Improve Your Diet and Increase Your Fitness!

More and more people are deciding enough is enough and doing something to improve their diet and increase their fitness levels. Perhaps this is in part to those health magazine covers with men and women who have desirable, health and fit looking bodies. This desire is being catered for with an increase in ever type of health and fitness club imaginable and the sales of home fitness equipment is on the rise.

Increasingly we are being targeted at home as well with fitness and health product advertising and sponsorship found on TV. The way we eat and the types of food we consume also play a major role in our overall health and fitness so the two should really be emphasized as a joint effort. Staying fit is one part of the equation but by eating the right foods, our fitness levels will increase as will the body’s ability to renew damages to muscle, cells and skin. The subject is broad and many different, often opposing, opinions are aimed at us and because of this it is often confusing deciding on which course of action to take like the high-carb versus the high-fat debate which seems to continue without being resolved.

The first thing you need to know would be the fundamental differences between these two diet approaches because as the name implies, high-carb diets concentrates on taking in carbohydrate-rich foods while high fat diets endorses fat-rich foods. The high carbohydrate diets are good for storing glycogen in our muscles for when we need to perform short lived but very fast exercise as opposed to cardiovascular.

5 times more calories than carbohydrates and proteins alike while studies also show that it takes the body 24 calories to metabolize carbohydrates while it only takes 3 to burn down fat. So according to the experts, it doesn’t matter which you choose, as long as you don’t follow both at the same time, unless weight gain is what you want.

All this is fine if you are exercising regularly but a diet fitness regime is also about reducing the body fat. Just to add another factor to the mix; the success of a diet program relies on it being devised for the person it relates to so factors like their medical history, tastes in foods and lifestyle must be taken into account.

Just losing weight is not the issue as many overweight individuals manage to do this but if the diet doesn’t suit them they pile it all back on, so the trick is to organize a diet that exactly fits your needs and maintain a moderation to what you eat. A person must be careful not to leave out important nutrients plus other substances necessary for healthy body functioning and health organizations are clear about the amounts of nutrients an individual should have in the body.

Stretching Exercises

Stretching exercises are recognized as a necessary part of any fitness training and physical activity; many muscle and joint injuries have been prevented this way. But to help further with your workout there are some other things you may wish to do to make it more enjoyable. 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. Many people make the mistake of stretching and returning to their original position to quickly when the movement should be slow and measured. The way to do this is to maintain the position of a few seconds and then return because it is possible to either strain or pull muscles or joints if you return to the starting position too quickly. Always start with the easiest exercises first until you have warmed up sufficiently to carry out the more difficult ones and ensure that all the muscle groups are warmed before you start training.

Injuries to the neck can be common because most people neglect warming it up; the easiest way to carry this out is by using the palm of your hand, alternate placing pressure from on the forehead to the back of the head and then the sides. Stretch regularly before fitness training to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength. 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.

Every athlete knows that muscles need to heal and grow from physical exertion so give yourself a day off between fitness training and exercising; your body will appreciate it. Increasing your lung capacity, which means you won’t get out of breath so easily and heart improvement exercises like walking, running and rowing for instance are the best to start with and you will find weight machines much easier to use. Many people find music good for exercise, especially something with a regular beat that can be worked to; of course mp3 players are ideal for this. 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. Stretching is good for you even if you are not performing it before exercise and many people use it for relaxation purposes prior to sleep.

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