Health And Fitness

Being healthy can be quite a challenge, especially with all the temptations that surround us such as fast food, escalators, and many other factors. Compared to our forefathers who had to hunt for our food, everything has become more convenient to us. That is why following a health and fitness routine in daily life is a big challenge.

Exercise: Know The Basic Facts

Nowadays, you don't have to invest a lot of time to have a consistent exercise routine. All you have to do is to zero in on what type of workout you enjoy the most and schedule about 15 minutes or so into your life for it. 15 minutes isn't so bad, right?

Exercising is a lifestyle and it is not something that you do only if you have a looming big event to attend to and you have to squeeze into something that's too sizes smaller than what you have now. That is why it is important for you to enjoy it.

Another thing is that you need to have a variety of exercise routines. That way you will not only keep yourself from getting bored, but if you keep doing the same thing, your body will adapt and you tend to lose a lesser number of calories. For instance, if you love going out on a run 3 times a week, you can add yoga or swimming on a Saturday afternoon.

Aside from cardio, you must also do strength training since the latter can help you lose weight more than cardio exercises do. Cardio exercise greatly improves your heart and lung power. Strength training helps increase lean muscle, which is very important as we tend to lose our muscle mass (it gets replaced by fat) as we age. If you have a high lean muscle mass, your metabolic rate will also be higher.

With regard to strength training, you can choose to buy free weights that you can lift for about 10 to 15 times. Also, you must challenge your body - if you've eventually felt like the weights are effortless after you've lifted them for 15 times or so, it may be time to purchase a new one. Remember to be strict when it comes to balancing the number of times you lift with each arm so that you can avoid injury and disproportionate body parts.

Avoid The Pitfalls When On A Diet

Just because you've worked out doesn't mean that you can binge guilt free. Doing so would be nullifying all of the hard work that you've put into your exercise. To keep yourself from craving for a big meal after your workout, you can eat a healthy, balanced meal about 2 hours before you start.

Sticking to an exercise is not a piece of cake. To be perfectly honest, you will be faced with constant challenges from laziness, to bad weather conditions, to sinful food temptations that will destroy a healthy diet. However, if you stick to it with a good attitude and a persistence to accept it as a lifestyle, the results will be well worth it.