Many people are under the misconception that if they are thin they are fit. There are many thin people who have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and are really, not as fit as they think they are. There are some things that you should consider if you want to know just how fit you really are.
If you’re looking to get in shape another thing to consider is to gradually increase the difficulty of your regimen. If you increase it too fast you will lose your motivation, and too slow, the results will be too slow. If you used to walk 30 minutes a day at a rate of three miles an hour increase it to thirty minutes, or increase your speed to three and a half miles per hour, for example.
Stay motivated by changing your fitness routine whenever you start to get bored. When you change things up a bit, you make it easier to stay engaged and excited about your fitness goals. Try out yoga or dancing. Or you can take a martial arts or aerobics class. Keep in mind that you only need to attempt each class one time, while losing weight all the while.
When you are working out, keep your weight training time to under sixty minutes. After an hour of weight training, your body will start to produce more cortisol, which is the stress hormone that can block the testosterone needed to build muscles. This will waste the muscles instead of build them.
When pursuing your fitness goals, one great tip to follow is to exhale powerfully at the top of the movement when performing abdominal crunches. This makes your abdominal muscles work even harder, which will give you a higher quality ab workout. Be sure to do this every single time you do crunches, and you will notice a difference.
Avoid trying to hack a basketball down when trying to take it from an opponent to avoid a foul. Instead try flipping the ball upward from underneath. This is more of a subtle, yet surprising technique that your opponent will most likely not see coming. It’s also much easier to grab it from a height than from the ground.
A great way to build fitness and endurance is to run up and down hills. Hills are very challenging because of distance and of steep incline. A good way to run up hill is to keep your head up and to focus on the top of the hill.
To greater increase your range of motion, do your crunches with a rolled up towel or small exercise ball tucked under your lower back. You will work harder to keep your balance, which helps your body stretch. The chance you will get injured from this method is minimal, as well.
A smart fitness routine that includes weight training will put free weight use before weight machine use. Exercising with free weights requires correct form this comes from coordinated use of many muscle groups. In contrast, weight machines isolate single muscle groups. Using free weights first ensures that muscles work together free of fatigue, improving form and increasing the benefits of the exercises.
Jogging has many benefits. Joggers tend be non-smokers, they also tend to weigh less than their non-jogging counterparts. A recent study shows that jogging just one time per month helps to increase bone density, and that those who jogged 9 times a month or more had the greatest bone density.
The information that has been provided above should have given you an idea for just how fit you really are. If you are not as fit as you would like to be, it is important for you to start making changes now while you can still fix your overall fitness.