A Complete Guide to Fitness Training

You will always be advised to make sure before you start any form of fitness training activity to carry out warm up exercises to lower the risk of injury later on. There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises. It is a proven fact that injuries that happen during exercise can be prevented if the person not only stretches before a workout but as a cooling down routine as well. It has been shown that by maintaining this regime after physical activity has finished that fewer injuries occur and muscle flexibility increases.

Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility, because although holding your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups; holding each position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body’s flexibility. Do not go into a stretching position then immediately return to the relaxed position; and, do it repeatedly which is more appropriately termed bouncing while in a position. At the point of greatest stretch, hold the position before you slowly release, this avoids any potential strain or the possibility of injury from jerking your joints. Do not jump from an easy stretching exercise to a hard one, but complete the easiest first and do the hardest last as by this time most of your muscles will be warm and it will make the difficult exercise easier.

A commonly forgotten area of the body to warm up, and one that is easy to injure, is the neck so make sure that the neck is warmed up by applying pressure to the head at the front, back and sides using pressure from the palm of your hand. It is always a good idea to continue with this stretching at certain points in the fitness training workout particularly if a difficult exercise is about to be performed as it will help make the routine easier. Never try to compete with the abilities of others as this is a sure way to injure yourself; even if not at the time, you will almost certainly feel it later when you body has cooled down. Always exercise to limits of your body on the day, just because a few days earlier you could carry out an exercise does not mean that it will be possible all the time so expect this to happen and do not over-exert yourself.

It is normally advised you don’t work the same muscle groups consecutively for two days when fitness training as muscle grows during the period when you rest and not when you are working out. Aerobic exercises are the best for you because they will improve you cardiovascular system, improve your stamina, lung capacity and overall fitness; exercises like skipping running, rowing, swimming, stepping machines etc. Music is great to workout with as a regular beat helps when you are doing cardiovascular exercises and with the range of small, lightweight mp3 players available these days you don’t have to worry about damaging them. Make sure you get a decent pair of headphones though because you will probably want your music loud but not everyone else will want to listen to it. If you are someone who has trouble relaxing or sleeping then you may want to consider stretching exercises as it is good for you even if you are not working out.