Creating a fitness routine is not a simple process. It goes beyond a dumbbell exercise once a week and a stroll through the park with your dog. You’ll need to develop specific weight-training workouts and cardio exercises. You should also consider choosing specific goals for your workouts.
Here, we provide excellent tips and ten ways to build the perfect workout routine for your needs. Ready to find out how to become healthier and more fit? Then, read on!
1. Choose Your Fitness Goals
What fitness goals do you want to meet over the next year or two? Do you want to lose 20 pounds? Do you want to build muscle and become stronger? Would you like to become faster at running or prepare for a marathon?
Whatever your goals, write them down and log them in a journal. When developing your goals, make them very specific and ensure you can measure the outcome. Every result you get from exercising will need tracking.
You should also make realistic goals. For instance, you don’t want to plan to run a two-minute mile six months from now. Instead, you’ll need to start more slowly, such as walking a mile in 20 minutes. Then, within six months, you can begin jogging and finish a mile in eight minutes.
Furthermore, you will need a deadline for your goals. That will help motivate you to finish your exercises and continue the workout routine.
2. Figure Out Your Athletic Performance Before You Start a Work Out Routine
You would benefit by determining your fitness level before you begin exercising. You’ll need various preliminary benchmarks to check how much your athletic performance improves over time. For example, track your pulse rate immediately before and after walking one mile.
You should also write down how much time it takes you to walk one mile or how long it takes to run the same distance. Also, you may want to check how many pushups you can do before getting too tired.
If you want to improve your flexibility, check how far you can reach your hands and fingers in front of you when sitting down with your legs in front. Write down the fitness benchmarks of every physical activity you perform. That can help you compare how much you improve every month you’re following your new workout routine.
3. Pick Your Cardio and Weight Training Exercises
Cardio exercises help people lose calories and strengthen their hearts and lungs. The best cardio exercises often involve jogging and biking. You can also try swimming or even brisk walking.
Along with cardio, you’ll need to pick the right dumbbell exercise and weight training programs to boost your muscular strength.
For example, you can start with bicep curls after picking out five-pound dumbbells. Further, you may want to complete some pushups and pull-ups to strengthen your core, chest, shoulders, and triceps.
You can also use dumbbells while strengthening your quadricep muscles with squats and lunges. Another way to keep your core strength is to perform planks and side planks. In addition, an incline dumbbell press and a bench press can strengthen your shoulders and chest.
These are the type of weight training exercises you can pick from. Focus on different sets of muscles or body parts each day to ensure you don’t stress the same muscles too much.
4. Incorporating the Right Amount of Reps in Weight Training
If you’re looking to build muscle, and that’s one of your main goals, you should go beyond the mere eight to 12 reps in one set. You can use lighter weights with more reps to build muscle endurance.
Essentially, you will want to incorporate more sets and take a break between each set. We recommend trying three sets of four to six reps of weight training, such as barbell lifts.
Afterward, you should increase those weight training exercises to eight to 10 reps for an additional couple of sets.
Doing more sets will help you build muscle quickly and boost your strength. However, you shouldn’t push yourself too much and start slowly during your first week or two.
5. Add Balance Exercises to Your Fitness Routine
Poor balance can cause serious problems, such as a higher likelihood of falls and injuries. Balance tends to worsen as we age, so completing balance exercises may help boost your overall health.
That way, you can avoid falls that lead to head injuries and even disabilities. Older adults would greatly benefit from a mix of balance exercises, lifting weights and strength training, and going on regular walks.
Popular exercises for improving balance include yoga, Pilates, and tai chi. Boosting your core and back muscles through push-ups and planks can also help with balance.
6. Design a Weekly Fitness Routine
You should develop a realistic fitness routine that aligns with fitness recommendations from federal guidelines. First, you should focus on two and a half hours of moderate aerobic exercise weekly. You can also combine vigorous and moderate workouts.
However, if you seek to lose weight, you would benefit even more from adopting five hours of aerobic exercise spread out over the week. Furthermore, make sure to perform strength training exercises at least twice a week to build muscle.
You can also build physical activity into your daily routine. For example, park your car farther away from your workplace or take the stairs instead of the elevator. You can also add a more entertaining task to your workout. For instance, watch your favorite television show while using a stationary bike at home.
Consider picking different exercises throughout the week, such as jogging on a treadmill twice a week, swimming on another day, and taking a bike ride on Saturday afternoons. Further, you should add a high-intensity interval training session once a week.
7. Gather Your Exercise Equipment and Workout Attire
You can create a home gym to give yourself no excuse. Even in a snowstorm, you can still exercise at home in your own gym. You can check out a fitness center to see what exercise equipment to buy. For example, you will likely benefit from purchasing a stationary bike, a basic treadmill, a few dumbbells, and a barbell.
You can also download fitness and nutrition apps to your smartphone to track your workouts and calorie intake. Your workout attire also matters for greater comfort and safety. Pick comfortable sneakers and athletic shoes designed for your type of physical activity. For instance, lightweight shoes are beneficial for running.
8. Start Slowly With Walks and Build Up Your Fitness Over Time
Take plenty of time before gearing up your exercises. Start slowly with a warm-up and stretch your limbs. Then, along with gentle stretches, go on a relaxed walk. Once you’ve walked for five minutes or so, you can speed up and try a brisk walk.
Walk at a faster pace for five to ten minutes before taking a break. Once you’ve gotten used to your slow workouts, you can begin to increase the amount of time you walk. You can build it up to a jog after a week or two.
As you build up your stamina, you can increase the amount of time you exercise to 30 or 60 minutes five or six days a week. Whether it’s a jog, bike ride, or swim, you should start slowly and build up the time you exercise.
9. Adopt Breaks and Recovery Days
You will need to add breaks to your workout routine. Additionally, you will need at least two recovery days between each weight training session to allow particular muscle sets to rest. You don’t want to overdo it and stress out your muscles.
Adopt two or three days a week for your strength training, but keep the sessions two days apart. There’s no need to end up with sore leg muscles either, so you will benefit from taking breaks between running sessions.
Essentially, you’ll need time to rest and recover to avoid injuring your joints or muscles.
10. Keep Track of Your Progress
One of the most critical parts of a fitness routine is measuring your results. You should check your physical fitness benchmarks about six weeks after you begin your workout routine. Afterward, track your progress and measure your outcomes every two months.
That way, you will see whether you are meeting your fitness goals, such as weight loss or greater strength. If you see your results improving, you’re likely to get more motivation to keep exercising. However, if your results remain stagnant, you can try switching up your physical activity. For example, you can try a few days of swimming instead of biking.
You’ll see that monitoring your progress is essential for meeting your fitness goals.
The Final Word
Follow these ten tips to build a great workout routine. You’ll need to incorporate balance training, cardio workouts, and a dumbbell exercise into your workout routine. Don’t forget to add recovery days after your strength training. Soon, you’ll meet your fitness goals and feel great!
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