Useful Tips and Advice
1. Consistency
If you really want to achieve all the amazing benefits that exercise can bring, consistency is without a doubt the most important part but is unfortunately the one thing most people struggle to achieve.
Exercise needs to be a habit which will become part of your non-conscious brain. Experience says this could be achieved after a minimum of 20 to 30 workouts and it is important that one of your first goals should be to complete 25 workouts over 3 months. You must not leave more than a week between sessions otherwise you will start to lose the habit, even if it is just a 30 min workout during a really busy week.
You may find that you tell yourself you have other things to do or you are too tired on that particular day but it is important to ignore this and push through it. At the end of the day we are designed to be active. We need to exercise and know the benefits of doing so, therefore making it a priority will go towards making the other important things in your life that much better.
2. Avoid injury
At all cost you must avoid injury, train smart, don't try to do too much too soon, minimise impact activities, there are lots of alternatives. Warm up and cool down correctly, be aware of your posture when performing exercise and maintain good flexibility and balance of your muscles.
3. Overload
Overload is a key training principle that is required if you want to increase your fitness, which is the same for someone just starting out to as an elite athlete.
The systems in your body adapt to the stress you place on them when you exercise and it is this adaptation which encourages the system to become stronger and fitter. The key to this is placing the correct amount of stress at a particular time. If it is too much too soon you will place too much stress and as a result may feel discomfort and may inflict injury.
There is also a training principle called 'reversibility', which means if you do not place an overload, your fitness can actually decline even though you are still training.
4. Weight training
Weight training is a very important part of any exercise programme, even for weight loss. The main benefits from weight training include improved strength and support for your joints, increase in your metabolic rate so you burn more calories and improved shape and tone. It is a good idea to perform exercises which target your main muscle groups and require full body movement.
5. Increase fitness levels
A great advantage to improving your fitness levels is that you can train harder for longer and in turn burn more calories. Your body also becomes more efficient at using fat as a fuel.
6. Change your routine
It is so easy to keep doing the same programme, which means you will achieve the same results, add variety to your workouts it keeps your body guessing and maintains interest.
7. Record your training
To achieve overload in your training it is essential that you record the intensity of your workouts, try to record as much information as you can such as heart rate, distance, calories, weight and repetitions.
8. Weight bearing exercise
If you have an option between weight bearing exercise (walking/running, cross trainer, stepper) as opposed to seated exercise, try to aim for the weight bearing option. The reason for this is that you will put more work on your muscles and skeleton, your core muscles will need to work harder to support you and there is a good chance you will burn more calories.
9. Interval training
Once you have a reasonable level of fitness then a great way to boost you fitness further and burn more calories is to include intervals to your cardiovascular session. Intervals mean you add harder levels of intensity for a short period of time pushing your heart rate up and then an easier period for you to recover. They can be of various intensity and length depending on your fitness levels and aims and are great for burning calories, so encouraging weight loss.
10. Regular intervals
One of the main reasons people give for not exercising is time, struggling to find the hour required for a gym workout. So why not try and break it down into segments of 3 x 10 mins throughout the day, you may not gain the benefits of a full gym workout but just being active for this period will make a big difference over the weeks and months. Daily activity is vital with regard to weight management and with so many of us tied to the office chair for long periods it has never been more important.
1. Consistency
If you really want to achieve all the amazing benefits that exercise can bring, consistency is without a doubt the most important part but is unfortunately the one thing most people struggle to achieve.
Exercise needs to be a habit which will become part of your non-conscious brain. Experience says this could be achieved after a minimum of 20 to 30 workouts and it is important that one of your first goals should be to complete 25 workouts over 3 months. You must not leave more than a week between sessions otherwise you will start to lose the habit, even if it is just a 30 min workout during a really busy week.
You may find that you tell yourself you have other things to do or you are too tired on that particular day but it is important to ignore this and push through it. At the end of the day we are designed to be active. We need to exercise and know the benefits of doing so, therefore making it a priority will go towards making the other important things in your life that much better.
2. Avoid injury
At all cost you must avoid injury, train smart, don't try to do too much too soon, minimise impact activities, there are lots of alternatives. Warm up and cool down correctly, be aware of your posture when performing exercise and maintain good flexibility and balance of your muscles.
3. Overload
Overload is a key training principle that is required if you want to increase your fitness, which is the same for someone just starting out to as an elite athlete.
The systems in your body adapt to the stress you place on them when you exercise and it is this adaptation which encourages the system to become stronger and fitter. The key to this is placing the correct amount of stress at a particular time. If it is too much too soon you will place too much stress and as a result may feel discomfort and may inflict injury.
There is also a training principle called 'reversibility', which means if you do not place an overload, your fitness can actually decline even though you are still training.
4. Weight training
Weight training is a very important part of any exercise programme, even for weight loss. The main benefits from weight training include improved strength and support for your joints, increase in your metabolic rate so you burn more calories and improved shape and tone. It is a good idea to perform exercises which target your main muscle groups and require full body movement.
5. Increase fitness levels
A great advantage to improving your fitness levels is that you can train harder for longer and in turn burn more calories. Your body also becomes more efficient at using fat as a fuel.
6. Change your routine
It is so easy to keep doing the same programme, which means you will achieve the same results, add variety to your workouts it keeps your body guessing and maintains interest.
7. Record your training
To achieve overload in your training it is essential that you record the intensity of your workouts, try to record as much information as you can such as heart rate, distance, calories, weight and repetitions.
8. Weight bearing exercise
If you have an option between weight bearing exercise (walking/running, cross trainer, stepper) as opposed to seated exercise, try to aim for the weight bearing option. The reason for this is that you will put more work on your muscles and skeleton, your core muscles will need to work harder to support you and there is a good chance you will burn more calories.
9. Interval training
Once you have a reasonable level of fitness then a great way to boost you fitness further and burn more calories is to include intervals to your cardiovascular session. Intervals mean you add harder levels of intensity for a short period of time pushing your heart rate up and then an easier period for you to recover. They can be of various intensity and length depending on your fitness levels and aims and are great for burning calories, so encouraging weight loss.
10. Regular intervals
One of the main reasons people give for not exercising is time, struggling to find the hour required for a gym workout. So why not try and break it down into segments of 3 x 10 mins throughout the day, you may not gain the benefits of a full gym workout but just being active for this period will make a big difference over the weeks and months. Daily activity is vital with regard to weight management and with so many of us tied to the office chair for long periods it has never been more important.