Category: Fitness Tips

As the New Year is upon us we are all ready to list down our resolutions. Year on year, fitness seems to top the list for most of us. We get all bucked-up and pen down our fitness plans, including the subscription to that gym membership!

While gym membership lasts for the year, our enthusiasm and dedication fade off as the months pass by. This time around, let us help you shake things a bit. Here are five simple ways you can use to make that fitness resolution stick through the year.

 

• Acknowledge your intent for the fitness resolution:

A New Year Resolution for Fitness indicates change. Changes can make us uncomfortable; hence, it is crucial to establish the reason why we want to do it in the first place. The reason can be anything ranging from looking better and younger to becoming healthier; spelling it out loud and writing it for yourself is the first step to making it go a long way!

 

• List your fitness goal and set milestones:

It is important to envision where you want to see yourself at the end of the year. Once you have defined your fitness goal, break them up into smaller challenges for your workout sessions. Celebrate accomplishing each challenge; progress, no matter how small, is an achievement for the ultimate goal.

 

• Make small lifestyle changes to keep yourself going:

Cardio, weight-training, and circuit training may not be enough to get the best results from your workout. Incorporating small changes in your day-to-day life would help you get the best from your exercise. You can do any of the following things to help sustain the benefits of your hours at the gym; drink a glass of water before your meals, incorporate more walking into your daily routine, take the stairs more often, practice portion control in your daily diet, use smaller sized plates for your meals, do ten reps of squats every time you go to the washroom.

 

• Make the best use of the technology:

In the age of technology that we live in, there is an umpteen number of applications and platforms that you can use to help maintain your fitness regimen. You can subscribe to apps that remind you to sip water every 30 minutes, apps that help you keep a calorie count of every meal you consume and help you with the ideal amount which will help you stay energised, apps and gadgets which help you count the number of steps you have covered during the day or how many calories you have burned doing your regular day-to-day work, etc. You can even make ample use of social media on the same account; you can keep posting your progress online to demarcate your milestones and your advancement. Scientists claim that taking photos of your food makes you conscious about what you eat and how much, hence automatically directing you towards fitter food options and portions. You can also use social media to follow different fitness gurus and seek advice on how to make things work better for you!

 

• Add the fun factor:

Whether you choose to hit the gym or to work out at home; remember to focus on having fun with whatever you do! You can start by making a workout mix with all your favourite soundtracks. You can also try switching from one form of workout to another to keep things interesting. If you like group activities, you can opt for circuit training, Zumba, spinning classes, or any other form of exercise usually done in groups. If you prefer the great outdoors, you can opt to break the pattern with an occasional hike or try adventure sports. The list of options is long and interesting; you can give everything a try!

 

The key to making a fitness resolution stick is to consistently add the twists, which make it exciting enough to get you out of bed every morning. While traditionally, fitness has been perceived to involve much hard work, there are a substantial number of options available these days, which help you work smart for your fitness. This year, focus on making fitness an enjoyable experience. You will notice steady and consistent changes which you can be happy about all the year-round. When you add fun to your fitness, lesser is the likeliness of you forfeiting it!

Our lifestyle today needs us to be in the best form and for most of us working out has become an integral part of the lifestyle. However, unlike usually believed, fitness is not defined by your stamina or strength alone. Optimal fitness encompasses a vital but less acknowledged factor…flexibility.

 

Why Stretching is important?

Our daily activities require us to do a lot of bending, lifting, turning, twisting and crunching. For most of the working individuals, either on desk or on field jobs, maintaining a proper posture while sitting, standing or walking is difficult. All of this causes a lot of strain on joints, muscles and soft tissues, thereby increasing the risk of muscle and ligament tears and tissue damage.

Daunting as it may sound, you can combat the flexibility issues by incorporating a good old formula in your workout routine…stretching!

Stretching not only improves the elasticity of muscles, but also helps make them healthy and strong. It works best if done both before and after the workout. A great start would be to focus on the major muscle groups; arms, quadriceps, shoulders, neck, back, thighs, hamstrings, calves, ankles and hip flexors in the pelvis.

If you are someone who can dedicate more time to your workouts, then you can also opt for yoga too!

