FITNESS FOR MEN - HOW TO GET FIT

FITNESS FOR MEN - HOW TO GET FIT

No matter what your motivation is, whether it is to look better, feel better, or to just get healthy, if you want to get fit you have to work for it. Here are some tips on the best way to achieve healthy fitness for men.

Make an achievable goal

The first thing to do when deciding to begin a fitness program is to make a goal for yourself that is realistic. If your goal is to lose weight fast, plan on burning 1-2 pounds of calories per week. If your goal is to get healthy and lose your belly fat, then set a realistic goal based on the size of your waistline. And if your goal is to win a triathlon and you have never run in a race before you might want to start with finishing first in a local race first. No matter what you do, you do not want to sabotage yourself and set yourself up for failure. Once you have decided on a goal then put in your mobile device's calendar and set up the time to start working out.

Write down your workout plan

It is important to track your progress for purposes of motivation and also to see where you can improve your workouts. Write down each exercise or machine you are working on with the numbers of repetitions and sets. Reverse the order every other time just to keep things interesting.

Focus on form

When you get tired you are more likely to start doing the exercises sloppily. This can lead to muscle strains and injuries and can defeat the whole point of trying to get fit. Do 20 repetitions and do them with the right form.

Always start with a warm-up

Your workout will go much better if you take the time to warmup first before doing any lifting or aerobic exercise. Ten minutes of warmup exercises and stretching will do it. Make sure to include stretching exercises for your shoulders and neck as these are the most common areas for muscle strain. After a strenuous workout always do a cool down too. Just walking slowly is a great way to cool the muscles down.

Rest periods matter when lifting weights: don't overtrain!

A study that was published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that men who bench pressed with less sets and longer rests gained double the amount of strength than men lifting weight but doing more sets and less rests. Most men when they begin exercising will push themselves too hard and overtrain. If you overtrain and do too many repetitions with too little rest in between you are doing your body a disservice. When you work your muscles there are tears in the muscle which then repair themselves which leads to stronger muscles. If you overtrain your muscles don't have enough time to recover which can lead to injury but ultimately the more you overtrain the weaker the muscle.

Snack before your workout for better performance

To ensure that you have enough energy to get through your workout eat a small snack beforehand. You don't want to eat anything heavy. Try some trail mix with nuts and raisins, or a piece of fruit should do the trick.