This fall, The ACADEMY powered by Heavens Fitness is celebrating 40 years of leading fitness, health and wellness in Calgary. Our team of experts prides themselves on being here for YOU; providing the most up to date, scientifically researched, health and wellness information to help YOU achieve YOUR goals. Our mission is to provide you with the knowledge to make the right decisions for your personal health and wellness, to TRAIN RIGHT FOR LIFE.
School is back, many are returning back to working in the office and it’s time to stop procrastinating. It’s time to put your personal health and wellness first and get back at it!
Researchers say that if you stopped training for four months or more, you’ve lost enough muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance to merit starting out at a beginner level. If you’ve had a high fitness level before and you want to get back to where you were, we recommend you start off slowly and modify the workouts you were doing prior to your break for a few weeks to help you get back on track.
Here are some quick tips to help you FALL BACK to TRAINING RIGHT FOR LIFE
- Avoid too much too soon. Even though you know what you used to be able to do, starting off easy will help you stay injury free. Slow and steady wins this race!
- Don’t get discouraged when life gets in the way of planned exercise. Expect setbacks, such as an unplanned meeting at work, sickness, a family vacation, holidays, or a long night out with friends. Establish a regular exercise routine and resume it after you miss a workout or two, you won’t lose your fitness and have to start from scratch.
- Studies have shown that people who exercise early in the morning tend to be most successful in sticking to a regular exercise program. If you have trouble getting out of bed, find a friend or a group to meet up with you in the morning to exercise, especially now that the days are getting shorter and colder.
- Leave your gym bag at your front door, in your car or at work to avoid excuses about leaving your exercise gear behind.
- Plan each workout in your calendar like you would any other daily appointment, being active will soon become as important to your life as work, family, and other obligations.
- When you don’t feel like working out, remember how much better you’ll feel afterward: Exercise is a great stress-reliever, energizer, and combined with a healthy diet, the best way to establish and maintain a healthy body.
- Avoid the “all or nothing” mentality. Something is always better than nothing, so if you only have 20 minutes, DO IT!
- Don’t worry about what “everyone else thinks”. This journey called fitness is about you and your life, health and happiness. People are more concerned with their own journey than watching you exercise. Remember everyone has to start or start back somewhere.
- If lack of motivation is a factor, join a group class or hire a personal trainer to help you establish a regular routine and keep you accountable.
- Balance your workouts with strength, cardio, and flexibility. This will help prevent aches and pains as well as boredom.
- Warm up! Do yourself a favour by warming up with some easy dynamic stretching. Your workouts will feel a little easier if your muscles are loose, and you’ll lessen your chance of injury.
- Cool down. Don’t just stop and call it a day. Take a moment to tend to the muscles you’ve used by doing some cool-down stretches. Also use these cool-down moments to congratulate yourself for completing a workout and making healthy choices.
Gradually easing back into an active lifestyle is the safest approach for both your mind and your body. Take charge of your health and wellness by returning to fitness activities with tempered expectations and a positive mindset, and you will be well on the road to TRAINING RIGHT FOR LIFE.
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