 

Why Yoga?

Yoga has considerable poses called asanas which integrate stretching into the exercises. The various asanas include core holds, postures standing, seated stretches and twists, front and backbends as well as arm balances. They involve easy movements which increase the range of motion in the joints helping you focus on major muscle groups.

If practised the right way, every pose in yoga helps strengthen and flex specific areas of your body without causing too much stress to the muscles or ligaments. However, before you make Yoga a DIY mission, you must seek consultation from a professional yoga instructor if you wish to reap the maximum benefits.

 

Whatever you choose, here are some points to keep in mind

By now you know that if you aim to be fully fit, the importance of flexibility and therefore, stretching, cannot be denied. Stretching is a great way to not only ease up those muscles but also, to break the monotony of a regular workout. Here are a couple of things you should bear in mind before you start.

1. Warm-up: It has been widely believed that stretches are equivalent to warm-up before exercise; however researches have proven that stretching before warm-up can actually hurt your muscles. Make sure your warm up stretches are dynamic, they can mimick the movements to be performed in your activity acting as a kind of rehearsal. So careful with the moves there!
2. Coordinate: It is important to coordinate stretching with your workout. If it is a leg day in your regimen, it will work best if you focus on the thighs, hamstrings, calves, ankles and hip flexors in the pelvis.
3. Hydrate: Dehydration is one of the factors that can cause muscle cramps. Good amount of water intake helps regulate blood flow and keeps the joints lubricated. Hydration will also help you normalize your body temperature during the workout.
4. Time your stretch: Lengthening muscles safely takes time. It is important that you stretch your muscles for at least 30 seconds. If you are dealing with a problem area 60 seconds is the recommended time.
5. Stop when it hurts: While stretching is supposed to make you feel the stress in your muscles the mantra is to ‘Stop when it hurts’. You can always pause and start over.
6. Breathe!: Usually, we concentrate so much on stretching that we end up holding our breath. It is important to maintain a regular breathing rate while stretching.
7. Time and place are no constraints as far as stretching is concerned! You can stretch anywhere and anytime – at work, at home, on the dance floor and even when travelling.

 

So, here you go… everything we thought is important for you to know is shared above. If there’s any additional questions or tips you’re looking for, feel free to drop us a line! Happy Stretching 🙂

It’s 2019 and that time of the year where countless people embark on the journey of fitness, health and wellbeing. Whether you are preparing for a sporting event, wanting to pack on some muscle or reduce your body fat, getting in shape is not an easy task and can be quite daunting for a lot of folks out there. Most gyms only have 10-20% of their actual members show up regularly to train while the rest of them rarely make use of their membership.  Before taking the plunge and committing to a proper exercise program, there might be a few things you want to consider doing/not doing.  We’ve come up with the following mistakes beginners usually make:

Skipping a proper warm up

Far too many people skip warming up before training.  Just like any sport, resistance training requires a thorough warm up to help you avoid injuries as well as physically and mentally prepare you for the session ahead. This is especially vital if you are about to start lifting heavy weights or do any sort of high impact exercise.

Ways to warm up might include hopping onto a cardio machine, marching on the spot, brisk walking, arm circles, squats or doing a few warm up sets with very light weight.  Anything that creates a light sweat and raises your body temperature by 1-2 degrees Celsius will do the trick.

Not getting enough sleep

Sleep is one of the key ingredients for muscle growth along with effective training and nutrition.  People often wonder why they are not getting the desired results with only 3-4 hours sleep.  This is because our muscles recover and grow while we are asleep and resting. Proper sleep is not just essential for our muscles but for optimal brain function and general health.

A few tips moving forward: aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night, avoid caffeine and other stimulants in the evening, limit your night time technology and dim the lights around your house an hour before bed.

Overworking smaller muscles

Exhausting smaller muscles eliminates your true potential when performing the compound movements which target the larger muscles as well.  For example, doing 10 sets of forearm or triceps exercises one day will probably negatively impact your bench press the next day.  Remember that doing compound lifts also targets the smaller muscles. For example, a bench press works your pectoral muscles, but also involves your shoulders and triceps.

