OUR new health and beauty section is sponsored by the Lifehouse Spa in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex. Here, fitness manager Russell Turner shares the Lifehouse philosophy...

Remember when we were children and the school bell would ring and we would skip out into the playground for playtime?

We never knew that we were exercising and so we didn’t mind exercising. We ran round, played with balls, climbed trees and rode our bicycles.

As a result our spirits were carefree and we smiled a lot, full of endless energy. Most of us probably didn’t even think of exercise as exercise.

We were twisting, turning, pulling and pushing....welcome to the Lifehouse fitness philosophy.

Our Lifehouse wellness experience needs to serve a purpose, whether to help you physically, mentally, spiritually or all of these at once!

We want you to enjoy what you are doing, to enrich your knowledge and even evolve your lifestyle in some way to help improve your fitness.

At Lifehouse fitness is not about gym-style fitness training, the ‘no pain, no gain’ mantra.

Our fitness experts will ask you how you wish to engage in movement or what level of fitness you want to achieve.

This may be for a generally active life, for a body-building competition or simply for using the stairs instead of the lift.

Our philosophy is that anything that encourages a form of exercise for muscle groups whilst raising the heart rate is fitness therapy and helps promotes a good state of general health.

You may be keen to improve your health, but could have a negative perception of how a gym looks, feels and functions: a soulless environment packed with row upon row of heavy equipment, where exhausted people push themselves through repetitive sets of fun-sapping exercises.

At Lifehouse we offer you something different, come and see our playground - it really does what it says on the tin.

Let’s play and get fit at the same time - it’s playtime after all!

- Remember the Lifehouse fitness philosophy:

The goal of training, in general, is to emphasize the transfer of fitness gained from exercise into improved performance in your sport or daily activities.

The concept that “the body knows movements, not muscles” is a switch away from traditional machine-based strength training, which focused on isolating muscles.

Lifehouse training techniques are designed to engage the body as a single coordinated system.

Movement patterns fundamental to most human activities can be recreated, and trained through repetition in the playground to enhance your movement in life.

This I believe is pure definition of functional training.

Your body is your machine.

Observe the following key principles and come and ask the fitness team some questions:-

1. Stand to train

2. Perform integrated exercises

3. Train in 3D

4. Maximise your function

- Russell has now opened his �10 boot camp sessions to the public, every day at 11am.

To book, and for more information about Lifehouse, call 01255 860050.

You can also visit the Lifehouse website - www.lifehouse.co.uk - by following the link at the top right of this story.