Have you ever dreamt about being faster, fitter, slimmer, sleeker? Well I have, and believe me, its pretty achievable once you set your mind to it. I sat down to think about what my Speedy Fitness Tips for this week would be, and I narrowed them down to eight. It’s all about fine tuning your already inherent abilities and skills, to hone them to perfection. Here are some simple, speedy fitness tips that if you apply to your weekly routine, will have you working more efficiently in no time.
photo credit : Uphill – Wasatch Back Ragar Relay 2011 by oheredia
My 8 Speedy Fitness Tips are:
1. Run Hills Faster
When running uphill, keep your head up and your eyes focused on the top of the hill. Push off with your toes and lift your knees. This uses momentum to propel your legs, opens up your airways, making it easier to breathe than if your upper body were hunched forward.
2. Be More Flexible
Always stretch before and after your exercise. Spend more time on problem areas instead of muscles that are already flexible. Typical problem areas for men: hamstrings, shoulders, and lower back. For women, lower back, shoulders.
3. Go Short, Get Fast
Train three times a week for distance ( 8km – 10km) and, twice for speed (3km – but sprint all the way). Go faster for shorter distances to improve your running form. You’ll not only perform better, but you’ll also be less susceptible to injuries.
4. Recover Faster
If you have an injury, by all means rest, but once you feel yourself coming out of it, the tightness in your muscle is due to contraction brought about by the injury in the first place. Even though you feel weak, try to start exercising again as soon as you can. A few minutes at low intensity to test yourself and see if you can hack it. Go slow and do not use explosive movements. If you experience pain, stop immediately. Afterwards, ice the area for 20 minutes and exercise again the next day. You should be able to go a little harder and longer each workout, till you are back to 100% again.
5. Go Light, Get Strong
Instead of carrying heavy weights all the time, try taking light weights but going fast, and do repetitions till muscle burn. Use a weight that’s 40 to 60 percent of what you can lift one time, and do 5 sets of intense repetitions, pushing the weight up as fast as possible. Rest 30 seconds between sets.
6. Save Your Back
Always protect your back by activating your core, when you do any activities such as lifting weights. Squeeze your butt muscles when you lift weights over your head. Also think about tightening your stomach, pulling it in, toward the center, and also doing the same for your back. This motion is called drawing in and activating your core. You’ll force your body into a position that automatically stabilizes your spine, which lowers your risk of back injuries.
7. Loosen Your Hips
Keep your heels on the floor when you squat. If you can’t, your hip flexors are too tight. A good way to stretch is to hold onto the sides of the squat rack and lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hold for 30 seconds. Return to a standing position, then repeat five times.
8. Drink Milk
Finally folks, don’t forget to add, two cups of low-fat milk, to the mix, to complete this 8 speedy fitness tips routine. Scientists have discovered, that people who consumed more than 600 milligrams of calcium a day, roughly the amount in 2 cups of milk, a cup of broccoli, or a half cup of cottage cheese, had lower body fat than those who consumed less than 600 milligrams a day! Wow.. isn’t that great news? Adding two cups of low fat milk will optimize your efficiency in no time.
These are my 8 speedy fitness tips to help reach optimum performance efficiency. What are yours?
Tks for tips. Will try all these today!