5 Smarter Ways to Fitness

Fitness is important, not just when you’re into sports or a professional player, but also because it’s an essential aspect of a healthy life. When you’re not fit, you have trouble moving around efficiently and going about your daily routine without succumbing to fatigue even though you haven’t exerted yourself.

The trouble with getting fit however is that most people associate it with hours of exercise; they either don’t have the time or they’re not inclined to sweat it out just for the sake of fitness. What people don’t understand is that fitness comes to those who are smart and know how to take every possible shortcut to get there. So if you’re looking for fitness, here are five smart ways to achieve it:

• Power workouts work: It’s a myth that you have to spend hours doing intensive training if you want to get fit; those hour-long and longer workout sessions are for those who’re involved in professional sports or too obsessed with exercise. For the rest of us, it’s enough to spend as little as 10 minutes, three times a day spaced at random intervals, doing squats, lunges, stretches, or any other workout you can get done with little or no equipment. The other option is interval training – work out for just 15 or 20 minutes, but make every minute count. Instead of exercising at the same pace the entire time, sprint for 30 seconds, walk for next one minute. Repeat this cycle for as long as you can, and watch your weight go down and your endurance go up. It works with any kind of cardio exercise where you can vary the pace.
• Do what is convenient: Most people fail to exercise because they cannot wake up early enough to work their workout into the start of the day. And because they don’t consider any other time suitable for exercise, they neglect it altogether. If you want to get fit, work out at your convenience. Exercise when it’s convenient for you, not according to preconceived notions and times.
• Watch what you eat: If you work out, you’re bound to eat more whether you’re hungry or not; this is because your mind tricks you into believing that since you’re now working off the calories, you’re entitled to eat more of them. Resist this temptation because it’s the shortest way to gain weight even when you’re exercising regularly.
• Boost your level of activeness: This requires conscious effort at first, and after a while, it becomes a habit. When you move around constantly without staying sedentary for long periods of time, you boost your metabolism and contribute to faster weight loss and higher fitness. Get up and walk every half hour if your job requires that you stay seated; take the stairs instead of the elevator; park your car further away so you have to walk a longer distance; avoid taking your car if you’re going just a few blocks away – there are so many things you can do to become more active.
• Give up your excesses: And finally, if you want to become really fit, give up smoking and drinking too often; while the occasional drink does no harm, smoking and alcoholism drain your body of nutrients and leave you feeling and looking older than you are. So kick those habits first before you start your journey to fitness.

This guest post is contributed by Paul Hench, he writes on the topic of masters in public health. He welcomes your comments at his email id: paul.23hench@gmail.com.