Work Life Tips

Exercise at Night – Exercise Plans Tips

Most of us avoid vigorous exercise at night because it might interfere with sleep. Recent research with highly fit cyclists showed that vigorous exercise ending 30 minutes before bedtime did not interfere with sleep. This may apply more to fit people and will vary by individual, but if you have trouble getting your workout in during the day, you can give a nighttime exercise plan a try.

Cooling Down – Exercise Plans Tips

Make sure to allow for cooling down after aerobic exercise. Do slow walking, cycling, or other easy activity after a vigorous workout until your breathing returns to normal. Never just stand still when your breathing is still heavy and your heart rate is elevated. Make sure you cool down thoroughly before you get in a hot tub or sauna.

Basic CardioRespiratory Routine – Exercise Plans Tips

A good ‘Cardio’ routine would consist of one stressing their Cardiorepsiratory system well enough so that their breathing would intensify and their heart rate would rise. You would want to do this for about 30-45 minutes, 2 to 4 times per week. When starting out, it is always a good idea to start slow. Many people go too extreme too quick and are at risk for Heart Attacks or insufficient lung function causing them to maybe pass out. Always start out slow! For the initial week or two, go at a speed that challenges you only mildly, then once you are more accustomed to CardioRespiratory training you can intensify your Cardio workouts more.

Another good tip to remember is to change the ‘mode’ of your Cardio exercise each week. This means that if you do the Treadmill one week, then the next week do the Elliptical, then the next week run…so on and so on. This will ensure that you are burning the most calories possible per machine by not allowing your body to get used to the mode of Cardio, while at the same time stressing your CardioRespiratory system in different ways. Oh, so good.

Work Out to Music – Exercise Plans Tips

Working out to music can be fun and motivating, but it has to be the right music for you. Aside from classes that rely on a certain tempo, you can use a range of music depending on your tastes. Don’t hesitate to try cycling to Vivaldi or stretching to jazz if that’s what motivates you. You may find a dance exercise video that has a beat that appeals to you.

Recovery – Exercise Plans Tips

When making an exercise plan, one always needs to think about the time that the body needs to recover. How much does it need? What will happen if we don’t give it enough time. Well, let’s look into all that.

Muscle Fibers in general need 48-72 hours of recovery time to fully heal and repair themselves. When we workout our back (for example) the muscles in our back are literally being torn down; we are ripping them up! That way when they heal they will become stronger and thicker, giving us the ability to utilize them beter than before. We will be able to pull more weight than we do normally. If you try and maximally exercise your back day after day, you will in the beginning notice that you continue to get weaker in your back – that’s because you’re not giving it enought ime to recover. Will it ever recover? Let’s think….

First things first: Did you walk yesterday? Ok, well no walking today. You can only walk every other day. Your legs need a chance to repair, aka 48-72 hours. That makes sense right? No, none. But, what does this teach us about our bodies….they adapt! Our bodies are incredible and will absolutely figure out a way to continue functioning even though we walked yesterday.

To close, it is a good idea to rest at least 48-72 in between exercising the same muscle group. It allows you to make sure your muscles stay healthy and heal properly. Also protein 30min-1hour after a workout helps your muscle recover better.

Set Aside Half an Hour – Exercise Plans Tips

There are 32 half-hours left in a day, if you sleep 8 hours. Can you spare one for fitness? Make an exercise plan and schedule your half-hour right now. Go for a half hour of power or anything else that sounds good and gets you moving.

Goal Setting – Exercise Plans Tips

You will be much more likely to exercise regularly if you set realistic goals for yourself. Set both long-term and short-term goals. You can adjust your long-term goals as the short-term goals are met. For example, if you want to weigh 140 pounds but you weigh 200, set a goal for yourself to lose 20 pounds. Then set another intermediate goal. When you get to 150, you may decide that is really the best weight for you and decide to maintain that. If you want to run a marathon but have never run before, your first goal may be to run a mile without stopping. Small successes motivate you to keep going.

Time for Results – Exercise Plans Tips

Give an exercise routine 8-12 weeks to work for you. You will not have the physique of your dreams or reach your ultimate fitness goal in that time, but if you’re not seeing positive results and improvement with your routine, it’s time to try a different exercise plan.

What’s your goal? – Exercise Plans Tips

First things first – what is your goal? For years I have asked people this question and most of the time I get the answer of “I want to lose weight”, “I want to tone up” or “I want to get ripped” …regardless, those are NOT your goals. Nope, sorry.

The reason you want to start to exercise is for something specific. It could be because you think you are fat, you have flabby arms, or you feel too skinny. Someone may have made a comment about your body, or maybe people make fun of you because they think you are weak. Me? I used to be scrawny and little, so I wanted to be bigger and stronger; I also want to be strong so that if someone ever messes with people I care about I can destroy them. A funny reason, but that’s the truth. Thirdly would be because now I enjoy it.

Once we assess what our true goal is by being honest with ourselves, we can see clearer why we want to do this exercise business that can sometimes be so taxing. If it helps, write down what your goals are (the true ones) and maybe talk to a trainer about the best ways to achieve them. Figure out your true goals, believe you can get there and know it is going to take time and hard work.

Use Exercise for Mental Work – Exercise Plans Tips

Exercise for the average person can be a time you use for problem solving or decision making. Some people do their best thinking during repetitive aerobic exercise.