Link to full story: ​http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2016/3/daring-performer-completes-highest-trapeze-act-ever-suspended-from-hot-air-balloo-421126

Click on the image below

Feature on Stuff.co.nz / Southland Times / The Press:
Anna Cochrane to attempt record breaking trapeze act suspended from a hot air balloon
By DEBBIE JAMIESON
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/72364845/anna-cochrane-to-attempt-record-breaking-trapeze-act-suspended-from-a-hot-air-balloon

A feature piece talking about circus, fitness and what was involved in performing a circus aerial act beneath a paraglider at 3,000 feet. 

TV3 Coverage of my Circus in the Sky Fundraiser in Queenstown - Click on the image for the link.

Paraglider + awesome pilot + aerialist + good weather = Circus in the sky! 
I don't know how many more of my favourite things I can cram into one project! There's flying, a Sea Shepherd paraglider, circus and now, a fundraiser for two of my long time favourite organisations; Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Paw Justice. 

I was happy to be invited by NZ Fitness Magazine to talk about aerial fitness - aerial silks to be specific. It's so great that circus style fitness is becoming more available to the NZ public and a completely legit way of getting super fit. Check out this bi-monthly edition of NZ Fitness to find out more. Thanks NZ Fitness! 

We all know that sitting for long periods of time makes us feel a bit stiff and often lethargic. But on top of the mushy abs, tight hips and saggy glutes, sitting too much can cause a bunch of complications too. Here's a summary. Of course, you can counter these by taking regular breaks, stretching, eating a healthy diet and exercising outside of work. 

Acquiring and maintaining a supple, strong spine is crucial for the overall health of your body. The natural curves of the spine allow the best possible protection of the spinal cord, freedom for nerve impulses coming to and from the central nervous system as well as stability of the torso. However, our lifestyles often result in the spine collapsing or over extending in certain areas. Sitting at a computer all day can make the upper spine more "hunched", while a lack of awareness or wearing high heels can cause the lower back to become over extended (arched). Conversely, trying to over compensate by forcing the shoulders back can cause the upper spine to lose it's natural curve, creating a "flat" upper back. Rotation wise, we tend to get a bit stiff from not stretching in that direction. Same goes for side flexion. 

In pilates we aim to move the spine in ALL directions during every session. This is one of the main reasons why people feel like that are standing taller and feel more "open" or positive when they leave. 

Please check with a professional before doing these exercises if you have any back pathology or osteoporosis.

I originally made these sheets for my pilates clients. But almost everyone can do with some extra stretch in their muscles and joints. So here are some stretch sheets to help guide you. You can print them off and put them somewhere to remind you to stretch EVERY DAY. And now that the weather is warming on this side of the world, it's an excellent time to get into a routine of stretching. Remember, NEVER stretch when your cold. Warm up first. If you have injuries, check with a professional first about which stretches are best for you or should be avoided. You'll notice a big improvement in your flexibility if you do just 20 minutes a day.

Leg and hip stretches
I usually hold these stretches for a minute each. It is my understanding there is no evidence to say holding a stretch for more than a minute is any more beneficial. Perhaps you can start by holding them for 30 seconds and slowly work your way up. Work through the stretches twice in each session - you may find you get some extra range the second time you go through them. 

Yep, drink it, chug it, shoot it, slam it - whatever! Introducing the GREEN SMOOTHIE! 
Don't screw up your nose...they are actually very yummy. You'll like it I promise...and it will make you feel amazing+++

In this TEDx talk, Brendan Brazier explains how to lose weight (specifically body fat), get the most energy from your diet by eating high net gain foods, reduce inflammation leading to faster recovery times and other important nutritional/hormonal aspects of diet. 

"I first became vegan for health reasons, which for me translates to performance gains. Soon after I stopped eating meat I realized that there were many more reasons other than just health to be vegan. Aside from the health, environmental and animal welfare concerns, I also began to dislike the way in which society views meat consumption. The slick marketing and complete removal of any thought that the ground-up, plastic wrapped piece of meat bought in a supermarket was recently an animal walking around in a field, not too different from your dog. Society makes contributing to killing an animal completely acceptable and anonymous, others do all the messy work (breeding, raising, killing) all you as the consumer has to do is walk into a friendly, clean supermarket in the shopping mall and buy a piece of meat wrapped with a cartoon picture of a smiling cow on it."

Check out this short video by Brendon Brazier, one of the most well known, most qualified vegan athletes in the world. 
Brendon is a former professional Ironman triathlete, a two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion, the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called VEGA, and the bestselling author of Thrive. He is also the developer of the acclaimed ZoN Thrive Fitness program and the formulator of the new award-winning, 7-product natural VEGA Sport system. 

I credit Brendon Brazier and his range of VEGA products with starting my plant based journey. I pretty much lived off his products in Canada about 7 years ago...couldn't get enough of them. This was when I switched from being a meat eater to being plant based. I was lucky to have his influence for this transition because it really highlighted the difference between how I felt as a meat eater and how I felt as a vegetarian/almost vegan. It was like black and white. I felt SO SO good. So I've never ever looked back...I've never been tempted and never craved anything from my past eating life. When you start getting into eating foods that have a high net gain, packed full of micro-nutrients, the benefits of plants are unrivaled. 

Exercise may be as effective as medications in certain types of disease management, according to a new review published this week in the British Medical Journal. The review, which analyzed more than 305 trials with 339,274 participants, compared drug and exercise interventions and found that exercise proved similar to medications for heart disease prevention, heart failure treatment, and diabetes prevention. For those who had suffered a stroke, exercise was more effective than drug treatment. In addition, physical activity often provided patients with fewer side effects and injuries. The authors stress that these data provide health care professionals with a safe and effective alternative for their patients.

Source: http://www.pcrm.org/health/medNews/exercise-effective-drugs-disease-treatment
Study: Naci H, Ioannidis JPA. Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: metaepidemiological study. BMJ. Published online October 1, 2013.

In this issue, I talked to the New Zealand Fitness Magazine about shoulder rehab post dislocation.