Maximize your Exercise Routine
Working out is one of the best ways to stay healthy, improve mental fitness, and keep you going for longer. Exercise is undeniably beneficial for a variety of reasons, but if it were simple, everyone would do it. It takes dedication and motivation to stick to an exercise routine week after week, and sometimes life just gets in the way.
Read on if you’re having trouble getting started with exercise or if you’ve recently hit a rut and aren’t enjoying your workouts anymore. Here are five ways to stay fit and healthy without spending countless hours working out.
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1. Put on Your Favourite Tunes
Everybody knows that listening to your favorite music can help to relieve stress, anxiety and even change our moods. Playing the music you enjoy releases serotonin and dopamine while you work out so you feel better mentally. These hormones also have recovery properties that allow your body to heal from an intense workout much quicker.
Look for other popular workout songs with faster beats that you may not have heard before. They will give you that extra push to go a little harder and faster. Choose music that you can listen to multiple times and that motivates you to exercise.
2. Do Short, Intense Workouts
You may think that you need to spend at least an hour in the gym or working out at home each day to see any benefits. Some people even overdo it in the hopes that longer workouts will make them lose weight quicker. The truth is that your body can only take so much strain, and if you push too hard for too long, your body will give in and you won’t be able to work out at all.
Try to break your workouts up into shorter, more intense intervals. If you like to cycle, try riding as fast as you can for 1 minute, then slow it down for 1 minute, then back again to speed it up. Continue this for 10 minutes and you will burn the same number of calories as a half-hour workout at medium speed.
3. Take up Outdoor Cycling
One of the best ways to stay motivated with your exercise routine is to change the scenery every once in a while. Many people ride with a backpack pannier because it is extra large and has many useful features. Most of us get set in our busy lives and just want to go to the gym to get a decent workout. Being outdoors in nature can be very relaxing, and bringing a bike to the picture is a great way to get your cardio in.
Be careful when leaving your bike though, as it is one of the most stolen items in the U.S. Always keep a chain with a lock that only you have access to. To learn how to protect your bicycle, look no further than Velosurance, a reputable bike insurance company. This blog post from Velosurance is all about how to protect your bicycle from theft, and ways to improve your security with Velosurance.
4. Switch to a Protein Shake
We see body builder’s carbo-load before their workout and continue to eat masses of food during the day. On top of this, they drink whey protein shakes to maximize their weightlifting. It is very important to eat before and after a workout to ensure you have stamina, and that your body is burning off energy rather than reserving it. Some people, however, battle to eat a big meal after exercising, and some like to work out on an empty stomach.
If you are one of these people, try to bring in a protein shake before and after workouts. It won’t feel like you are eating, but it may help to improve your fitness routine and give you more energy. Protein shakes are easily digested, but still give you enough vitamins and nutrition to take on a workout, and recover after one.
5. Combine Workouts
Performing the same workout routine day after day can become boring, which makes you more likely to give it up. Switch things up and do combination exercises that work on more than one part of the body at the same time. If you like to do both weightlifting and cardio during your workout sessions, you know how difficult it can be to fit both into 1 hour or whatever time you have available.
You can incorporate your cardio into weightlifting by identifying which exercises target specific muscles and running or cycling in between each movement. Perform your weightlifting routine with 1 set of cardio for 30 seconds in between each set. Try to maintain a relatively high fast rate to keep your body burning fat. You can choose to run on the spot or climb stairs or steps.
There is a variety of cool ways to maximize your exercise routine to not only make it more enjoyable but to ensure that you will return for more. Don’t let boredom and lack of motivation keep you from staying healthy. If you are battling to keep up your routine or just not getting the same pleasure out of exercising, whatever you do, don’t stop. Rather, find ways to make it an enjoyable experience again.