Focus on men's health week

FAMILY FITNESS: The Niu family post workout. From left, Cavalli, 9, Elise's husband Ray, Raven, 4, Koda, 6, and Elise with 11-month-old Quincy. Photo: Michelle Davies Photography

A local reality TV personality and business owner has stepped up to help Kapiti males get active in honour of Men's Health Week.

Kapiti Functional HIIT owner Elise Niu is giving away free group training sessions in Paraparaumu until the end of the month, as part of the nationwide campaign that ran from June 12 to 18.

Her goal, she said, is to help make Kapiti "the happiest, most active place in New Zealand".

According to the mother of four, recent research had found that exercises like HIIT, high intensity interval training, caused changes to DNA and improved physical fitness and mental wellbeing.

Recently back on the coast, Elise was among a collection of participants on Maori Television's School of Training, where she was participated in extreme fitness challenges in hope of taking out the top spot of New Zealand's best undiscovered trainer.

Now she is on a mission to get Kapiti men and women involved in group fitness.

"Taking small steps like incorporating more exercise into your lifestyle can make big changes. To help men take that initial first step, Functional HIIT is offering free group sessions for all men, until the end of June."

Men's Health Week stems from the International Men's Health Week and was founded in 2002. This year's campaign drew awareness to the fact that every three hours, a New Zealand man dies from a preventable illness.

Accessible through menshealthweek.co.nz, the campaign focused on reducing preventable health issues including heart disease.

Elise encouraged men to access the range of advice available through the website, including a health score quiz and information on eating healthy foods and exercise.

"For more information about this month's training sessions, visit @functionalhiitnz on Facebook."