injuries!
 
This is easily one of my favorite episodes so far and I learnt so much.

This series on injuries as we work our  way up through the body is going to be both fascinating and enlightening for so many people and we are really looking forward to sharing the information with you all.

Our first "Question Time" episode. This episode answers a couple of important questions in the exercise game... how to avoid plateaus  and where to draw motivation from to get up out the chair and get going.

I thank my Dad and Brother-in-Law for the questions and sincerely  thank the other listeners who have contributed questions since this was recorded. We shall answer your question in due course!

The plan is to drop these episodes as and when we can so hopefully you will get your answers in a somewhat timely fashion (within a couple of weeks say).

Again thank you so much for listening and as ever please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you may have as now you know we will at least try to answer them! Bet place to send your questions is [email protected], instagram @stilesandgiles.podcast works too!

I had an epiphany the other day and realized that exercise is a skill!! Like anything it can and should be learned and developed, from learning different exercise techniques to understanding the benefits of seeing a personal trainer.

In this episode we discuss the benefits of learning the skill yourself versus paying for a trainer who has already developed the full skill set and can pass the knowledge on.

We also discuss the benefits of dropping your ego, using trainers and taking a humble approach to your gym visits knowing that the people giving you advice are most likely doing it from a place of sincerity and are trying to help you better yourself.

We give you a (relatively) clear and concise overview of the basic "system" behind working out. Starting with the warm up and finishing with the cool down.

In this episode we talk about the muscular system. How and why do we need to train our muscles?

Muscular training improves strength and therefore our ability to perform day to day activities. 

Having dense muscular tissue (not necessarily large muscle mass!!) makes you a "better butter burner" as your body requires more energy to fuel itself and maintain its current state.

Strength training improves bone density and decreases the likely hood of osteoporosis.

Muscular training also improves sleep.

We discuss the appropriate rep ranges to work in and also talk about when weights would be preferable to body weight exercises.

As always thanks so much for listening and we appreciate your time.

I want to train my carido system but I don't want to go for a long run/swim/bike. Is that possible? Well the good news is YES!

In this Episode we discuss what the Cardio Vascular system is and how to train it, the benefits of training it and how to incorporate cardio training into your day to day life and hobbies. 

If you want to work your cardio system while gardening then garden faster! Anything that raises the heart rate above its baseline level can be considered some form of cardio training so it is possible to find ways to train this system all over the place in day to day life.

As always thank you for listening and we would really appreciate your feed back. Send us questions to [email protected], reach out to us on instagram @stilesandgiles.podcast and or leave us a 5 star review wherever you listen to your podcasts (Spotify doesn't currently allow reviews so don't waste your time there.)

This is one of my favorite episodes so far. Ed enlightens us on the importance of recovery and gives us clear steps as to how to go about recovering properly when we exercise. Starting with planning for recovery we also touch upon nutrition post work out, cool downs and the importance and role of rest days in making you better.

As Ed says at the end of the episode...
"If you want to be better, focus on your recovery and  you'll be better."

As always we really appreciate everyone who has been listening and engaging with us and can't wait to continue to deliver the kind of content that by now you know to expect from us.

We hope this episode finds you healthy and well and remember "All Ye Who Listen Are Legends"

Should you bother to switch up your exercises or can you just find some you like and stick with those? Well in this episode Ed informs me that it is indeed a good idea to vary your exercises in order to maximize your bodies potential and have the best chance of transferring those gym skills into real life situations.

We also learn that even if you have built yourself a balanced program you still need to switch up the inputs and angles to the muscles so that they don't become functional in one primary movement or too adapted to do a specific task. Think bicep curls and chin ups. Both require the use of the biceps but if all you did was work on curls all day then one day you'll be down at the park and you're five year old son will be able to do more chin ups than you! (not that I'm speaking from experience of course!)

We also touch on the wonderful work out tool that is the TRX suspension training system and sing its praises as both Stiles and Giles own and frequently use TRX suspension training equipment.

As always thanks so much for listening and if you like our show then share it with a friend, leave us a 5 star review on apple podcasts and keep listening. We really appreciate it.

In this episode Ed educates me and our wonderful listeners on the purpose and benefits of cooling down properly after exercise. 

How we can utitlise gentle movement, deep breathing and static stretching to maximise the benefits gained from our work out and do the best we can to bring the body back into balance, minimizing next day soreness.

We also take an in depth look at stretching, how it is misunderstood and often confusion what with all the different information sources out there. 

Ed takes us through a very simple and effective (I can attest to this) method of ensuring that you don't over stretch but you do get those incremental gains that allow you to bring your body back into balance.

As ever thanks so much for listening and please subscribe share with a friend, send us your questions to [email protected] and follow uson instagram @stilesandgiles.podcast to ensure you are kept up to date with new episodes.

In this episode we address our first question. My Dad, a cancer warrior, is asking how often he should work out when it comes to helping out with cancer.

We discuss the recommendations and types of exercise which can contribute to your daily/weekly tallies and discuss that yes gardening is indeed a form of exercise.

Once again all of this is done under the umbrella of "appropriate" levels of exercise and Ed guides us artfully through the various questions and comments I throw at him along the way!

Thanks for listening as ever and please recommend us to a friend and leave us a 5 star rating on apple podcasts, at the time of writing we are currently the 160th ranked health and wellness podcast on Apple Podcasts and are of course looking to break into the top 100!