Everyone knows staying fit is important, especially with obesity rates in America rising quickly. Want to work out, but don’t have any good ideas? There are many ways to work on your personal fitness, and this article describes some great ways to have fun while working out and staying healthy.
Decrease your time in the gym by not taking as long to rest between sets of weightlifting. When you first begin lifting weights your muscles are still strong enough to go right through. Think intuitively and take breaks when you need them, but you can cut down a good 10-20% off your gym time by cutting down on those early breaks, which would allow you to move on to something else that much quicker.
A really good way to help you get fit is to perform cardio right after you lift weights. Studies have shown that doing cardio right after lifting weights burns more calories than if you were to do cardio by itself. You can also complete both workouts in one session.
If cycling is your exercise mode of choice, you can increase the efficiency, endurance, and coordination of your muscles by pedaling your bicycle using only one leg at a time, then alternating after every three to five minutes. This helps to engage all muscles in the leg by distributing the work evenly up and down the entire length of your legs and feet.
To improve your scores on your golf putting, try aiming higher on your breaks. Try estimating what the scores of your breaks are and double those numbers because it will help get you more accurate numbers that you can use to improve them. Knowing these numbers will help you to better them and reach your goals.
Try to avoid burnout during your workout sessions by keeping track of your pulse the next morning. If your pulse appears to be 10 bpm or much more than the normal pulse, it means that your body is still in a state of recovery and that you must take it easy.
When playing baseball or softball, you can hit more home runs by swinging at high pitches with a small uppercut. When swinging high in this manner, you are using your hip and midsection muscles to assist in the power of your swing instead of simply using your hands and arms to power the ball.
Never lift weights for more than an hour. If you continue lifting for any longer than that, your body will automatically activate a natural defense mechanism, which causes muscle-wasting and fatigue. Keep yourself on a strict time limit to prevent losing what muscle mass you have worked so hard to gain.
To build real strength, make sure you exercise your muscle groups in many different ways. Sticking with one form of exercise for a muscle group (like machine work only) can increase your strength in relation to that activity, but can actually weaken you when it comes to other activities that your body is not used to.
If you often use the excuse that you’re just too busy to exercise, one day try scheduling in a quick session of something you enjoy. Then look back at your day and see if your productivity really suffered. Usually the answer is no, and you will have just rid yourself of another excuse not to exercise!
If you want to run faster, perhaps you should try pumping some iron. A study has proven that experienced runners who performed weight training for eight weeks improved their 5-K times by an average of thirty seconds. This thirty seconds could be the difference between winning and losing a race.
You can replace high-performance sports drinks with plain water unless your fitness program involves strenuous exertions lasting more than an hour. The chief selling point – and cost justification – for engineered sports drinks is electrolyte replacement. The plain fact is, until your workouts break the one-hour mark, you are simply not going to be sweating long enough to lose the trace minerals that sports drinks replace.
Focus on a plan and stick to it. Working on plans such as a upper body/lower body split can be beneficial to serious fitness because it helps portions of the body rest on off days. Muscles are living cells and grow during periods of intense stress, exercise in this case. This growth, however, requires a rest period; the rest period is an important feature of our body that upper/lower splits make a note of.
Keep track of your exercise each day by writing it down. Be specific with the information you write down and make sure you include how many reps you are doing and for how long. This can help you become more efficient with your time and help you to find more time to workout.
Don’t let the cold weather cause you to abandon your fitness plan. A great way to stay motivated even in the coldest months is to take a “before” picture of yourself. Hang that picture on the refrigerator or somewhere where it will be seen all of the time, so you can be reminded of the importance of keeping up your fitness plan. Whether your “before” picture is a picture that you love or one that you can’t stand and want to improve, it will keep you motivated for sure!
A great fitness tip for baseball and softball players is to play foosball. Believe it or not the recreational game is great at improving hand-eye coordination. It is an excellent way to raise your batting average while having fun at the same time. Make an effort to hit the foosball directly in the center each time.
Staying fit can be difficult until you get in the habit of working out, but if you stick with it you will be rewarded with a great looking body. Hopefully you now have some great fitness ideas and are eager to apply them to your next run around the block or trip to the gym.
