Maintaining Your Fitness Plan
This post is about making sure you are getting the most out of your workouts. Insufficient physical activity is one of the top 10 risk factors for mortality (dying from any cause). According to The State of Obesity, over 25% of Texans do not get sufficient amounts of physical activity. In order to make Fort Worth the healthiest city if can be, we want to support people to begin new programs and help keep avid movers going strong.
Do anything you like, just be sure you like it
When it comes to being active doing something is better than doing nothing. If you are beginning an exercise program take it slow. Stick with short bouts of activity several times a week and focus on enjoying what you are doing. At this point you want to make sure making physical activity a part of your day becomes a habit you keep. You can walk, run, ride a bike, skip to the store, whatever you want. Just keep doing it. If you’ve just finished your 30th marathon and just can’t imagine lacing up your shoes one more time….Keep reading.
Vary Your Activities
Vary the kinds of activity you do so that your workouts stay enjoyable and so that you keep doing them. If you are used to riding your bike 4 times a week, use an elliptical or go for a run or swim instead. You’ll engage different muscle groups, see some new scenery, and avoid overuse injuries from repeating the same motions day in day out. If you’re a weight lifter, try yoga. You may find that you are working hard using your body weight and enjoy the benefits of extra flexibility. If you’re looking for some FREE YOGA, go to the Trailhead at Clearfork on Saturday mornings. Their classes are starting up again and like I said, they’re free.
Make sure you’re working hard enough
Remember when I said doing something was better than nothing. It’s still true. However, to improve overall cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week – or a combination of the two for adults. Moderate-intensity physical activity, like brisk walking, can be enough. There are a couple different ways to measure the level of intensity at which you are exercising and that level is based on your individual fitness level and overall health. Self-monitoring how hard your body is working can help you adjust the intensity of the activity by speeding up or slowing down your movements. Through experience of monitoring how your body feels, it will become easier to know when to adjust your intensity. Moderate physical activity feels like an 11-14 exertion level on a scale of 1-20. Vigorous physical activity feels more like a 17-19 out of 20.