Fitness Tip For The Day

Make A Change - Did you know that your body gets use to your normal walking routine or weight routine and will actually stop working the way that you want it too???  You have to constantly challenge your body in order for it to run as efficiently as possible, to avoid injury, get out of a plateau, and to get the most calorie burn for your time. How do you do that???  Change up your routine.  Every 4 weeks, change your routine to do one of the following: Change Your Workout Type - If you walk on a regular basis, instead, take a day and do something else like bike ride or do a fitness dvd.  Or, if you do preacher curls on a machine, instead, do barbell curls.  It works the same muscles, but the barbell curls will engage your deltoids and Trapezius (muscles int he upper/lower back and in the upper shoulder).  So, you will work more muscles doing a similar exercise. On Cardio - Increase time, speed or intensity.  If increasing time, add 5 to 10 minutes at the typical speed/intensity.  If increasing speed or intensity, decrease time by 5 minutes to let your body adjust.  For example, as a runner, when I want to increase my distance, I drop my speed down, but increase my distance.  This allows my body to adjust for going for a longer period of time without having to expend all of my energy up front. On Weights - Increase your weight or number of reps.  If increasing weight, do not add more than 5 pounds.  If increasing reps, do not add more than 2.  And always work weights to muscle fatigue.  Meaning, the last 2 reps are very challenging to do. As always, before beginning any fitness activity, see your doctor for clearance.  This for your own safety. © 2008, Jill Krekel. All rights reserved. Certified Personal Trainer

Good am Jill, Questions then statement? May I copy and paste these each day for my exercise notebook? Then, this is RAWKIN'! I learned some of this from a couple friends who weight train and do Martial Arts but find it VERY helpful to me. I love to change up my walking by where I walk, how fast I walk, which trails, hills and paths I take. I will also change the scenery and on hot days will choose trails at the park over walking through our neighborhood. There are work out signs throughout the trails for different stretches and exercises and that I LOVE. Hugs .........and CONGRATS again!

I am so happy to hear that you enjoy these.  I pondered if I really wanted to commit to something like this and if people would be receptive to it.  So far...so good - haha. I will be putting my copyright on it simply to protect myself from someone copying it and using it as their own for others.  If you want to print it out and put it to use for your own personal use - go for it.  If you want to print it out and pass it to people in a support group...we need to talk. Many people do not consider that after a while their calorie burns decrease because the workout becomes too easy for them.  They think that because they walk a mile everyday that they are getting the same benefits.  They do (because they are moving), but really do not.   Plus, changing up the routine keeps you from getting bored.  I like your idea of new scenery..... Have fun and keep moving!!!