The U.K is still feeling the tight pinch of the double dip recession, with many of us cutting back on luxuries such as gym memberships just to make ends meet.

So it may come as a shock to many that you are actually shelling out your own money for someone else’s gym membership. The Daily Express has reported that the government has spent around £10.5 million of taxpayers on exercise equipment for prisoners.

Most prisoners now have access to top of the range fitness equipment such as treadmills, cross trainers, exercise bikes, rowing machines and weights.

It is reported that the over the course of the past three years, the government has spent almost £125 on fitness equipment on each of the 84,145 prisoners in England and Wales.

When interviewed by the Daily Express Tory MP Robert Halfon said: “The Government should not be paying for special fitness equipment over and above what ordinary people might get from their local gym.”

Whilst Prison Minister Crispin Blunt insisted that prisons only purchase “Remanufactured or refurbished heavy duty gym equipment where possible.”

Many fitness experts claim that overall fitness is best achieved by integrating cardiovascular exercise such as running, walking, swimming, with strength training which preserves and enhances muscle mass.

One of the best types of weights to use as part of your fitness training is dumbells. As well as being a great exercise aid, they are easy to use, affordable and come in a wide range of sizes and weights.

If you are new to using dumbells then don’t go over board at the start of your weight training, start by using lighter weights at around 1pound – 3pound. Once exercise becomes too easy, start increasing the weight of the dumbells each week.

It is recommended that you do around 10 different weight-training exercises with your dumbells. 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise will give your body an all-around workout. Two strength sessions are all you need to keep your body in shape.

The advantages of using free weights such as dumbell as part of your workouts are they imitate day-to-day scenarios better than resistance weights or weight machines. You are able to experiment with a range of movements and exercises with dumbells, which helps prepare your body for its day-to-day experiences such as lifting items at work or at home or even carrying the children. 

Earlier this week the American public and the fitness industry worldwide received some sad news, ‘the godfather’ of American Fitness, who once said “I can’t die, it would ruin my image”, Jack LaLanne, passed away at the age of 96.

LaLanne was the pioneer of the American workout, he single handedly revolutionised the countries attitude to fitness.  LaLanne brought the concept of daily exercise to the masses of Middle America, which soon filtered through to the rest of the world.  He was the founder of the first ever American gym, in Oakland, California in 1936, and the inventor of many pieces of commercial gym equipment such as the cable pulley system, the leg extension and the Jumping Jack aptly named after the man himself.

Throughout his life LaLanne followed a series of self-generated pointers, which he believed helped him to stay active and healthy into his golden years.  

Consume a Healthy Diet - He was a keen believer of a healthy, high fiber diet, his philosophy was if you consume substandard food today then the next day you yourself will be substandard.

Continue to Push Yourself - Throughout his life LaLanne continuous strived to better himself and to take things up to the next level. At the age 42 LaLanne set a record for the most number of push ups reaching a staggering 1033 in just 23 minutes. Although his greatest achievement came at age of 62, LaLanne swam one mile in Long Beach Harbor, handcuffed and shackled whilst towing 13 boats containing 76 people. He set about recreating a similar challenge at in 1980 at the age of 66, this time around towing 10 boats in Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people and he managed to tow them for over a mile in just less tan one hour.

Lift Weights – Before LaLanne came onto the fitness scene exercising with weights was regarded as a form of exercise that only bodybuilders used. Through the use of his fitness clubs and his TV fitness show, he changed the mindset of America, in proving that exercising with weights isn’t just for those with bulging biceps, using weights in your workout regime can help to boost metabolism, burn fat and keep you healthy.

It’s How You Feel Not What the Scales Tell You - Jack LaLanne was a firm believer that to gauge your fitness you have to take into account the way in which you feel, how your clothes fit and how strong and physically fit you are rather then relying on your bathroom scales.

LaLanne is a credit to the health and fitness industry, But most importantly, says Carolyn Katzin a nutritionist who was friends with Mr LaLanne, he did it all the natural way. "He was an everyman, and I guess his legacy was to tell people that anyone could get fit. And he always did it with a smile on his face."

LaLanne died of respiratory failure brought on by pneumonia.

Leslie Burrows from Ilkeston, Derbyshire celebrates his 100^th birthday today, and has credited his long and healthy life to a lifetime of exercise.

Mr Burrows said, “Physical exercise is something that I do every morning. It is the first thing that I always used to do and have carried on doing so.”

Lesile ensures that he exercises everyday he walks around the grounds of the retirement home where he lives, and regularly workouts out his arms, often swinging them above his head to boost his circulation and flexibility.

Mr Burrows was a keen walker who loved walking and used to ramble all around Derbyshire in spots such as Cossall and Awsworth in Nottinghamshire.

As well as being an avid walker, Leslie was also a keen cycler, cycling three miles a day to his job.

As Leslie has proven a regular routine of exercise and workouts for the elderly can improves conditioning and helps prevent chronic diseases. Results have shown that physical exercise benefits seniors more than any other age group.

These are Gymworld’s exercise tips for seniors:

• Leg and Arm Extension - As with Leslie working out your arms and legs, will help to strengthen your muscles, which can help to prevent joints being worn away.

• Cross-trainer - Using a cross trainer to exercise is becoming increasingly popular with seniors. Cross trainers enable the user to monitor their heart rate whilst training. Exercising on a cross trainer has a minimal negative impact on joints.

• Exercising with Weights - Lift light weights three times a week to help strengthen all key muscle groups.  Take a rest day between sessions to aid recovery and avoid overworking the muscles.

• Swimming - A great way for seniors to stay fit and healthy, and the great thing is that isn't high impact on joints.

• Walking - Walking is a great form of exercise, it allows you to go at your own pace and isn’t too strenuous. Try to walk slightly faster than normal to increase the heart rate and boost cardiovascular conditioning.

A combination of aerobics and weight training has been found to be the best exercise regime for Diabetics.

The combination of aerobics and weight training helps to lower blood sugar. Blood sugar is burned faster during aerobic activity as blood sugar fuels the muscles. Weight training builds muscle and changes muscle protein as with aerobic training, this enhances the bloody sugar burning process.

The study also highlighted that mixing aerobics and weight training is also one of the best ways to lose weight, when compared to using the exercise regimes as individual regimes rather then together.

The patients who took part in the study exercised three days a week for 45mins over a period of nine months.

The study used three exercise routines that could be recommended to diabetic patients by doctors. One group of patients were given aerobic training as their exercise regime, the second group were given weight training as their exercise regime and the final group combined both methods of training.

Researchers found that the group who combined aerobics and weight training were the only group who lost weight and lowered their blood sugar.

As a result fewer patients in the combined group started taking new diabetes drugs than the patients in the other two groups. Decisions about the patients medication was left up to the patients’ GP’s to decide.

This study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.