Overall fitness isn’t just about cardio. Although cardio is a major component of weight loss and heart health, it is important to incorporate strength training into your fitness regimen. Strength training builds muscle mass and helps you burn more calories post-workout. Follow these strength-training tips to amp up your workout and get a complete workout.
Clean up your environment of unhealthy elements. Stop buying unhealthy food and have your family follow your new diet. Quit smoking and avoid spending time with smokers to avoid second hand smoke. Avoid temptations and sources of procrastination and demotivational things. Your goal is to adopt a healthy lifestyle where fitness feels like a natural thing to do.
You do not have to practice fitness like everybody else. Any activity you are interested in can become a part of a fitness routine. For instance, dancing is an excellent exercise if you practice it actively. You should join a class to acquire skills and practice at home on a regular basis.
A great way to build up your leg muscles without lifting weights is to sprint. Sprinting as fast as you can is an excellent workout for your hamstrings. Including a sprinting routine is a great way to build muscle. It also has the added benefit of increasing your speed as well.
Get into the habit of wearing a pedometer to help accomplish your fitness goals. You should be walking around 10,000 steps a day. If you are not up to that, increase your steps by 100 steps a day, or 500 steps a week, until you are regularly hitting the 10,000 mark.
Stay fit by giving your body ample time to rest. If you push yourself too hard and don’t get enough rest and sleep, you will harm your muscles, tendons and bones. It’s fine to do a hard or challenging work out a two or three times a week, but be sure to take time off to rejuvenate in between.
One way to keep yourself motivated and enthusiastic about your fitness routine is to think of exercise as a hygienic act like brushing your teeth or taking a shower. You wouldn’t skip either of these steps, would you? Of course not – it would be unappealing. Likewise, never skip your fitness regimen.
Start out slow and use a buddy when performing high-weight exercises. Activities like the bench press and squatting can involve very heavy weights that if dropped or thrown, can cripple an unwise amateur when it comes to lifting. A bar holding 400 lbs landing anywhere on the body other than the arms can be very, very painful and may even cause damage.
Never exercise if you are not feeling well. When you exercise, your body is causing a bit of damage to your muscles, which it needs to repair to make them stronger. If you are sick, your body is busy repairing other issues. Exercising will only make you feel worse.
Obviously, there are many options when it comes to working strength moves into your fitness routine. Keep doing your cardio, but additionally, choose any number of the tips mentioned to keep your muscles strong and prevent injury. Not only will you increase your calorie burn, but you’ll have awesome muscle definition to boot.