It’s true, it’s never easy or even much fun to maintain your fitness. But, we must also acknowledge that it is extremely important if one wants to stay healthy. Luckily, you do not need to go the extreme. You just need to be willing to commit a bit of time and effort. You might have a lot of fun this way!
Work out your abs without doing crunches. That’s right, all you have to do is to take a deep breath and on the exhale, simply squeeze your belly to your spine and hold it for about 10 seconds. You’ll be working your transversus abdominis muscle, which lays behind more prominent abdominal muscles but can flatten your stomach noticeably.
Every time you do abdominal exercises, make sure to do back exercises as well. If you do so, you won’t have back pain–too many abdominal exercises can cause back pain and poor posture. Don’t focus on one body area and neglect other areas, make sure to have a balanced workout.
A really good way to help you get fit is to make a small protein shake whenever you feel the urge to eat junk food. By adding just a scoop of protein powder, some ice, and a little bit of splenda, you’ll have a much healthier snack that won’t wreck your fitness goals.
When you exercise, remember to exhale after each repetition. Your body will make use of its available energy, and you will be able to take in more air as a result.
Fit in some stretching exercises when you are sitting at your desk at work. It is not good for your body when you sit at your desk for hours without getting up. Every 60 to 90 minutes, if you can get up and stretch for five minutes, you can increase the circulation in your muscles and prevent muscle cramps.
You can build bigger biceps by bending your wrists slightly when you are doing arm curls with dumbbells. When your doing your arm curls, extend the wrists backwards slightly, and hold them like that. This slight change of movement will make your biceps work harder, thus, building bigger biceps.
You can increase the quality of your arm curls simply by using your workout towel as part of your sets. Wrap the dry towel all the way around the bar, make sure that you have a firm grip, then perform your reps and sets as usual. By increasing the thickness of the bar itself, you are making your forearm muscles work even more than usual.
If you hate all the fitness exercises or you find them very boring, but you have a passion for dancing, you can use it to improve your personal fitness. Easy dance movements performed with music and matched to your personal taste and capabilities can be used to reach your fitness goals.
Improve your running form by running faster for shorter distance runs. This will train you how to run in proper form and it will give you a great leg workout too. By improving your form, you can then prevent any kind of movements or jerking that could cause serious injuries.
To increase your running speed, you should try to increase your running stride speed. Do not try to increase the strides length. When running, your foot should always touch under your body, not in front of you. For propulsion, be sure to push off using the toes on your rear leg.
If you are going shopping at the mall, you can add exercise to this fun activity by walking around the mall before you start shopping. If you have a smaller mall, increase the amount of times that you walk through the mall before shopping. You can also try walking up the escalator to add a little more exercise.
If you change your grip methods when working on bench-pressing, lighten up! Decrease the weight you are using so that you do not inadvertently injure your shoulder muscles. Your muscles need time to prepare for extra weight, so work your way back up to the max every time you make a change.
Test your injured muscles slowly. Stretch them out and work a slight bit to see how they feel. If you start to feel any pain, stop immediately and ice the area. Do this every day until your muscles feel like they are ready to take the stress of a workout again.
The bottom line is that while gaining fitness can be tough, if you set your mind to the potential benefits, you will surely succeed. Getting in shape doesn’t have to be done all on your own. You have already taken the first step towards your new life of fitness.