HOW DO I WIN A FREE SEASON?

Already have a team set up? 
Click here to PAY your next league fee to automatically enter the prize draw 
Do this before 11:59pm tonight and your team will be entered into our random draw for 3 chances to win the prize.

Don’t have a team set up?
1) Use our Activity Finder to search for your nearest sports league near you
2) When you’ve found and selected your league, PAY your fee before 11:59pm tonight and your team will be entered into our random draw for 3 chances to win the prize.

I don’t have a team – can I enter the comp as an individual?
You can!
1) Simply use our Activity Finder to search for your nearest sports league near you
2) When you’ve found and selected your league, PAY your fee before 11:59pm tonight and you will be entered into our random draw for 2 chances to win the prize.

Can’t get your payment in today?
Register before Wednesday at 11:59pm to get 2 chances to win.
OR
Register before Thursday at 11:59pm to get 1 chance to win.

Already paid your team fee for this season?
Don’t worry, your team is already in our draw with 2 chances to win.

Who won yesterday’s free season?
Big up the BIG BALLS! These ladies,who play netball with us in Victoria, confirmed their league place yesterday and are today’s lucky winners!

Any questions about this promotion? Just reply to this email, speak to us on LiveChat or call us on 0207 381 6034.

HIIT Workouts: 3 Common Mistakes That Prevent Results

Superior to many other exercise strategies, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has led to successful fat-burning  and improved fitness for tons of exercisers. It is far more efficient than many other programs and can require 10 minutes or less to be effective.

Unfortunately, not everyone has been successful using HIIT. Maybe you have been disappointed with your own results, or lack thereof?

Discouraging, right?

Don’t give up on HIIT just yet.

There are three likely reasons why HIIT is not meeting your expectations, and rest assured, there are several effortless adjustments you can make to get back on track.

First, let’s get an understanding of what HIIT is.

Understanding HIIT and Why It Can Be So Effective

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HIIT is an exercise strategy that utilizes alternating intervals of intense physical activity and rest.

Instead of moderate exercise being performed for a lengthy period of time, HIIT’s purpose is to provide an intense workout in a short time period. Providing briefer workouts, coupled with superior results, is why HIIT has seen widespread growth in recent years.

The intense exercise intervals and subsequent rest periods that make up a HIIT workout spike and drop your heart rate respectively. This pattern creates an inefficient use of energy in your muscles and cardiovascular system.

Inefficient? Is that a good thing?

Yes, in this case it’s the inefficiency that you want. Imagine you are trying to lose 10 pounds of unwanted fat. Jogging on a treadmill at a steady pace for a prolonged period of time will help you burn a few calories, but this steady-state exercise also allows your body to become very efficient. Your body gets comfortable jogging at the same pace and you therefore use less energy (i.e. calories) to perform this work. 

Note: HIIT or steady state cardio won’t do anything unless your diet is on track. You need to consume high quality gym meals and monitor your overall caloric intake.

In contrast, a HIIT workout, with it’s varying levels of intensity, prevents that “comfort level” from setting in. Your body is always adjusting, therefore energy usage (a.k.a. calorie-burning) remains high, and those 10 pounds will melt away much more quickly.

In fact, research has shown time and time again that HIIT is your answer if you hate running or cycling, but still want to drop a few pounds.

Not only is this true during the HIIT exercise, but also after you’ve finished working out. After an intense HIIT workout, your body greatly lacks oxygen. Some studies have shown that the body will continue to work at balancing this oxygen deficit for up to 40 hours post-workout. This is know as Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and it leads to a ton more calories being burned than you’d ever experience doing regular cardio.

Despite all the great reviews, some people who use HIIT still aren’t reaping the rewards. If you fall into this camp, below are three mistakes you may be committing during your HIIT workouts.

 

Mistake No. 1: Prolonged HIIT Workouts
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It is imperative that your HIIT workouts are short. The best HIIT routines should last 10-20 minutes. If you go beyond 20 minutes, it is impossible for your body to recover from the high-intensity nature of HIIT and you may be damaging your body instead of helping it.

The solution is to ensure your intense intervals are exactly that, intense. The Journal of Physiology has stated that ten 1-minute sprints are equivalent to moderately-paced cardio that lasts for several hours. This is just one simple HIIT protocol that demonstrates the effectiveness of keeping the timer on your workouts set short.

 

Mistake No. 2: Too Frequent HIIT Training

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After HIIT, your body is in dire need of rest and recovery time. The high-intensity level of HIIT workouts (think back to those ten 1-minute sprints) breaks down your muscles much more so than a traditional workout, and can cause inflammation around your muscles and in your joints.

This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can be if you keep pushing through HIIT workouts without proper recovery time build in between. Too much HIIT leads to increased cortisol release (which triggers fat storage!), and potential for injury.

Performing HIIT minimally is your best solution. For beginners, consider doing only one HIIT routine during the week. Eventually, after building your endurance, you can perform the recommend maximum of 2-3 HIIT exercises a week.

 

Mistake No. 3: Fake HIIT Intensity

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This principle is vital: You cannot be participating in HIIT, and will not experience its advantages, if you do not give the workout your full, 100% effort. Anything less is what I call “fake HIIT” exercise.

