Making Exercise More Enjoyable and Fun

Aaahhh, the thought of getting up in the morning and going to the gym to lift weights or run on the treadmill. How about the thought of going to the gym after a hard days work when you’d probably rather just go home and relax? Even the thought of exercising at home on your own equipment can be less than desirable.  Sometimes trying to get and stay motivated to exercise on a regular basis can be quite a challenge, after all, exercise can almost be downright boring and tedious at times.

So then just how can you get the motivation to maintain an exercise program on a regular basis? What can you do to make exercise something to look forward to everyday and not feel like a chore, like something you feel like you have to make yourself do each time? Well, here are some ideas that just might help to make exercising a little easier and a lot more fun.

To start with, exercise with a friend. Here you can challenge each other, help each other, keep each other motivated and on track, maybe try to make each other laugh during a set or while jogging on the treadmill, make kind of a game out of it.

Try something different. If you go to the gym everyday and use the same piece of equipment or use the same piece of equipment at home try mixing up your routine. Reverse your routine or just change the order of your exercises or sometimes don’t even go to the gym or use your home equipment. Go to a city park that has playground equipment. Use the slide, climb on the monkey bars, do pull-ups, hang from your knees, just use your imagination. You don’t need to always have a strict routine, just get out and work your muscles.

Do an outdoor circuit in the park. Some parks have circuit courses set up with a planned course and all you have to do is walk or jog to each station and follow the instructions. If there’s no planed course then do a combination of jogging and walking and pick a distance such as 200 feet. Jog 200 feet then drop and do 10 pushups, walk the next 200 feet then drop and do 20 abdominal crunches, then jog the next 200 feet and do 10 pull-ups if a bar or sturdy tree branch is available.

Try an activity like riding a bike around your neighborhood or hike on a hiking trail. A nice walk in the park or just around your neighborhood is a good way to get exercise. A little yoga in the park or on the beach is a nice relaxing way to exercise your body and your mind.

Try playing a competitive sport. Most cities have team activities such as softball, volleyball, tennis, soccer and so on. And these activities not only provide you with good exercise but also put you in circumstances to meet a lot of new people as well.

When exercising, picture your muscles. Studies have shown that if you focus your thoughts on the muscles you are working, they will respond better. Try to see them working with each repetition as they contract and relax.

As you can see, there are many ways to make getting exercise more fun and interesting. You need not always follow the standard routine of going to the gym or using your home equipment and doing the same old exercises day after day. The important thing is just that you incorporate exercise in any various forms into your everyday life and make these habits the kind of habits that will last a lifetime.

Fitness and Health Guide for Busy Moms

When you're busy balancing work, kids, and home life in general, you might feel that there's not enough time in the day for health and fitness. The word "exercise" just doesn't seem to fit into your vocabulary. But there's good news. With just a little daily commitment, you can achieve good health and fitness in no time without adding stress to your already busy schedule.

Start with Slow Exercise and Build Strength

Get started with slow, easy exercises that you can handle. Do about 20 to 30 minutes of exercise or activity each day or at least several times per week. Start with less strenuous activities and then work your way up to more strenuous exercises as you build muscle strength. This will improve your fitness and health without putting too much strain on your body, especially if you've been inactive for a while.

Some examples of low fitness activities you might try include walking, playing outdoor games with your kids (ball, tag, volleyball, badminton, flying a kite, etc.), walking the dog, mowing the lawn or gardening, housework, walking stairs, or riding a bike. When you want to have fun with your kids, opt for the park instead of the ice cream shop. Be mindful of physical activity in everything you do. This will help your kids get exercise as well without feeling pressured about it.

If you work outside the home, you can take walks during your breaks. Even a daily 15-minute walk can make a big difference!

Increasing Activity

As your body grows stronger, you might choose to add some aerobic exercise to your daily routine. Do this slowly and increase the intensity and time of your aerobic activity in short increments so you won't overdo it. Aerobic exercise helps you burn more calories and improve heart health.

Some examples of aerobic fitness activities include fast walking or jogging, cycling, dancing, swimming, skating, skiing, step aerobics, or racket sports. You can also enroll in an aerobics class if you feel you're ready to commit to it several times per week. Or, there are DVDs or iPad apps that teach you to do aerobic workouts at home.

Another way to increase fitness activity is to invest in exercise equipment such as a treadmill, fitness band, yoga mat, ab wheel, workout weights, row machine, or stationary bike. These allow you to workout in the comfort of your own home with the same results as outdoor fitness activities.

Pamper Your Muscles

Be sure to pamper your muscles a little before and after workouts. Do stretches before working out and then "cool down" afterwards to allow your muscles to relax. Also, take soothing baths after a workout or in the evening before bedtime to help your muscles and body to relax. This will make workouts more enjoyable and give you something to look forward to each day.

Supplement Your Diet for Better Fitness and Health

To enhance your fitness efforts, supplement your diet with nutritious items such as protein and amino acids or other vitamins and minerals. There are nutritional shakes, protein shakes, vitamin supplement pills, nutrition bars, and other items to enhance your diet as you increase your fitness activity. These will also enhance your overall health. Look for vitamins that are specifically designed for women.

As a busy mom, don't neglect one of the most important tasks of all - taking care of your own health. With good health and fitness, you'll be able to keep up with your kids and share activities with them like never before!

