{"id":41125,"date":"2017-12-11T11:20:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T11:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=41125"},"modified":"2017-12-11T12:21:53","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T12:21:53","slug":"in-depth-the-big-welsh-health-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/active\/in-depth-the-big-welsh-health-fix","title":{"rendered":"In depth: The big Welsh health fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

With over \u00a33 million being spent on improving Cardiff gyms, youth culture is on the move from cannabis to kale<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"GLL

Last December, Greenwich Leisure Limited gained control of eight local leisure centres previously operated by Cardiff council (Photo credit: GLL)<\/p><\/div>\n

With one in seven people in the UK having a gym membership, young Cardiffians are taking to the treadmills to improve their health and fitness.<\/span> This comes <\/span>amidst a \u00a33.4m investment by Cardiff\u2019s leading leisure centre provider Greenwich Leisure Limited<\/a> (GLL) to improve leisure centres across the capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matt Plowman, marketing communications and social media manager of Cardiff Sports Nutrition<\/a>, believes the cultural shift from shots to squats can be credited to the growing trend of health and fitness on social media. He said: \u201cPeople feel they need to look like the celebrities they follow on social media, but these \u2018role models\u2019 are all sponsored by the big supplement brands and have the financial means to maintain a certain lifestyle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In an attempt to reach the high standards of fitness exhibited by celebrities, Matt claims to have seen a huge rise in the number of young people buying supplements to optimise their workout. This is in keeping with research from <\/span>Mintel<\/a>, which reports that 42 percent of British people aged between 16 and 24 have consumed sports nutrition products in the past three months.<\/span><\/p>\n

“For most of the population good health is an all-or-nothing lifestyle choice.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Richard Rees<\/a>, a personal trainer based in Caerphilly, believes that social media are breaking down the barriers of going to the gym. At 36 years old, Richard has been training for more than twenty years, and oriented his lifestyle and career around health and fitness. \u201c<\/span>When I was younger I never saw a gym with a tv,\u201d he begins. \u201cWe never even had carpets! It was old school. You went in, lifted weights, and left.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese days young people are more inclined to train in gyms because they are so accommodating, and with wifi readily available they are much more linked to social media,\u201d Richard said.<\/span><\/p>\n