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Today marks the start of international fitness week, which runs from 1^st February to 7^th February. The aim of International Fitness Week is to encourage people to change their lifestyle and improve their overall fitness.

As an incentive to get involved more than 400 gyms across 15 countries are offering free training sessions for non-members.

Over here in the U.K ex Spice Girl Mel B has become the face of fitness week; The star launched International Fitness Week on Thursday, stating ''I want to encourage everyone to find what works for them and make being active part of their lifestyle.

''It's easier than you think to get totally fit and we will show you how.''

The trimmed up star will soon be hosting US TV show Dance Your Ass Off, was launching the week at a central London Fitness First gym where they are offering free sessions to visitors with passes which are available on the International Fitness Week website.

www.internationalfitnessweek.com 

American superstar Jessica Simpson has enlisted the help of a personal trainer to help her slim down for her wedding.

To get her in shape for her wedding Jessica’s trainer Tracy Anderson has costimised a fitness routine that involves aerobics, dance, strength training and ab work.

Jessica’s fitness training will be made up from 75-minute, four-day-a-week workoutsJessica’s workouts are designed to help her toned up, as the singer and fashion mogul insists that she interested in being rail thin she ‘just wants to look healthy’.

The singer started her new fitness regime a few weeks ago and 'She's seeing results,' says an insider. 'She really loves it. She thinks it's so much fun.'

The Manchester Evening news has reported that one of Oldham’s oldest and greatest fitness fanatics has sadly passed away. Gladys Morris was the world’s oldest yoga teacher and had been practicing yoga for almost 50 years.

The 90 year old ran four yoga classes a week at the Shaw Lifelong Learning Centre and her pupils put her forward to the Guinness Book Of Records as the world’s oldest yoga teacher.

Gladys suffered a heart attack and died as a result – just four days before the news came through that her entry had been successful.

She stayed in shape by performing a series of exercises every single day. In her interview with the Manchester Evening News she said “The doctors said it was my muscles and not my bones which were holding me together. I would recommend yoga to everyone."

Gladys originally took up yoga when she was 49 accompanying a friends to the class, but Gladys carried on going. Gladys donated all the money that she made from her yoga classes to charity.

In 2007 she was diagnosed with Osteoporosis but credited yoga with keeping her healthy and active at such a late stage of her life.

February tends to be the month when most of us ditch our fitness routine that we started up in on 2^nd January. But there is a way that you can stay motivated for longer.

Fitness experts have found that couples who exercise together, stay motivated longer compared to when exercising alone.

Couples are trying out a wide variety of fitness activities from simply just going to the gym to adventure sports to even attending yoga classes together.

Exercising as a couple to bond better but also helps them to become more motivated which means they maximise time spent on fitness. The only disadvantage to exercising in a couple is when one is fitter than the other. When there is a difference in fitness levels, they tend to stop working out together.

People who exercise with their other halves are successful in sticking to their fitness routine because they try to impress one another as well as trying to out do one another.

Fitness experts are also seeing a growing trend in couples taking up dancing classes due to the rise and popularity of TV shows such as ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ apart from the fitness factor, it creates more bonding time between the two.

Long walks and trekking is common adventure and fitness works wonders with couples. Trekking is an easy way to loose calories and it is very effective way of toning up. 

After struggling with her weight over the course of the past few years, it seems that singer Janet Jackson has piled on the pounds once again. The singer who weighed in at a slender 120lbs just a few months ago, has gained 20lbs over Christmas and is desperate to lose weight for her comeback tour.

Like many of us “Janet lost control of her diet at the end of last year, then she went hog-wild on junk food over the holidays,” a source told American tabloid the National Enquirer.

But it seems Janet has been trying to get back into shape with a extensive exercise routine. She’s working out seven days a week, swimming, doing aerobics, kickboxing, running and lifting weights.

And she’s hoping that the nightly workout of performing onstage will help with her weight loss, too.

Her new tour is a ‘greatest hits’ show – and Janet is determined to make it her best tour ever, whilst looking her best whilst doing so.

Research has shown that increasing physical activity can help to improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

IBS affects between 10 percent to 15 percent of people around the world, and is typically characterised by symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation diarrhoea or bloating.

Exercise has been shown to be effective in releaving the symptoms of IBS.

To study the effect of exercise on symptoms in IBS, researchers in Sweden selected 102 patients (aged between 18 and 65 years) to a physical activity group and a control group.

Patients in the physical activity group were instructed by a physiotherapist to increase their physical activity (moderate to vigorous physical activity for 20 to 30 minutes three to five times a week), and those of the control group were instructed to maintain their lifestyle.

At the start of the study and at the end of the three months study period, the participants ranked their IBS symptoms, including abdominal pain, stool difficulties and overall quality of life. While the group that maintained their normal routine experienced an average 5-point drop in symptoms, those who increased their activity experienced much more dramatic symptom relief (an average 51-point decrease).

The study findings suggest that even a slight increase in exercise by patients suffering from IBS may reduce symptoms.