Have you reached a fitness plateau where you are dissatisfied with your workout and fitness routine? If the desire to remain fit has waned, you need a few tips to get yourself mentally boosted and back on track. If you can’t get motivated and inspired, this will lead to giving up on your exercise plan, so be sure to read the following tips and find your way back into a fitness groove.
Achieve optimal fitness by using your body’s processes to your advantage. Stick to smaller weights at first and gradually build your way up to machines. This way, you can work fatigue-prone smaller muscles first. Your larger muscles need less support from smaller muscles, so this is an optimal way to work your physiology to your advantage.
One of the best fitness buddies you can choose is a good dog who will always enjoy doing anything you want to do! When you have a canine friend to keep you company, you will have plenty of motivation to go for daily walks, bike rides, throw a Frisbee or ball in the park. Having a good dog to care for will keep you active and fit!
Before starting your workout, always remember to warm up, as this will prepare your muscles for physical activity. Spend five minutes performing a low intensity version of your main workout, and incorporate stretching exercises. This will increase your body temperature, and increase blood flow to your muscles, making them much more flexible.
Whatever fitness routine you choose, be sure to include cardio-vascular exercise. Staying heart and lung healthy is extremely important, and a cardio workout will do just that for your body. Try to do 30 minutes of cardio or aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week. This can take the form of running, biking, using a treadmill or elliptical trainer, or swimming. Remember not to overdo it. If you find yourself short of breath, you should take a break until your heart rate slows down.
Exercising with your dog can be a great motivator. Having to take your dog out can increase the frequency of your workouts as well as your enjoyment. Some health clubs even offer classes or activities that can be done with your pet, such as “doggy yoga”!
To help you stick with your fitness goals, find yourself a workout buddy. This person will help you stay accountable for showing up to your workouts. Having a buddy can also keep you motivated on the days when you’d rather not do your workout. Laughing and talking as you work out will allow you to work out longer, which causes you to burn more calories than if you were just working out alone.
Keep track of your workouts. Keeping a daily or weekly log, tracking all of your workouts, ensures that you are making progress in your exercises and it will help hold you accountable. Write down things, such as duration, frequency, weight sizes and sets, reps and how your workout made you feel.
Try joining sites like Fitocracy or My Fitness Pal to log your exercise and calorie intake. Not only are they good for seeing where you need improvement, but it’s also a community of people with the same goals as you and can give you tips and ideas as well as encouragement.
Improve your balance. Stand on a cushion or pillow, using one leg. Hold a medicine ball, or another heavy object such as a milk jug or phone book, and transfer it from hand to hand, behind your head, and side to side. As soon as this becomes easy, do it with your eyes closed. Improving your balance will help with body control and coordination, attributes which will help your athletic performance.
Choose the right fitness club. Consider several factors before you sign up for a club membership. Don’t just go to the nearest location. Make sure the club offers the services, exercise types and training you need. Choose the location with the broadest services available as you never know what you might need later.
Avoid referring to your fitness program as working out or exercising. These labels and names can drain away your motivation just by hearing them. Try using the name of the activity instead, like running or cycling.
Avoid using the treadmill to warm-up with before you engage in your weight training. Instead, opt for a warm-up that will actually work the muscles that you will be using for lifting the weights. To do a full body warm-up that accomplishes this, use a bar and perform two sets of 10 reps of squats, bench-presses, dead-lifts, etc.
If you aim to sharpen your skills at basketball, you should try wearing leather or canvas work gloves while dribbling in order to improve your dribbling skills. This is because the thickness of these gloves improves the sensitively of the fingertips. When you take the gloves off, your ball control will have improved.
When working out regularly, a great tip is to cut your weekly training in half for one week out of every five or six. Your body needs a little rest occasionally in order to recover properly. In addition, resting will prevent any serious injuries from occurring that could potentially put a halt to your training for months.
Good fitness is essential to your health. If you do not have a work out plan and are not fit you will find that you are more susceptible to becoming ill. You can find many books and articles on fitness and even places to go locally such as gyms. Keeping fit will keep you busy and happy, and will make you look and feel better.
While everyone has experienced a time where keeping fit is put on the back burner. By following the simple tips of this article, you should be back on the road to working out and feeling great again. Before you know it, you will be back in charge of your fitness program and looking forward to your next workout.