20 Effective Health and Fitness Tips // part 3 // By Health and Fitness Tips with Gora
Remaining tips given below:
14. Don’t Neglect Mobility Work
Whether you fully embrace yoga or Pilates or just make time for some short stretching sessions every few days, mobility work is a vital part of maintaining your long-term health. It will help you perform better and avoid injuries in your main activity, as well as combating the posture issues that can arise from long days spent sitting at a desk.
15. Consider The Mental Benefits Of Exercise
The physical benefits of being active are obvious, but it’s only once you start exercising regularly that it also becomes clear how much of a boost it can provide to your mental health. Try to disconnect from the stresses you might have in your work and home life, and pay attention to your workout rather than let your mind flit to the past or future. If you’re not sure how to get started with this, Headspace have partnered with the Nike+ Run Club app to offer free guided running and mindfulness sessions, which are certainly worth a try.
16. Increase Your Cadence On Your Runs
If you are consistently picking up injuries when running, one change it’s definitely worth trying is to up your rate of strides per minute (your cadence). If you overstrike, thus taking fewer steps, you put extra pressure on your knee and hip joints. Try and take more steps, which means your feet will land more beneath your body, reducing the impact on your joints.
17. Try Sports Three Times Before Abandoning Them
The first time you try an exercise it’s very hard, but at least quite novel. The second time the novelty is gone, and it’s still hard, leading to the temptation to quit. Try it at least once more, as the third time is often the charm – when a sport or workout starts to become as enjoyable as it is tough.
18. Count Reps Backwards
This is a simple mental trick that might make resistance workouts – weights or bodyweight – a little easier. Counting down the reps means by the time it’s really hurting you’re at the 3,2,1 stage, which feels closer to the end than 8,9,10 or whatever target you’re going for. It won’t work for everyone, but it’s worth a try.
19. Make Full Use Of Your Street Furniture
Exercising outdoors is a great way to ensure you get your hit of vitamin D (if it’s sunny) as well as a good workout, and it doesn’t have to be all cardio. As well as the exercise machines that litter many parks, you can nearly always finds a bar or ledge for pull-ups, or a bench or wall to do dips on. Rarer treats can even include chains to use as ersatz TRX ropes.
20. Record Your Stats
Nothing builds motivation as efficiently as seeing signs of improvement, so make sure you keep some kind of record of your activity. It can be as simple as noting your record five-rep max or fastest 5K time, using either one of the many excellent fitness apps available or old-fashioned pen and paper.
