After working as a Kinesiologist, both in the rehabilitation field and with a high level sports team, I’ve come to learn a lot about physical fitness. I have learned the importance of physical fitness for prolonging life, preventing injuries and improving your overall well being and quality of life. It does not matter what your current fitness level is, or what you want to achieve with your overall fitness goals, there are some basics everyone should know.
The most detrimental thing you could do is be physically inactive. Inactivity leads to many health problems. Obesity is the most obvious result and it is greatly on the rise, especially in North America. Obesity is a large threat due to the fact that it in itself leads to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, increase in risk of heart attack, some types of cancer and too many more complications to list. Most of the immediate risks lead to further risks, for example hypertension leading to strokes and heart disease. As you can tell, it could have a significant domino effect on your health.
Most people agree that they need to get more exercise but do nothing about it, do not be one of these people. You just need some motivation to get started. Motivation can be anything, from wanting to live longer to be with the ones you love, or to want to get into peak shape and excel at your sport. The key is getting started, either by joining a gym or working out in your own home. Be sure to take it slow when starting. This will ensure you do not burn yourself out and turn yourself off the whole idea of exercise.
Once you’ve started be sure not to fall into the rut that many before you have fallen into. When you start out you will see amazing gains over the first several months, you will not believe what you can accomplish. However, as all good things, the rapid increase will slowly level off, but you have to be ready for this. Once you get the basics down, and have a solid foundation, you can really start to build up from there. If you start using several techniques in your exercise regime you will be able to combat the peaks you would normally find. If you still hit some walls along the way, you can completely switch the routine you are doing and essentially trick your body to obtain further results.
If you plan to start attending a gym, you should invest your money into a personal trainer at least to start so they can show you the ropes. If you are unable to get to a gym or just can not afford the extra there are several good exercise programs on the internet if you search for them. So remember, even if you are just getting out and walking for 20 to 30 minutes that is a great place to start and can motivate you to do more. You will not believe what you can achieve if you really want to!
