Today’s guest post is from the person who introduced me to the personal side of blogging – Tina!! She’s the one who invited me to my first blogger event AND became a great friend. She also hosts an awesome online bootcamp that both challenging and fun. I think you’re going to enjoy her post today!
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Hello there, friends of Better with Veggies! I miss having Heather around in the Atlanta area so I have decided to invade her blog space to feel all close together again. Or, I just enjoy talking about fitness and will happily do so anywhere. Let’s get to it!
Today, I have a little fitness talk to discuss with you. A little reminder, if you will.
I have been big into fitness and learning about workouts for a decade. Over that time, I have learned a lot, but I often realize that we can all too easily forget some important basics. Today, let’s establish 5 basics to set the foundation for our fitness training. We put in the effort, so don’t we want to get the most out of it – safely and effectively? I thought you would want that.
1. Work Your Stabilization.
In order to have truly functional levels of fitness, it is important to improve your body’s ability to balance and stabilize itself. That comes with practice and doing exercises that enhance your stability. It gives a great foundation for the muscles and joints to help improve overall fitness. Plus, it allows your body to challenge itself in new ways. And it’s fun, too!
- those 22 planks are a perfect example of working stabilization!
2. Don’t Forget Flexibility.
There’s this little thing called length-tension relationships. Basically, it means you want your muscles at the proper, normal length for them to function optimally. That’s where flexibility comes in. Stretching regularly after workouts, warming up properly, using techniques such as foam rolling, and/or participating in things like yoga work wonders!
3. Tame Your Tempo.
Don’t just go through the motions of a workout. Really pay attention to the pace of your strength training moves. You want movements to be controlled. Also switching up the tempo, going at a sloooowww pace for example, will up the intensity and force your body to work harder to control the weight. Paying attention to tempo also helps with proper form.
4. Train Everything.
It’s so easy to focus on your favorite body parts in a workout – to hit the legs, but never train the upper body. To work the abs, but not the low back. To rock out the bicep curls, but never do a bench press. To avoid muscular imbalances, which can lead to injury, train your entire body. It doesn’t have to be all at once. Simply try to hit each muscle group once or twice a week.
5. Recovery Matters.
I’m sure you know just how vital rest days are in a workout rotation. If not, then add one in to your workout schedule right now; I beg of you! Yes, rest days matter. Rest days are actually when your body makes the most progress as it repairs and strengthens itself.
However, do you pay attention to recovery workouts?? In other words, regularly having planned workouts at a lower intensity to help prevent overtraining? A completely different matter…but just as important. Not every workout should be balls to the wall hard. At least one workout a week should be done at a lower intensity and, at minimal, every two months should have a full week of a lighter work load than normal. It can keep you in tip top shape…and give you some oomph for the future. Trust me.
So, there you have it! Five things we often forget, but need to do in order to keep our fitness at its peak. I’m glad we had this little talk. Now let’s hold each other to it, okay?
What do you have to remind yourself about with your training habits?
Tina Reale is a NASM certified personal trainer and owner of the personal training site and blog Best Body Fitness. Tina offers affordable online personal training programs and virtual boot camps while also sharing workouts and fitness motivation through her blog. Tina strives to show that a healthy, balanced life is not only possible, but enjoyable. Her favorite fitness activities are strength training, distance running, spin classes, and chasing after her two small kids.
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All great tips Tina! I need to get better about remembering to stretch after workouts and to do more foam rolling!
Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli recently posted..E is for Eeeee-talian!
My new favorite workout has been: run to the gym, work out, and run home (insert Tarzan yell).
I’m trying to make my gym trips more regular.