Quick but Effective Workout Exercises

Most people think that for a workout to be successful, it has to be lengthy and tiresome. People often struggle to spend two hours or more in the gym in the notion that the more time spent exercising would translate into more gains (in muscle) or more losses (in fat). While such feats may be worthy of a round of applause, they are often counterproductive. There will always come a point where you would get tired of going to the gym, and even dread the several hours you spend there. Soon, you might stop working out and put all the efforts you exerted to waste.

However, this should not be always the case. If you want to be able to keep with your fitness regime for long, you might want to try to make use of quick workout exercises that will allow you to spend less time in the gym, but still motivate you to continue working out in long term. While quick workout exercises may not give you results as fast as you want, they will allow you to maintain your ideal body type that will remain with you in the long run. It is important to keep things simple so that you would not find things too tiring and dreadful, eventually you can add some more exercises to spice things up and keep you motivated.

Here are simple workout exercises you can do in the gym or at home. The workouts can be done in less than 30 minutes, which allows you to enjoy more time for other things.

Strength Exercises

For the shoulders – get two heavy dumbbells or any two equally-weighing objects for each of your hands. Lift the weights suspended in your arms using your shoulders and hold for three to five seconds, then relax again. Repeat this step for 8 to 12 times depending on the weight you are using. Do up to three of this set.

For the chest – lie on your back on a bench press or any similar sturdy flat surface. Before doing the normal bench press, warm up first by doing a set of 8 to 12 repetitions using a third of the weight you normally can lift. After the warm up, do three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of your normal bench press routine. Just keep in mind to avoid arching your back as you lift the weights.

For the biceps – lie on an inclined bench with both hands carrying dumbbells of equal weights. Lift the right arm for two counts and return for three counts, do the same with the left arm. Repeat for 8 to 12 times. Do three sets of this exercise.

For the thighs and buttocks – with heavy dumbbells on each hand, gently squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground, then stand upright again. Repeat for 8 to 12 times. Do two to three sets of this exercise.

For the calves – stand upright with heavy dumbbells on each hand. Gently tip your toes as high as you can without wobbling or getting imbalanced. Repeat for 8 to 12 times and do up to two sets.
The workout exercises above are indeed quite simple and easy that you might think that they would not work. However such a simple regiment would be easy to maintain, and the results will come in time and last for you to enjoy your body. You may alternate the above exercise with a 30 to 45 minute cardiovascular exercise, so that you would also be able to shed off fat as you gain muscle.

To get fit, you do not need to spend hours in the gym. You just need to maintain a fitness routine and make it a lifestyle. Of course you should have a balanced diet and do everything in moderation. In time you and other people would see the results. Soon you will have the body you would want!

Can a 30 Minute Workout Really Work?

If you talk to almost anyone who goes to the gym to workout and ask them how long a good workout usually takes, they will often answer with; “it takes a good hour to get in a good workout”, or even; “if I don’t spend 1 ½ to 2 hours in the gym, I just don’t get enough from my workout”.

Based on these kinds of typical responses, you can imagine how surprised many of these same people appear to be when I tell them that I only workout for 30 minutes a day, yet still get the kind of results that they do! Many of them will say, no way you only workout for 30 minutes a day! How can you ever get results doing that?

The plain fact is there are a lot of people who have such busy schedules that finding more than 30 minutes to dedicate to a workout is just impossible. It’s not that they don’t want to do it; there just aren’t enough hours in the day to be in the gym for 1 to 2 hours at a time.

If there was a way to get an effective workout in 30 minutes however, then perhaps they could spend half of their lunch hour in the gym, and the other half eating their lunch. That would be perfect, wouldn’t it? But is it really possible to do a workout in 30 minutes that will bring real results? The answer is a definite yes, but you will need a few simple strategies to make it happen.
 Here are some tips on how to make your workouts really work in only 30 minutes a day.

To start with, make sure you have a plan for each day. Write down all of the exercises you will be doing for that day and write down all of the weights you will be using for each exercise. Write down how many sets you will be doing for each exercise and how many repetitions you will be doing during each set.

Do split body part routines. For example, on Monday and Thursday, do legs, arms and abs. On Tuesday and Friday, do chest, back and shoulders. This way you only have half of your body parts to work on each day cutting down significantly on time spent in the gym.

Upon arriving at the gym, set up as many things as you can in advance so that when you get started, you can keep moving from one exercise to the other without wasting time getting the next piece of equipment set up. This way, you can go straight through each exercise without stopping, take 1-2 minutes rest, and then simply repeat until you finish all of your sets.

Avoid socializing. While being friendly is ok, don’t let yourself get distracted by having a conversation with others in the gym. Remember, you only have so much time and 5 minutes spent talking rather than exercising is 5 minutes wasted. Explain to people wishing to talk to you that you are on limited time and you just can’t stop what you are doing at the moment or better yet, put on a pair of headphones before you begin your workout; they’ll get the clue.

Always do your weight training and cardio training separately. On days you are not doing weight training, you can spend 30 minutes on the treadmill or on the stair climber. This way you are still only working out for 30 minutes. Combining the two only means you will have to spend more time in the gym and time spent in the gym is what you are trying to cut down on.

In summary, just remember to write out a plan for each day, split those body parts on different days, keep moving during your routine, don’t socialize, and don’t do weights and cardio on the same day and you will see excellent results in only 30 minutes a day.