Think about everything we’ve discussed so far. The power of a HIIT workout is predicated on your commitment to give it your all for a very short period of time. Slacking off, even just a little, during the work intervals of a HIIT routine will leave you with just a short workout.

Back to our ten 1-minute sprints example: Jogging ten times for 1 minute each is NOT the same as sprinting for those intervals. It’s not even close.

Yet many people are accustomed to what a moderate-intensity workout feels like, so that’s what they bring into their HIIT workouts. Sorry, but this strategy will not work.

If an all-out effort seems too daunting, start with just 1 or 2 such intervals. Your body can push extremely hard for just a minute or two. Test it out and see how you feel. Then, add one more interval to your next HIIT workout. Then add another. Soon you’ll be able to complete 10-20 minutes at a very intense level.

 

Author Bio:

Dave Smith is a fitness and weight-loss coach who was chosen as “Canada’s Top Fitness Professional” in 2013. He works with clients from around the world using the Total Coaching training platform, helping each client institute the right habits that will lead to meaningful results. You can catch Dave’s weekly Q&A fitness podcast or learn about all things health-related on his blog at makeyourbodywork.com.

Uniquely European – GO Mammoth, GO Anywhere.

In our incredibly large small world, traveling is one of the best things you can do for
yourself. You’ll meet new people, see places your wildest dreams couldn’t even imagine,
interact with locals whose culture and language differ from your own, and learn a whole
lot more about yourself and the world we live in than you would spending another
weekend at home.

To bring a little personal background into my opinion on travel in Europe, to start with,
I’m an American. Insert all your American stereotypes here [          ] (but not really
because stereotypes aren’t iron clad). As an American, I am incredibly jealous of your
European-ness for many reasons, one of which is your vicinity to everything European
and all the different countries, languages, and cultures that it embodies. While the United
States is a large and diverse country, it comes nowhere close to the amount of history,
culture, and diversity you find in Europe. Nor is it as affordable to travel short or long
distances like it is in Europe. If I want to take an hour-long flight over to the next state at
home, I could spend a couple hundred dollars, whereas flights from London to many
major European cities can be found for less than £100 return! It’s incredible. You’ve got
affordable airlines that make travel affordable for anyone.

With all the resources available to you in Europe, why not take advantage of them? Get
out of the country and gain some perspective – and have fun! GO Mammoth has already
established itself as a successful sports, fitness, and events company that specializes in
group activities for young professional Brits, and now it’s expanding its services to
provide group travel opportunities that go beyond the usual sight seeing tours. What GO
Mammoth offers are hosted getaways that give you a chance to be bold and have some
unique adventures that fit your budget!

I get that work, friends, and whatever obligations you may have can make your schedule
seem too overwhelming to leave and travel, but those obligations will still be there next
week, so why not get away from them (far away) for a week or even just a weekend and
collect some new experiences. You can even bring your friends along with you because
GO Mammoth is all about enhancing friendships, both old and new. So take advantage of
your enviable European-ness and explore this great continent!

See GO Mammoth’s upcoming UK & European group trips

Uniquely European – GO Mammoth, GO Anywhere.

A Foreigner’s Perspective on European Travel

In our incredibly large small world, traveling is one of the best things you can do for 
yourself. You’ll meet new people, see places your wildest dreams couldn’t even imagine, 
interact with locals whose culture and language differ from your own, and learn a whole 
lot more about yourself and the world we live in than you would spending another 
weekend at home.  

To bring a little personal background into my opinion on travel in Europe, to start with, 
I’m an American. Insert all your American stereotypes here [          ] (but not really 
because stereotypes aren’t iron clad). As an American, I am incredibly jealous of your 
European-ness for many reasons, one of which is your vicinity to everything European 
and all the different countries, languages, and cultures that it embodies. While the United 
States is a large and diverse country, it comes nowhere close to the amount of history, 
culture, and diversity you find in Europe. Nor is it as affordable to travel short or long 
distances like it is in Europe. If I want to take an hour-long flight over to the next state at 
home, I could spend a couple hundred dollars, whereas flights from London to many 
major European cities can be found for less than £100 return! It’s incredible. You’ve got 
affordable airlines that make travel affordable for anyone. 

With all the resources available to you in Europe, why not take advantage of them? Get 
out of the country and gain some perspective – and have fun! GO Mammoth has already 
established itself as a successful sports, fitness, and events company that specializes in 
group activities for young professional Brits, and now it’s expanding its services to 
provide group travel opportunities that go beyond the usual sight seeing tours. What GO 
Mammoth offers are hosted getaways that give you a chance to be bold and have some 
unique adventures that fit your budget!

I get that work, friends, and whatever obligations you may have can make your schedule 
seem too overwhelming to leave and travel, but those obligations will still be there next 
week, so why not get away from them (far away) for a week or even just a weekend and 
collect some new experiences. You can even bring your friends along with you because 
GO Mammoth is all about enhancing friendships, both old and new. So take advantage of 
your enviable European-ness and explore this great continent!

See GO Mammoth’s upcoming UK & European group trips