Fitness Tips

What does “being fit” mean?

Maybe your answer is “being able to run a long way?”  This is true however fitness also includes, strength, power, speed, endurance, flexibility, balance and co-ordination.  To be truly fit surely we need to encompass all of these things.  We should also consider nutrition, hydration, rest and recovery…as you can see this opens a can of worms!  We could also include testing our cholesterol levels, blood glucose, blood pressure, weight, BMI and checking our immunity…the list goes on.

We encourage you to train safely, eat wisely, get plenty of rest and listen to your body. 

Warm Up/Warm Down

Always warm up slowly before exercise particularly if you are straight out of bed and warm down post exercise.  Stretch after your workout and hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds - stretching should not be painful so don’t force the movement.  Continue to hold the stretch until the muscle relaxes and then you can apply a little more tension to continue to hold for another 20 seconds minimum.

Adaptation:

Our body will adapt to the stresses we put on it; exercise is a positive stress however if we do the same thing every day we will plateau and not see any physical changes.  It’s fantastic that you invest time every week to do your routine however try something new, mix it up and see and feel the difference.

Efficient Training

Did you know that if you use the biggest muscles in your body for compound movements you will burn more calories and get stronger?

Exercises like squats and press-ups are examples of compound exercises, try doing some of these when the television advertisements are on!!  These exercises use the largest muscles in our body and therefore burn many more calories than a bicep curl! 

Snack-tivity = Small bursts of activity

Unfortunately we sit around too much these days.  We drive to work and to the shops, we sit at our desk, we watch television or play on our computers and Smartphone.  We often socialise by meeting for a drink or dinner so we end up sitting some more and this contributes to our lack of flexibility and overall inactivity.

Snack-tivity will positively contribute to your daily routine; try parking your car at the other end of the car park and walk to the entrance of the mall.  Run up the driveway to check the mail box and take those stairs at work, walk on the spot when you are talking on the phone, all of these things will help you.

Always seek Medical advice from your Doctor is recommended before taking part in a new exercise programme.