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Weight Loss Exercise

Spring Into Fitness Week – Day 4

Today is all about Spring exercise tips. I find that there are two kinds of people when it comes to exercise. There are people that like to exercise and do it regularly and the other group are the people that know they should probably exercise but never get around to it. Well with the weather turning nice it is time to start thinking of exercise as a fun thing to do outdoors.

Spring Exercise Tips

Again I am going to give you a few tips that should help you out and at the same time hopefully inspire the non exercisers to see that it is easy to get started. I have also written a post on an 8 week Spring Fitness Program that you can check out.

1. Start slowly – No matter if you have been working out indoors for the Winter or not, it is important to start out slowly. I think that it is important to start walking, riding, or running (whatever you can do) for at least 15 minutes and you can work this up to 45 minutes a day or so. Any more than this and you will be working to long I believe. As soon as you can pick up the pace and the time but remember not to push too hard or it will take to long to heal and not be sore. You should be doing some kind of exercise 5 or 6 days a week.

2. Be Careful – As you are start doing whatever Spring exercise you are doing and this includes weightlifting you have to watch your form. I have sidelined myself many times by pushing too fast and not listening to my body only to be left a couple weeks in with swollen and really sore knees. Know your limits.

3. The Pain will be gone quick, I promise – No matter what you start for exercise you will have sore legs, arms, back, calves, all sorts of pain that you are not used to. As long as the pain is muscle stiffness you can work through it. Remember to drink lots of water for the muscle stiffness and know that the pain will go away fairly quickly. After two weeks or so your muscle stiffness will be gone and you will be fine

4. Change it up lots – Remember that your body is very adaptable. If you do the same kind of exercise or eat the same foods consistently your body will get used to it. So you have to change it up a lot. Move between all the things you can think of, sports, bowling, running, walking, riding, skateboarding, surfing, whatever you can do to keep everything changing around.

Good for today. I will have one more post to pull things together. I hope that you have liked these spring exercise tips and I will try to add to the list as I think of more.

Bill

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Weight Loss Exercise

Spring Into Fitness Week – Day 3

Spring into Fitness Week

Spring into Fitness Week

I have been thinking about what people are telling me in emails and today I wanted to hit on a couple of things. I want to talk about Outdoor health and I also want to talk about losing fat on your stomach. See how this goes.

Outdoor Health

Whenever we go outside we are bombarded with everything that the non-constructed outdoors has to offer and as great as it is it is also dangerous. I have a wrecked knee right now to prove that care is needed. Here are a few things to think about

Shoes – Make sure that when you are exercising and travelling around outside that you are wearing good shoes with grip on the bottom. Winter and the slippery sidewalks are over but there is also a problem with rain now and just bad footing on the dirt and grass. Also if you have been running on a treadmill indoors it is much easier on your knees so you have to be careful with how you run outside.

Skin Care There is wind and there is UV (ultraviolet) outside from the sun. To be careful you NEED to wear sunscreen. Suncreen will trap the moisture in your skin to protect against the drying effect of the wind as well as protecting you against the sun. Remember that if you are going to be outdoors for the day even in Spring you can get a sunburn so wearing a hat and loose clothes that cover your skin is a good idea.

I like to suntan in the Spring and Summer but if you do that as well it is a good idea to control the amount of sun you are getting. You can’t be running around in the sun underprotected all day so that hat and lotion are critical

Losing Stomach Fat

OK, I want to be clear about this stomach fat issue. If there is fat on your stomach you need to lower your fat level through diet. You know lower your white carbs, drinking more water, eat more fruits and veggies, and try spacing out your meals more. Have 5 or 6 small meals instead of two giant meals a day. It is just a lot better for you.

I wrote an article a while back on How to get 6 pack abs a while ago that may help you out.

The other thing that you need to do is follow some great exercises for your core. Do crunches and leg raises 2 sets of 20 or 30 three times a week. Don’t neglect the rest of your core as well. I make sure that I exercise my lower back and  my lower sides. If you have weak muscles then you will have a lot more flabbiness.

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Spring Into Fitness Week – Day 1

Spring into fitness week

Spring into fitness week

Well I threatened to do a week of fitness to tune up for Spring and I am really just going to run it off the cuff. The idea is that I will come up with a few short posts, well fairly short for me anyway, and give you a chance to look forward towards Summer and start your outdoor or at least your transition to outdoor fitness now.

Oh, and it is snowing in Calgary this week so I may be being overly opimistic about Spring,

I want to let you think about what this season is about and ask you some questions that you can think about as the week and next few months goes.

Partners and Troublemakers

First I want you to look at the people around you and the people that you may need. You need a support system and people to lean on and help yourself. At home my wife works out regularly and she also eats really really well. This helps me a lot. There is a real feeling of fitness as a lifestyle and working out as a way of life in my house and she if really careful with what she eats and feeds the rest of the family (thanks so much Michelle).

I know that I have it good. What are the people in your life like? Do they see the benefits of eating well and exercising? Do they have a vision of how they want to feel and experience things in life? If this is a problem for you it is easy enough in the Spring to join a running club, biking or hiking club, or even fitness classes so that you can meet like minded people. Don’t be shy and don’t be lonely becasue it will only hurt you.

Troublemakers on the other hand are difficult. If you have people around that are negative, eat badly, let there fitness go then you need to insulate yourself. Let these people know how excited you are to make changes or more changes in your life and when you see results show them, don’t be bragging or anything but show them what is happening and don’t expect any congratulations in return, you can help them in this part of your life more than they can help you.

If you are struggling or having trouble you can always lean on the people that are living the same way as you, the people in the clubs you have joined or in blog comments on the fitness blog or other messageboards.

Remember that no matter how excited or how let down you feel over the next few weeks these problems are just small daily emotions. Work through them and the next 8 or 12 weeks will be a great and exciting journey.

Enough for today, have a great day and post what you think below in the comments on this topic.