As you get older, it’s more important than ever to take care of your body. An aging body loses its elasticity, muscle tone, and bone density. There is only one thing to combat this: fitness. Getting fit combats aging and helps us keep our strength. Here are a few tips to get fit today.
Don’t push yourself too hard when you are working out. While pushing yourself to your limits can be a good thing, be aware of those limits. Build your strength and stamina up gradually. If you intend on exercising daily, pushing yourself too hard only serves to discourage and tire you out the next day.
When designing your fitness program, focus on strength and endurance, not just muscle mass. Increasing muscle mass doesn’t make you healthier and it doesn’t make you more attractive. Better fitness comes from a well-rounded exercise program that will increase your functional strength, raise your heart rate on a regular basis, and increase your lung capacity.
To help tone up your biceps for growth and definition, a two-handed arm curl is by far the best exercise you can do. With a simple weight bar and at least 30 pounds of weight, make sure you do around three sets of 7-10 curls each day. This exercise takes mere minutes and the results will be leaner, stronger, bigger biceps.
A great way to help you get fit is to start incorporating intervals into your cardio. Going all out for thirty seconds and then resting for thirty seconds, is much more effective than if you were to just perform at a steady rate. Cardio with intervals also requires less time.
Being fit isn’t all about lifting weights. Cardiovascular exercise plays an important part of fitness as well. Activities, such as jogging or cycling, can get your heart pumping really fast, in order to burn off excess fat. It gives your muscles a workout and increases leg and core strength.
To become more limber, hold stretches for at least 60 seconds. Stretching your muscles longer helps them to become more pliable. Try holding a stretch as long as you can without it being painful. After just a few days, you should notice an increase in flexibility. Be sure to stretch your body all over for the best results.
If you are trying to exercise more ,you do not have to spend hours on the treadmill or elliptical. Try a new sport or brush up on unused skills. You could take tennis lessons, join a community softball team, or take up swimming. Not only will you learn something new, but your fitness level will increase and you may get social benefits as well.
One of the biggest excuses not to exercise is that you have things to do. So why not buy a treadmill? Using a treadmill will allow you to get things done while you work. You can do school work, watch TV, go over your work assignments, or even just read a book.
If reaching your fitness goal is hindered by your excess weight or joint problems, try water aerobics exercises. In this case you use the swimming pool as your gym. As a result you reduce your body fat, burn extra calories and build lean muscles without putting extra pressure on your joints.
A great fitness tip is to count repetitions backwards. This will assist you in doing more reps because when you approach the end of a set, you will not be thinking about how many reps you have done. Instead, you will be thinking about how many you have left, which can help you squeeze out those last few reps.
You can cut your workout time down by doing your exercises in less time. About 10% less time to be more specific. Doing this will cause your muscles to have to work much harder and it will also help improve your endurance. Start doing this by cutting down your workout sessions by about 3 minutes.
When you are eating out, take your time with the menu. Many restaurants now offer a healthy selection of meals that are full of nutrients and are low in calories. If you can’t find anything that looks like it will benefit you, don’t be scared to speak up and they might be able to make you something.
A great fitness tip is to start performing lat pulldowns. In almost every gym you’ll find a lat pulldown machine. Lat pulldowns are a great way to build up your lat muscles. If you have a few different attachments you can work multiple areas of the muscle.
Getting fit is the best thing for your body as it gets older. As the body starts to decline, you have the power to fight that decline. Stay fit and develop strength so your body can stay limber and strong. Keep these tips in mind and your body will be young for years to come.
