Fitness is a broad term that means something different to each person, but it refers to optimal health and overall well-being. Being fit means not only physical health but emotional and mental health, too. It defines every aspect of your health. Smart eating and active living are fundamental to fitness. We have brought you the 10 best steps of fitness that will help you in your daily life.
- Energy to do what’s important to you and to be more productive
- Stamina and a positive outlook to handle the mental challenges and emotional ups and downs of everyday life and deal with stress
- Reduced risk for many health problems, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
- The chance to look and feel your best
- Physical strength and endurance to accomplish physical challenges
- A better chance for a higher quality of life and perhaps a longer life, too
10 Steps of Fitness
Does the thought of entering a gym make you start to sweat? Don’t know the difference between a bench press and a bicep curl or where your target heart rate should be? . Here are 10 steps that can help you start your fitness journey and stay motivated.
1- Determine your Goals
Why are you starting a fitness routine? Your goal may be to lose weight, gain muscle, reduce stress, improve cardiovascular health, or some combination. Knowing what results from you will help you determine which types of exercise you should participate in.
Goals like doing your first triathlon or losing 20 lbs are great long-term goals. But it’s important to have small, achievable goals that you can accomplish daily. Things like drinking enough water daily, getting at least 8 hours of sleep, or simply making it to the gym 5 days a week.
2- Starting a Fitness Journey
When starting a fitness journey, it’s best to take simple steps. No need to jump into a gym and lift a ton of weight on Day 1. In fact, that’s a good way to hurt yourself and get discouraged. Start by walking for 15 to 30 minutes a day. Choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Take stretch breaks throughout the day. You’re setting up an exercise habit by doing something small every day. Over time, you can add more challenging exercises.
3- See Food Differently
We all know how it goes you eat well for months, you lose weight, and then you go back to eating the burger, fries, and donuts diet. This goes back to the long-term/short-term goals we talked about earlier. Look at eating healthy as a long-term goal, a LIFE goal. The easiest way to continue to eat healthily and properly nourish your body is to look at food as fuel, not as an indulgence or coping mechanism. Think of your body as a car; you do not want to put cheap or the wrong kind of fuel in your car, or it won’t run properly and may even break down completely.
The same goes for your body. Fuel it with the foods that keep you energetic, healthy, and running smoothly.
Can you have a piece of cake on your anniversary or have a drink at the next holiday party? Absolutely. But if you’re stressed at work, do not turn to the box of Oreos as your cure. This will do more harm than good. Take it out at the gym, go for a walk, or grab a healthy snack instead. Remember, food is fuel.
4- Make an Exercise Appointment
Add exercise to your personal calendar like you would a dental appointment, your kid’s soccer game, or lunch with a friend. This will help make sure exercise becomes a priority in your day. If you just wake up thinking, “I’ll work out at some point today,” it’s easy for other things to pop up and prevent you from exercising.
5- Start an Exercise Class
Sometimes, the best way to start an exercise routine is to find a class you like and try it. For example, at TEAM TEST, you’ll access various classes such as yoga, Rock ‘n Ryde, Pilates, and MyZone. They’re all fun and challenging and will help you get in shape.
6- Try a Personal Practice
Yoga is a very personal practice and is suitable for everyone regardless of age, gender, weight, or fitness level. It offers a unique range of benefits that make it a valuable addition to any fitness routine. Those unfamiliar with it may consider yoga a series of stretches that tone, strengthen and improve flexibility. That is a part of yoga, but the yoga postures or asanas make up just one aspect of yoga practice. On a physical level, yoga asanas are classified as isometric, meaning muscle length is constant and poses are static (the asana itself is steady, although movement is required to transition in and out of it).
This is particularly beneficial for building muscular endurance and toning the body, including the internal organs. Yogic asanas, combined with breath control and meditation, help still the mind and remove these blockages to bring your physical body back into alignment. This paves the way to allow you to connect with your divine or spiritual self. Remember not to discount yoga because you fear you won’t be good enough. Yoga is a learning process that will see you grow and improve.
7- Track Your Results
Record everything that you do and eat. There is no way to tell how far you’ve come if you have no idea what you did in the past. Grab a journal, make an excel sheet, and download an app. Do something to track what you’ve done and will be doing in the future.
Remember all those fitness and body measurements you took at the beginning? Do them again on a bi-monthly basis. Check and re-check. Make sure you are progressing in the right direction. Be honest with yourself. When you lie on your log, the only one you are hurting is yourself and the fitness future you are looking for.
8- Competition at the Highest Level
Jump into the competition, whether it’s the Iron Man Competition or the Tough Mudder. Testing yourself will let you know where you stand. Have you worked hard enough? Have you done enough in your workouts to beat the competition? If your goal is to be in better shape during your weekly season basketball game, then a little extra effort on your workouts and diet should pay off immensely. Most people typically don’t train for the sport they are playing.
They just do typical lifts like everyone else. I try to compete in everything I do, and I love being in better shape than everyone else on the field or court. It makes the games easier and more fun.
Compete at the highest level, and don’t stop until you can’t go any higher.
9- Analyze Your Results
You’ve reached a point where you either failed or accomplished your goal. Did it happen like you wanted it to?
When you finally reach the end, you must review your records and analyze what happened.
- Did you get better, stay the same, or decline?
- What could have or should you have done better?
- Was it a roller coaster ride or a straight progression?
- At what points did you struggle? Did you break through plateaus?
These are questions you need to ask yourself to understand the next steps.
This is not the ending point. It’s just a new beginning, hopefully starting at a higher level than you were at the beginning of your journey.
10- Rinse and Repeat
What do you do when you’ve completed something? You go back to the beginning and start again. Take new fitness and body measurements, set new goals, create and design new fitness and eating plans, and pick the next competition.
You should now have a certain amount of experience. You should be bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than before. Let this experience guide your decisions for the future.
I hope you like these 10 best fitness steps and can read more on Health and Fitness.
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