How To Improve My Fitness

In this post I’m going to be talking about how to improve my fitness. There’s many ways you can achieve this. And the important thing to understand is that it requires more than just one thing. Some parts will require you to work hard but every aspect of improving your fitness will require you to have great discipline over your basic instinct to give up. I see this as the basics to being able to achieve anything you put your mind to. And I know you can do it!

How To Improve My Fitness.

There are many steps to improving your fitness. I will also say that people look at fitness in many ways. When I say this I mean it could be one of many topics. They all contribute to improving your fitness and well-being. Here’s the most important ones.

• CARDIOVASCULAR.
  
• FLEXIBILITY.
  
• MUSCLE.
  
• OVERALL FITNESS.

I have made a list of the main topics that spring to mind. It covers the main definitions of fitness and now it’s time to take a look at how we can improve each of these headings to achieve an overall fitness.

Cardiovascular Fitness – Power From Within.

Having a great cardiovascular system means that we will have the ability to run faster and longer. When our Cardiovascular system is working in peak condition a lot of things we do will be greatly improved.

Learning how to improve my fitness will gain you much more than you can possibly imagine.

This basically means that our lungs are in good condition. They are performing their job well, which is to take oxygen into our bodies, which is then pumped into our blood stream via the heart. The body is then oxygenated due to the partnership of our heart and lungs.

How To Improve Your Cardio.

Now how do we improve our cardiovascular system, well it’s not really difficult but it does require hard work. But because you’ve asked, “How to improve my fitness”. I believe you’re ready to work hard to achieve your goals.

Your first mission really depends on your fitness level, if you consider yourself to be fitter than the average then you can start with running.

Running.

This is can be difficult for people who are a little over weight or for anyone who as injuries to their knees, hips or ankles. But for those who are injury free running is a free way to get fit. The only cost you will incur here is the cost of a decent pair of running shoes and a heart monitor or smart watch.

See my posts on how to find the right running shoe for you here.

Your training can start in door or out door, the choice is totally up to you. The important thing is that you work within your limits and slowly improve on your effort and time you spend working. Your heart will need to be pushed in order for you to make any improvement in you fitness but there’s a limit to how hard you should push your heart.

THE CALCULATION IS: 220 – YOUR AGE = MAXIMUM OUTPUT.

FOR EXAMPLE: 220 – 40 YEAR OLD = 180 BPM ( BEATS PER MINUTE)

Now, please remember this during your training sessions. If running isn’t going to be your thing, then try swimming. This is another great way to improve your lung capacity and again is very cheap to get into and maintain.

Swimming.

“I’m not big on swimming and I find running boring but that’s me,” for most they offer a fantastic way to get fit. Swimming is a great way to improve and build your cardiovascular strength.

My advice here would be to keep it simple and start with a few lengths of front crawl. Depending on your fitness this could mean 5 – 10 lengths. Take it to the point of exhaustion before stopping and constantly increase the amount you do in each swim.

One of the good things about swimming is there’s stress on any of the main weight bearing joints of the body. So this will be well suited to anyone with knee, hip or ankle problems.

Flexibility.

Having supple muscles can vastly improve your normal daily routine. Most people don’t realise that having a good level of flexibility is a form of fitness. Many years ago I was privileged to observe a Police training session. As part of the test new recruits were asked to run a few miles in a set time, execute 20 press-ups and then there was a flexibility test.

They had to sit on the floor with their legs together and straight, they were measured on how far the could reach past their feet. This only tests the flexibility in your hamstrings and back. Although, being flexible does mean your body as a whole, rather than just a part.

So, this tells me that your flexibility is that important, that it also featured in a Police recruitment fitness test.

Muscles.

On the subject of fitness, muscles are often forgotten. Most people work their muscles with the intention of either making them bigger or making them more defined. That’s all good and well but by taking them through a rigorous workout they will become fitter and become more efficient too.

Hence improving your fitness level.

Taking your muscles through their paces at home can be a testing one, but not a difficult one. We should work the body as a whole targeting all the major muscle groups first and usually the smaller muscle groups work assisting the major muscles.

Your legs will have indirectly already have had a workout from your running or swimming, so lets move on to your upper torso. Strength comes from having a strong core, we can whip this into shape by performing simple sit ups or crunches if you’ve got a bad back or overweight, asking how to improve my fitness and knowing the answer, could lead to problems.

Always consult a doctor if you’re unsure of your ability.

There’re many machines on the market that can help you with this if you’re struggling. Our next body part is arms, chest and back. We can target all of these with a series of press-ups and dips.

We have now taken care of our upper body.

How to improve my fitness – Overall Fitness.

This part is pretty easy and is quite self-explanatory. Overall fitness means how fit you are taking into consideration your Cardio, Flexibility and Muscle strength.

If you have worked at each particular section and made an improvement in all areas, your overall fitness level should be pretty good and constantly improving.

I would also like to say I have purposely left out numbers in regard to exercise because I want you to work on a simple word “FAILURE“. In most cases your body weight will be enough to give you resistance and if you apply failure to each routine, where safe! Your improvement is well in hand.

Conclusion of how to improve my fitness.

You’ve been out on regular runs, if your able or you’ve been to the gym for a swim or 2. Hopefully you would have begun and completed your routine with a good stretching session. Without too much effort you’ve already taken big steps to making yourself fitter.

Well there you have it, you now have a blue print on how to improve my fitness. The steps have been small and steady but very precise and quite easy for anyone to follow regardless of their fitness levels.

If, you have any questions or comments please leave them below and I’ll reply as soon as I can.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

UTG.