Did you find it hard to get out of bed today? Do you feel tired and sluggish? There’s a chance you aren’t getting enough exercise and taking care of your fitness needs. Getting fit gives you more energy and makes you think clearer in addition to all the physical benefits it provides. Here are a few ways to put fitness first so you feel better.
If you are new to fitness, start slowly. It may be tempting to push yourself beyond your limits, especially with the enthusiasm that comes with beginning a new fitness regime. Pushing yourself too quickly is the fastest way to get yourself injured, as your body is not ready to deal with the added stresses you place on it. Injuries can sideline you from your workout for weeks, so start with small and realistic goals and work up to more demanding workouts.
Don’t put all of your efforts into doing only crunches when working out abdominal muscles. A well-known university study found that only one pound of fat is burned after 250,000 crunches. If crunches are all you are doing, you aren’t working your abs as hard as you need to. Find other ways to exercise your abdominal muscles so you achieve the results you really want.
A great tip to help you get fit, is to invest in some body fat calipers. Scales only tell you how much you weigh and it’s common knowledge that muscle ways more than fat. Body fat calipers will tell you what percentage of your body consists of fat.
You want your muscles to be strong and tone, but you also want them to be limber. Stretching your muscles is important, and will help your muscles to stay limber. If you happen to be under forty, hold stretches for thirty seconds. In the case you are over forty hold your stretches for sixty seconds since your muscles are less pliable.
Building your forearm strength is super easy. If you play tennis or raquetball a strong forearm is a benefit which will help improve your game. You can build your forearm strength by crumpling a newspaper. Lay a piece of newspaper on the floor, crumple it up into a ball for thirty seconds, and then repeat with the other hand.
You can get the maximum back workout by doing your lat pulldowns and pullups properly. This means that instead of wrapping your thumb around the bar in your grip, place it on the top next to your index finger. What this does is decrease your arm’s involvement so that your back reaps the benefits of having to work harder.
It is possible to speed up recovery time from a particularly hard workout. The day after your hard workout, lightly exercise the same muscles. Use weights which are about twenty percent of your max weight and do two sets of twenty-five repetitions. This will help to deliver nutrients and blood to muscles to help them recover at a faster rate.
Avoid working your abdominal muscles every day of the week. Instead, target them no more than two or three days per week. Like any other muscle group in your body, the ab muscles need time to recover between intense workouts. Doing abdominal exercises every day will not speed up the process of developing toned abs.
Think like the tortoise and not necessarily the hare! For some people long periods of slow low-intensity exercise can be more beneficial than short bursts of activity. Take a long walk with your mate in the evenings, play a game of croquet, or show your stuff in a game of horse shoes. Do something that relieves your mind while slowly exercising your body.
No matter which type of workout you choose to do, you need to stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water before, during and after exercise helps to replace fluids that are lost during your workout. Staying hydrated means that you will have more energy to go that little bit further, and you will feel better overall.
Fitness is about more than big muscles. It’s about getting healthy and setting a healthy example. The more fit you are, the better you feel and the stronger you are. Follow these tips and get fitter and you’ll know these things to be true. A fit body feels better and that’s the truth.