Get Active After Christmas With Activesmart -- ACC

Get Active After Christmas With Activesmart

New Zealanders seeking urgent help to remedy Christmas indulgences can easily access free fitness and nutritional advice - and it's online!

ActiveSmart (www.activesmart.co.nz) was set up in April last year by ACC in association with the Ministry of Health, SPARC, Fitness New Zealand, the Heart Foundation and the Cancer Society.

Simon Gianotti, ACC Injury Prevention Team Leader, said ActiveSmart is perfect for the New Year because it provides a complete set of tools and advice about how to safely get back into activity after a break, and how to get fit from a standing start.

"With a personalised fitness programme, nutritional advice, a five-day weather forecast, diagrams and videos of training techniques, email reminders, and a regional events calendar, everything you need is right there," he said.

More than 20,000 New Zealanders have already signed up and created their own fitness programmes.

ACC figures record that almost 25,000 New Zealanders were injured playing sport, and 96 people died as a result of their injuries, in 2006/07.

"Often injuries occur when people are unfamiliar with the correct practice. ActiveSmart provides a complete training programme with safe stretches, warm ups and a gradual increase of activity." Simon Gianotti said.

Mr Gianotti said the great thing about the site is that, since it's online, this great Kiwi resource is available to people living overseas.

"Most of us feel like we need an extra bit of encouragement after Christmas, and many of us start the New Year vowing to more exercise than last year. Having ActiveSmart on the internet means that not only can New Zealanders living here can get the individual help they need, they can also recommend it to family and friends abroad."

To create your own fitness programme go to www.activesmart.co.nz. Specific sports programmes are also available on the following sites:

www.netballsmart.co.nz
www.soccersmart.co.nz
www.snowsmart.co.nz.

ENDS

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