Working out alone, day after day, can easily get boring. You may find yourself quitting your fitness routine after just a week or two, and with no one to hold you accountable, you’re off the wagon again. A simple way to remedy this is to find a partner with similar fitness goals to work out with. Try some of these tips for working out with a partner to keep you on track.
Try to use free weights rather than exercise machines. While exercise machines are great a way to stay fit, your body can actually benefit more from free weights. Free weights work stabilizer muscles that most machines don’t. Not to mention, free weights are also much less expensive and bulky. It is a better choice all around to add free weights to your home gym.
One way to stay healthy with your fitness routine is to make sure that your bench has enough padding when doing weight training. The padding is there for more than your comfort – it also is there to prevent injury. If there is not enough padding, you can severely hurt your spine and also cause nerve damage.
Pregnant women can generally continue to maintain their fitness level during the entire course of the pregnancy. It’s best not to embark on new strenuous activities while pregnant, since the body is already in a state of change, but continuing an already established routine, is believed to be healthy. It will make losing the baby weight easier, as well as to aid in the labor process.
A great way to get fit is to pick up a few workout DVDs and pop them into your DVD player. The great thing about these is that you can go at your own pace. You can pause the DVD if you’re feeling tired, unlike in a class setting.
Plan to eat healthy and exercise on the weekends. The weekend is a source of rest and relaxation for a lot of people. You can have fun on the weekends, but don’t forget about diet and exercise. In order to succeed at losing weight, you have to make healthy living a 24/7 routine.
If you find it hard to make time during your busy schedule to go to the gym don’t worry, there are ways you can still work out. You can get up 30 minutes earlier each morning and jog, or do push ups and sit ups. If you are serious about getting fit then you will make the time to accomplish your goals.
If you’re cycling, whether one a stationary bike or a real one, try to keep your speed between about 80 RPM and 110 RPM. You’ll be able to go much longer before you get tired and you won’t put as much strain on your knees. You can figure out your RPMs by counting the number of times your right leg comes to the top of the pedal in ten seconds and then multiply that by 6.
Improve your basketball dribbling skills by practicing dribbling with gloves. Leather or canvas gloves work best. The glove’s thickness causes your fingertips to become more sensitive to touch so that you can have better hand control of a ball when the gloves are removed from your hands. You can even achieve ball handling mastery this way.
When pursuing your fitness goals, one great tip to follow is to exhale powerfully at the top of the movement when performing abdominal crunches. This makes your abdominal muscles work even harder, which will give you a higher quality ab workout. Be sure to do this every single time you do crunches, and you will notice a difference.
If you are going shopping at the mall, you can add exercise to this fun activity by walking around the mall before you start shopping. If you have a smaller mall, increase the amount of times that you walk through the mall before shopping. You can also try walking up the escalator to add a little more exercise.
Working backwards can bring your focus on the gain, not the pain. By counting your reps down instead of up you can perform a bit of a mental trick on yourself. You will tend to focus on how many are left as opposed to how much you have done. As the number dwindles you are more motivated to finish.
Before you get on the treadmill or the exercise bike for the first time, make an appointment with your doctor. This is especially important if you have any underlying medical conditions. Even if you’re generally healthy, you can still get some great input by visiting with a professional.
Stretch afterwards. Studies have shown that over-stretching before running or performing weights has shown decreased stamina and increased damage when weight lifting. Stretches are good for increasing flexibility but can be potentially dangerous by weakening fibers before they are utilized. Good fitness requires a combination of flexibility and strength, so don’t exclude stretches completely.
A good strategy to motivate yourself to finish each set is to count backwards rather than forwards. Counting down, rather than up, can be a great tool to propel you to give it your all towards the end of a set. So make sure you are counting how many repetitions you have left rather than how many you have done.
As you can see, there are many great options for working out with a fitness partner. By finding a workout buddy and incorporating some of these ideas into your fitness routine, you will be more likely to stick with your routine and have fun in the process. Soon you and your partner, will be on your way to achieving your fitness goals.