Approach for keeping fit...

 

How to approach keeping fit?

Nowadays, busy lifestyles and an increasing external focus on healthy living have a major impact on our approach to fitness.

There’s plenty of thinking behind today’s training programmes – workouts have never been as scientific, technologically sophisticated and engaging as they are today. The new trends in fitness are giving us an astonishing view of what the human body can reach in a session by training smarter (not longer) and challenging oneself to the extreme. Without further ado, let’s learn about these new concepts in fitness.

First is the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), such as Crossfit, P90X3, Focus T-25 and Insanity, offered by so-called ‘box gyms’. This approach has taken the fitness world by storm with its circuit style workouts, involving short bursts of intense activity that provide improved athletic capacity, conditioning and fat burning.  Depending on your stamina and willingness, the results can yield the body of a gladiator or an Amazonian. Not bad at all. However, be prepared for constantly sore muscles.

Another significantly fun and sexy new trend is the Pole Workout. Without a doubt, this can provoke some flare in your training. Experts confirm the pole classes are sweat-inducing super effective fat-torching workouts, with the added advantage of learning how to show off your curves and glorify your body.

Next we have team-based workouts. This is a fun way to build muscles and experience a sense of fellowship – burn calories while you bond with teammates, letting the excitement and accomplishment of teamwork take over. These competition-based classes involve games such as catching the flag, tree climbing, carrying logs, tag and overall endurance training.

 

Another current trend is Core Fusion Express. This new method of working out your core and improving coordination is based on the traditional Pilates and Yoga abdominal exercises – specific ballet postures offer fast-paced, full-body training, adding a mayor cardio component with the sole aim of sculpting your muscles. All exercises require complete engagement to correct imbalances due to poor posture and bad movement patterns established during previous workouts. It helps you recognize your weaknesses and so customize your training.

Then we have Power Yoga as Recovery Class. You have certainly heard the slogan “Train hard. Recover harder”. The boom in high-intensity workouts means people are getting sore and need a complementary stretching program. This is where the self-care workouts come in. These courses help stimulate recovery and embellish overall sport efficiency as well as longevity in training, whatever your goals might be. Round out your weekly routine with Yoga training to get more out of your time at the gym, which helps to avoid injuries and incorrect posture.

Another trend is a very hi-tech device called ‘telemetry’. Have you seen those wristbands that track your daily activity, heart rate and more? Now it’s used in group classes where performance metrics are displayed on a board in the room, synced up with apps in your smart phone. There are hundreds of other helpful fitness apps that tell you what food you eat (soon enough these apps will chew the food for you). These innovating concepts will be offered in the traditional gyms, where people can choose from an array of classes, instructors and machinery that help you restore, heal and maintain overall fitness. This ancient concept (it comes from ancient Greek, tele = remote and metron = measure) has proved to work. Ultimately, all trends come on go. We all know that variety is the spice of life, so we certainly need to keep trying new concepts.

The 5 Steps to Get Fit and Stay Fit

1. Start.

The first step to get fit, is to just get started. If you are someone who doesn’t have much experience exercising, it might be a good idea to seek the advice of a trainer, an experienced friend, or even join an exercise group. Perhaps you’d prefer to have a go on your own? There are plenty of resources for that too. The main idea that I’m trying to get across here is that it doesn’t particularly matter what you do to get started. Just get started. Stop putting it off and waiting for the right opportunity to exercise. It’s already there, all you need to do is go out and find it. Not tomorrow, but today.

2. Ignore the Fads.  

Being healthy is not a fad. It needs to be the lifestyle that you choose if your fitness is going to be sustainable. There will be a new superfood pushed to the masses every year, or a new celebrity diet, or mode of exercise. Don’t get caught up in the hype, and try to remember why you began this health and fitness journey in the first place. I’m sure it wasn’t just for the juicy hashtags. Hopefully it was to improve your quality of life and make you a happier, healthier and more valuable person for the people that you love. Your justification will be a major source of motivation for you, which brings us to point three…

3. Set Goals.

In most step-by-step processes you might find this point at the top of the list. But you don’t always need a goal to get started. You do, however, need a goal to keep going. So, in the context of this article, why do you want to get fit? Your answer to this question needs to be the motivating factor that will help you stay fit, once the getting has been gotten. You might have more than one fitness goal to keep you motivated. For example, a long-term life goal (abstract) might be to exercise with your kids, and grandkids one day. A more immediate and specific goal might be to run sub five-minute kilometres by Christmas. If you want to understand goal-setting best practice, just read up on The Short Advice’s SMART goals article here. 

4. Find an Activity You Enjoy.

Don’t underestimate the importance of this point. Some of the best experiences you can have in life are those you create by undertaking physical activities. There are lessons to be learnt, and much fun to be had. So, find something that makes you happy, and motivates you to get fit. The social side of team sport/group exercise can be a great way to challenge and unite people. Often, there are many metaphors to life that will help your personal growth and development at the same time. Finding something you can do individually is also a great idea. Don’t rely solely on others for motivation, find something you can do whenever you choose. Such is the internal happiness strategy.

5. Embrace the Trial and Error Process

There are two ideas here. The first, is that what works for someone else may not work for you. There will always be contradicting, scientifically-proven studies selling you on the latest best-practice… ‘Eating your own hair increases metabolism’, or ‘backflips proven to reduce risk of cancer’. I made these headlines up, but I haven’t put them into Google Search yet, so who knows… Don’t believe everything you read, but don’t be closed off to new information either. Find what works for you in terms of nutrition and exercise, this is idea number two. Don’t be afraid to change it up now and then to improve and refine the process. If you’re always open to learning, you will allow yourself the best chance to get fit, and stay fit. 

Conclusion:

Health and fitness encompass every area of our life including the way we treat our environment. Consequently, we must always keep fit to have a fulfilling life, therefore, there is a saying – health is wealth.