Tuesday 2 February 2021

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 - our first four weeks of Haringey course


Posted 11:30am

We had a fabulous chat with Haringey Well Being yesterday afternoon, discussing our first ever virtual course - our first ever twelve week intervention - and our first course since the Covid pandemic started last March/April.  And we have got a corker planned!!!  Part of that is down to completing so many of these packs, which has provided us with a plethora of new information and knowledge.

Here are our first four weeks for the upcoming course, as we described in an email to Haringey this morning.

Week one:
Mindset - how do we think?  how do we make decisions?
Nutrition - what is nutrition exactly.  We discuss metabolism, and how nutrition is really about providing nutrients for the chemical reactions in our bodies to keep us alive, as well as keeping us fully fuelled and energised, and the dangers of what happens if we do not ingest the right amount of macronutrients and micronutrients.
Exercise - we demonstrate stretches with the whole class - some good basic ones - why we do them - how they affect the body, using our qualified personal trainer - this with static and dynamic stretching involved, but obviously working around any health issues people may have, which we also discuss.
Health/Routine - we give an overview of how miraculous our bodies are, and talk about responsibility, choice, and being proactive in our routines.

Week two:
Mindset - we look at the various types of Mind-set, covering the most important six of them, and how a growth, active, and social mindset are all important.
Nutrition - this week we look at the importance of Protein as a macronutrient, how it becomes amino acids, and what they do for us
Exercise - we have a look at easy, middle, and harder versions of the basic exercises, and how you can do them sitting, standing, using walls and chairs if needs be - with our qualified personal explaining how to do them properly too. (squats, crunches, press ups, plank, cardio)
Health - topically we look at the Immune System - how it works and what we need to do to keep it healthy - we also look at why we sweat, cough, and sneeze. ( we will discuss importance of vaccine too)

Week three:
Mindset - we have our own analogy about life - and we use it as a train journey, with stations, mixing in carriages, etc.
Nutrition - this week we look at the importance of Carbohydrates as a macronutrient, the difference between simple and complex, what happens in the body:  plus fibre
Exercise - using the exercises we covered in week two, we create our very own HMHB HIIT session, accessible for all ages and abilities, that can be done in 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes or beyond.
Health - this week we look at the digestive system, how everything has to work together, how we keep it healthy, and the impact it has on our overall health.

Week four:
Mindset - we cover the great subject of motivation.  how hard it can be. how we can improve our self-motivation. why it is so important.
Nutrition - this week we cover sugars, looking at the four main ways we get it in the body, which are better for us, and the dangers of added sugar and how it affects the body
Exercise - we look at yoga, balance, tai chi, and various stretch type exercises - how they improve our overall health, and what is happening in our bodies when we do them
Health - we cover the Brain this week.  How does it actually function, what do we need to do to keep it healthy and the dangers if we do not use it enough.


Very happy with how that has come out.  I do not mind giving our content away like this, as it is our quite unique delivery style that has garnered so much great feedback, and the way we present the course is different to any I have been on before.  Surely any kind of learning has to be fun?

Monday 1 February 2021

Monday 1st February 2021 - 42 Weekly Health Packs provided so far - website and recipes



Posted 1:45pm

We are absolutely delighted to say our health packs continue to receive amazing feedback, as our unique intervention reaches issue 42.  At the moment, there are plans to complete 52 issues in all, so that we can say we did them every week for a year.

Every week, on a Monday morning, we publish a 26 page pack crammed full on information, news, fun, and positivity.  It has grown significantly since last April, when our first issue was just 10 pages - which was then updated to 22 pages in August.  It has been over 20 pages since May, but there are no plans to increase pages any more.  26 pages a week is definitely enough.

All 42 current packs are on our website, and are in PDF form.

Lazza has also been cooking a new recipe each week, one of which he has never cooked before.


In January these included Chilli Con Carne, Chicken Supreme (pictured), Beef Stroganoff, and a Victoria Sponge.  All were delicious.  We have added all those to our "recipe" page on the website too.  Over 40 dishes have been created.  Just goes to show that anyone can pick up a new skill if they give it a go.


Monday 1st February - Fitness with Camden to start in March


Posted 1:40pm

Delighted to say we have overcome some huge challenges and will be finally providing fitness assistance in Camden from March.

We applied for funding last year, and were awarded that from Camden Giving, to provide some fitness sessions with clients from Kentish Town Job Centre, using Better Gym in Kings Cross, Pancras.

Obviously the lockdowns closed the gyms, and then new regulations came along saying we could only exercise outdoors with one other person outside our bubble.

Thankfully, due to great work from Lazza, and using our contacts with Mind In Camden (matthew), we have been in contact with Kentish Town Community Centre.  This Wednesday, Lazza and Dean will be visiting the centre to meet with Sarah, the  manager.  She has said their dance studio should be available from March, and we will be able to start our 26 week intervention.

We have also been working with Angela, one of the disability officers at Kentish Town Job Centre.  I know both Dean and I are very excited to be providing this help.

Monday 1st February 2021 - Course with Haringey to start in February.


Posted 1:30pm

We are so excited to be running our first Ajani course since lockdown, and this with Haringey Well Being Network.

Starting on Monday 15th February (just a fortnight to go) we will be doing a 12 week course, focusing on building a growth mind-set mentality around confidence and challenges, promoting a healthy nutrition diet looking what we need from our food to keep us functioning properly, demonstrating various ways of incorporating exercise into our lives, and looking at our health/daily routine, and how making small changes over weeks and months can create significant change.

We will be starting this online through Zoom, something we have never done before, so that is both tense and exciting.  We are adapting our delivery, which has received such amazing feedback, so we can continue to provide a relevant and professional intervention, with lots of fun and laughter.

This course will be delivered by our Lazza and Dean, alongside our new recruit Oliver, brother to Luke who we have sadly seen move on.  We wish him all the best, and welcome Oliver.

More details on the course as we go.

Monday 1st February 2021 - HMHB is walking still


 Posted 1:15pm

Firstly, apologies to our followers for no January entries.  This is not down to any lack of effort or work.  It was more down to personal issues within HMHB itself, and internal health issues.  Yep, those are probably excuses.  But we intend on correcting that with social media postings every day in February.  Well, that is the plan.

So, what has been happening.  Frankly, a lot.  We are going to make a few blog entries as there is probably too much news for just one, very long, entry.

Exercise is very important, especially at this time of pandemic and isolating.  For the first couple of weeks of January we didn't arrange any outdoor exercise at all.  Regulations state we can only do outdoor fitness with one other person.  But we received a lot of messages asking if there was anything we could do.  And, personally, I really needed to get out more myself.

So, we have been back walking in the mornings, but ensuring we walk in pairs, and not as a group.  This allows us to interact safely - we make sure we have masks and social distance.

Technically, we may possibly be stretching the rules, and I hope people appreciate the terrific mental health boost this is giving people.


Here, Lazza and Georg sit having coffee following their walk towards the end of January.

 Please everyone, be safe, be active, and we will all come through this.