Leeds Rhinos are working with their charity Leeds Rhinos Foundation to promote healthy lifestyles during this year’s national Men’s Health Week, which takes place 12-18 June.
Leeds Rhinos Foundation is part of Sport Leeds; a network of sporting organisations across the city, working towards shared health goals for Leeds, such as improving health inequalities. The theme of this year’s Men’s Health Week is ‘Belly fat’ and the risks associated with this and to support the campaign each member of Sport Leeds will be highlighting ways that men can improve their fitness through healthy living and active lifestyles.
The Men’s Health Week initiative has attracted the support of the Leeds Rhinos players who are helping to promote the themes of the campaign by offering healthy eating advice, while supporting some of Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s health projects.
One of Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s flagship health initiatives is their men’s health management project Try Club, which runs in East Leeds and at Headingley Carnegie Stadium. Try Club is now in its second year, and has already seen over 50 men graduate from the programme with improvements in their fitness levels and reductions in their BMI and waist measurements.
Rising Rhinos star, Josh Jordan-Roberts recently visited the Try Club class in East Leeds and believes projects like this are valuable for the local community.
“Speaking to the guys on Try Club, it’s clear to see that they are enthusiastic about making positive changes in their lives,” said Jordan-Roberts. “Changing habits and getting active when you haven’t done physical activity for a long time can be really intimidating and often the first step is the hardest, but these guys have stuck with it and are reaping the rewards and are now enjoying this new healthy lifestyle.”
Research indicates that there are many dangers of having a large amount of belly fat, which include increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, sleep apnea, premature death from any cause and high blood pressure.
Throughout Men’s Health Week, Leeds Rhinos Foundation will be sharing key health messages on their social media accounts and website and will be giving healthy lifestyle talks to parents from Corpus Christi Primary School and staff at Mears Group.
Laura Buckle, Health Improvement Officer at Leeds Rhinos Foundation said: “We are delighted that the Leeds Rhinos players are helping back this campaign. As professional sportsmen they are an inspiration to many people and can help us to promote important health messages.
“Research has indicated that men’s health is usually lower on the priority list for individuals and generally poorer than women’s, with statistics showing that blokes are more likely to be overweight and generally eat a poorer diet. It isn't all doom and gloom though, as there are plenty of ways to tackle this and there is support out there for those wanting to make changes and improve their health.
“Men who have a waist measurement over 37 inches (94cm) are at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke so it is important that they are aware of these risks and know what they can do to reduce them.
“As a charity, improving people’s health is at the forefront of what we do and as well as the Try Club men’s health management project we also deliver a weekly active social group for people over the age of 60, offering activities such as Tai Chi, walking netball and ballroom dancing. Later this year we will be expanding our successful cancer rehabilitation programme to work with men and we will be offering health checks at a future Leeds Rhinos game.
“We are proud to be part of the Sport Leeds network and each organisation is committed to helping people in the city improve their health and wellbeing through making sport accessible for everyone. We have the shared ambition of making Leeds the most active big city in England and Sport Leeds’ combined support of initiatives such as Men’s Health Week is important in helping us achieve this.”
For more information on Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Health initiatives email laura.buckle@leedsrhinosfoundation.org. For more information on Sport Leeds click here