After a long-extended time period where you haven’t been exercising very much, it can be hard to get yourself physically fit and into the swing of doing physical activity again. Whether it’s due to the lockdown restrictions meaning we have all had to spend a lot more time indoors at home recently than usual, or because of a lack of motivation to exercise, it’s time to think about what activities you can do to improve your fitness levels.
Living a healthy and active lifestyle is vital to your health and wellbeing. Doctors recommend that people should do a minimum of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week to keep fit and healthy.
We have come up with some activities you can do to make sure you get yourself fit once again.
Cycling
Cycling is an aerobic exercise that works the muscles and joints all over your body, as well as being a great activity for getting the blood pumping around your body and giving your heart, blood vessels, and lungs a good workout.
Cycling is a physical activity that is fantastic for strength and endurance. Cycling is especially good for strengthening your leg muscles. Developing strong legs is very useful as you can apply this strength when practicing other sports and physical activities such as athletics, speed-walking, hiking, soccer, swimming, and plenty more.
For experienced and beginner cyclists, safety should always be a top priority. It may also be a wise idea to get bike insurance if you are planning on going on long bike trips regularly in remote areas and you may need some help if you ever find yourself getting into trouble or having an accident on your bike at any time.
If you want to know how much to insure a bike for and other information on bike insurance, then you can find out more from Velosurance.
Swimming
Exercising in water has the benefit of the maximum calorie burn per minute whilst having a minimal impact on the joints. The reason you get a maximum calorie burn when exercising in water is due to the push and pull resistance of water.
If you’re looking for an activity to take up to get yourself fit, you will be interested to know that swimming is widely believed to be one of the best forms of aerobic exercise.
Swimming is also an activity that is very good at improving the functioning of the heart and lungs.
Swimming is an exercise that you can do at absolutely any age. Swimming is an activity that medical professionals recommend seniors should do due to the fact that it is much easier than other physical activities because the impact on the joints in aquatic exercise is much more minimal.
Running/Jogging
Running and jogging are brilliant forms of physical activity for keeping yourself in good health. Of course, how many calories you burn will depend on the distance you run. A 26-mile-long marathon will burn 1000s more calories than a 100-meter sprint.
If you are completely new to running and thinking of how you can set yourself goals take a look at the SMART goals framework. It’s important to keep your exercise goals realistic yet still ambitious. For example, deciding to increase the distance you run from 1 to 2 miles 3 months after you have started running is most likely a realistic steady goal you should be able to reach. Whereas running 15 miles non-stop for a beginner runner will probably be a nigh-on impossible task and an unrealistic exercise goal.
Longer distance running is aerobic exercise and a form of cardiac conditioning where your breathing and heart rate increase steadily over a sustained period of time.
Short sharp bursts of energy such as sprinting, jumping, and heavy weightlifting however are forms of anaerobic exercise where the body’s muscles do not have enough oxygen to generate the energy your body needs.
Runners should also however be aware of the detrimental impact running for years too frequently on hard surfaces can have on your muscles, joints, and bones. Runners definitely should not run every single day and they need to take breaks from running on hard surfaces such as tarmac. Not looking after joints properly can cause runners to develop painful physiological conditions later in life such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osgood-Schlatter disease.
Dance Classes
Dancing is a physical activity which is a lot of fun as well as being fantastic for your health and wellbeing. Whether you choose to do ballroom dancing, salsa, tango, or modern-day fitness dances such as Zumba in a gym, all types of dancing which involve you having to move your body around a lot are great for your health and keeping you fit. Why not book yourself some dance classes to get yourself fighting fit?
One of the driving forces behind making sure that you actually go out and do enough exercise and physical activity is by staying self-motivated and determined. So, keep your spirits up and do some research online into what activities you can do in and around your local area to get yourself fit again after a period of inactivity.