Keeping fit is an essential part of our lives every single day. Fitness keeps you healthy, keeps your heart performing and helps you lose weight to look your best. There are many ways that you can incorporate fitness into your everyday life. The article below is filled with tips that you can use as a fitness starting point.
If you’re trying to get in better shape, don’t bother exercising when you have a cold, the flu, or another illness your body needs to fight off. Why? Your body has different priorities than you do — when you’re sick, it will try to restore your health before it will devote any resources to muscle-building.
Adopt a positive mental attitude. Much is made of the physical workouts and the fitness program you follow, but if your head isn’t there, the rest of you won’t be. A good fitness program starts and ends in the mind, so if you want a strong, lean body make sure that your mental attitude is there first.
If jogging or hitting the gym is not your thing and you love gardening, how about getting the shovel and wheelbarrow out and getting in a little exercise in your yard? In fact, the National Institute of Health, lists gardening among the moderate exercises that are recommeneded for combating obesity. Just weeding for 30 minutes can burn over 150 calories and you’ll work muscles in your back, legs and arms, without the jarring that jogging and aerobic exercises puts your body through. So the next time you dread putting on your jogging shoes, pick up a hoe and take care of that flower bed you’ve been meaning to get to, for the last month. It’s fun and great for your body.
When working out, use this order: dumbbells first, then barbells, then machines. This is because your small stabilizing muscles tire more quickly than your large muscles. Dumbbells and barbells require more use of these smaller stabilizing muscles, you should use them first and move onto machines, which rely more on your larger muscles instead.
When you are working out, wear comfy clothing. If you workout in public, you may be tempted to dress for the benefit of others. Resist that temptation. Don clothes which allow you freedom of movement, but don’t make you feel self-conscious. Good workout attire will help you pay attention to getting into shape and not how bad the clothes look or feel.
When you feel the burn, go back the next day for more! Exercising to the point that we feel it can make us really sore for days. The best way to prevent that, or at least to minimize it, is to exercise again the very next day and the day following that. It may be prudent to take it easier but don’t forgo exercise all together.
Include all different kinds of exercise in your workout regime. You won’t get bored and you will be able to experience different ways to get fit that you may not have tried. Keep the most physically demanding workouts for when you feel at your best, and the most soothing workouts for times when you don’t feel like exercising at all.
Don’t attempt to maximize your overall weight limit by adding a whole bunch of weights at once, without testing it. Try adding about 20 to 30% more than what you usually lift and then test, to see if you can handle that first. Start by lifting it off the rack and then holding it for a couple seconds and then placing it back onto the rack. After about 3 or 4 minutes, try your max and it should feel lighter than before. Never attempt this without a spotter, though.
Mix some real sit-ups in with your crunches. Sit-ups may be dated, but they still offer plenty of benefits. There is one caution that you should be aware of; stay away from anchored-feet sit-ups. This particular variety of sit-ups can seriously strain your lower back.
Walking your dog is a great activity to incorporate into your fitness regimen. These daily walks will not only please you dog, but will also serve as great little fitness cardiovascular workouts for you. Start slowly. Walk around a full block or two and build from there. This is one advantage of having a dog.
Keep a log when you are using a pedometer to record your daily steps. You want to aim for, at least, 10k a day. The best way to track your progress is to have a journal where you record your daily step count, before you go to bed at night.
If you are looking to gain muscle, stick to being a meat eater. While vegetarians do of course gain muscle from exercise, they do not put on the same substantial amount of muscle as carnivores do. Beef is not the only meat in town, by the way. Fish, turkey and chicken all have the same effect.
When training with weights, it is very important to keep your workouts under one hour in length. After lifting weights for 60 minutes, your body starts producing an excess amount of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol has a testosterone-blocking effect and can cause you to lose muscle. If you want to increase muscle size and strength, keep your workouts short and intense.
After you workout it’s important to do cool down exercises. Exercising causes your blood vessels to enlarge which makes your heart work harder to maintain your stamina during a workout. Cool down exercises help your body to gradually return to it’s normal functioning state and prevent unnecessary cardiovascular strain.
If you are one of the many people who sit at a desk all day, using a recumbent or regular bike for your workout may not be your best bet. Instead, try an exercise like running or soccer that gets you into an upright position and stretches out your muscles. Working out in a different position than you are accustomed to prevents the aches and pains that result from being in the same position all day.
Keep fitness integrated into your life by following some simple tips and tricks. The article above mentioned some great ideas that you can choose to use as your own. You can switch up the ways you keep fit and there is no right or wrong way when it comes to fitness.