Keeping fit is something that many people overlook until they are out of shape and therefore must work harder to reach their physical goals. The work put into keeping your body healthy is worth it in both immediate results and long-term benefits, however. Here are some tips on fitness that can help keep you healthy and happy for years to come.
At the end of your exhaustive workout session, rather than reaching for a sports drink or water, try chocolate milk. Chocolate milk has been shown to hydrate as well as water but speeds the recovery time of athletes in training. You will be able to return to another workout session faster than if you had chosen a different beverage.
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.
For well-rounded fitness and injury prevention, it’s essential to strengthen your core. Strong, stable core muscles provide excellent support for all types of exercise. One way to increase your core strength is by doing sit-ups. Sit-ups build your core and expand your motion range. This will build up the strength and endurance of your abdominal muscles.
You can swim faster by working on developing your ankle flexibility. The more flexible your ankles are, the better you will be able to propel through the water. Flexible feet and ankles will work like flippers, helping you to glide through the water, thus helping you to swim much faster.
To get the best results from your workouts, you need to make sure that you have the proper form. This will both give you the best workout possible and also reduce the risk of injury. Take the time to perfect your focus and form on quality rather than on quantity.
A great fitness tip you should follow is to make sure your weight workouts stay under an hour. When weight training for more than an hour, your body makes more of the stress hormone cortisol. This decreases the level of testosterone in your body and has a negative effect on your muscles.
Taking the stairs whenever you have the option is a great way to burn some extra calories throughout your day. Also, when parking your car, park as far from the door as you can. This will help you to walk more then you normally would, without putting too much effort into it.
Keep a nice upbeat pace when cycling. Try to keep your pace between 110 and 80 rpm. This will help you ride longer without becoming too tired since you are not going too fast. You can keep track of this number while riding by counting how many times one of your feet’s pedal hits the top in 10 seconds. Then take that number and multiply it by 6 to get your pedal rpms.
You can improve your jumping height by doing a simple jumping exercise. Stand on an 8 inch high step and step off backward using both of your feet. When your toes hit the ground, jump forward back onto the step. The key is to press off as quickly as possible as soon as your toes hit the ground. Do at least three to five sets of 10-20 of these to improve the height and speed of your vertical jump.
As stated earlier in the article, keeping fit can be hard work, but the rewards reaped from your efforts will be well worth the work. Maintaining proper fitness can help you lead a longer life, and help you enjoy the life you have now more fully. Follow the advice you learned from this article to get started on the road to better fitness.