Focus on training the main muscle groups first and then train the smaller muscles towards the end of the workout for a few sets.

Training without a plan

Going to the gym and hitting every exercise in the machine section or copying some of the more experienced lifters is still considered a workout, but it is counterproductive. A big mistake most beginners make is having no purpose or structure to their workouts.  In order to progress, you must have a plan to continually improve.  Otherwise, you’ll end up looking the same every year and wondering why you aren’t achieving the results you want.  Aim to get stronger, bigger or faster (sometimes all three) and track your results regularly to ensure you’re on the right path.

Avoiding strength training

The gym environment can be an uncomfortable experience for some. Most people also feel like they need to do traditional long slow duration cardiovascular training for weight loss before they can start hitting the weights. Just in case you didn’t know, strength training helps boost your metabolism, increases muscle strength and elasticity and strengthens connective tissues, tendons and ligaments. For those that find it intimidating working out in front of others, there are various ways you can reap the benefits of resistance training without training at a traditional gym. Working out with a partner can help you feel more comfortable, training at the park or beach is another popular option and buying your own weights or using resistance bands at home or outdoors also works well.

Overdoing it

Sometimes people push themselves a little too hard because they assume the more you do, or the more often you do it, the faster you’ll see results. However, overdoing it at the start can cause people to get injured or eventually burnt out. Many newbies use heavier weights than they are capable of lifting, such as deadlifting with an arched lower back or squatting only a couple of inches with massive weights on the bar. Continuing this dangerous pattern of training is a recipe for disaster. As your strength and endurance improves, modifying certain variables is paramount for optimal results. Progressive overload is key for continual development and recovery is also an extremely important yet neglected component of training.  Remember, your muscles repair and grow when they are resting, not during training. Be sure to train hard and smart.

Not improving flexibility

Being able to move around freely and use full range of motion in most exercises is something everyone dreams of.  If you are one of those people that has neglected their flexibility over the years, you might want to reconsider. Not including any flexibility training can lead to stiffer joints and an increased risk of injury over time. Therefore, including it in your routine can help keep your muscles relaxed and your tendons and ligaments more elastic. Prior to working out, ensure you warm up using dynamic stretches, which are found to be beneficial for overall performance by improving power, speed, endurance, agility, flexibility and strength. Static stretching, where you hold a stretch in a position for 15-60 seconds, can be performed at the end of the workout as part of the cool down process.

Thinking that running is the only form of cardio

There’s nothing wrong with long distance running or aerobic training, however is it the most effective or efficient form of training for everyone?  According to the latest research in exercise science, short bursts of high intensity training have proven to be safer and more effective for your heart, weight loss and overall health and fitness. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Tabata and other forms of high intensity training have become very popular in recent years. If training for long distances and extended periods of time is your bread and butter, or if you’re training for an event, which requires a lot of muscular endurance and a specific training regiment, then by all means continue long slow duration aerobic training. However, if you want to try something new that can produce great results, try some sort of high intensity training and see how that goes for you. 

Ignoring healthy eating

Training well is great, but if your eating patterns are not healthy or organized to a certain degree, the results will not come to fruition and all that hard work in the gym will seem like big a waste of time.  Beginners tend to forget the importance of healthy nutrition and only focus on the training side of things. Treat your nutrition plan as serious as your workout plan.  Whether your main goal is to lose weight or build muscle, start tracking your carbohydrate, protein and fat intake and make sure it is aligned with your goal.  Personal trainers are equipped to help advise you on healthy eating habits, however if you need more specific guidance, seeing a nutritionist or a dietician can be extremely beneficial.

Feeling like you’re too old to start training

Age happens to be one of the leading reasons for people not wanting to start exercising.  If you know someone that thinks they are too old to train, tell them to think again.  Exercise is beneficial for everyone’s health, but it is even more important as you age. Studies have shown that men could still burn fat and add muscle between the ages of 40 and 80. Women are also at a greater risk of osteoporosis as they age, especially post menopause.  Therefore, regularly physical activity and resistance training ensures your bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons remain strong and healthy as you get older. So, the important thing to take away here is, get up, get started and begin an exercise program because it’s never too late to start.