Four ways to build your Fitness Foundation

Exercise is one of the keys to maintaining a healthy body. Sometimes the routine you’ve established gets boring, or you want something different. LifeFone would like to suggest four ways to build your fitness foundation.

These four categories mix up your routine and keep you engaged, helping you to maintain your interest and avoid getting bored.

Strength training:
Strength training is a high or low-intensity weight training. Weights don’t equal bulk. They equal getting strong. Building muscle is good for your bones and reduces the potential for future injury. Joining a gym would give you the opportunity to take some weight training classes, and you’ll likely meet new people. However, If you decide to work out at home, here’s some exercises to help build strength:

• 20 body weight squats
• 10 push-ups
• 20 walking lunges
• 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)
• 15 second plank
• 30 jumping Jacks

Stretching:
Flexibility improves the elasticity in your muscles. The fact is, the older you get the more likely you will be tight and risk the chance of a pulled muscle or back pain. Stretching can also help reduce stress, improve mood, and generally help you feel better. Some ideas for stretching exercises include yoga or Pilates. Stretching may be challenging, but should also feel like good tension on your body.

Aerobic exercise:
Get moving. Aerobic exercise is a high or low-intensity cardio-fitness workout. It increases your heart rate and respiration. Cardio/aerobic fitness is good for your heart, lungs and over all body. Some ideas are walking, either at a steady gait, or brisk walk and/or jogging. You can mix up your walk by incorporating all of those in one outing. Swimming, dancing and bike riding are also great choices.  If you are a golfer, instead of taking a golf-cart, walk. It’s a great way to enjoy your golf outing while getting a good workout in. However, we recommend that you do use your cart if the temperature is high as you don’t want to suffer from heat exhaustion either.

Balancing:
Practice balancing to improve your stability and help with strength, flexibility, and endurance. As you age, balance deteriorates. Practicing your balancing act can also help reduce falls later on in life. Here’s a list of a few balancing exercises:

• Back leg raises – grip a sturdy chair, and lift one leg out behind you or to the side, slowly. Hold it there for a few seconds, and return. Repeat for both legs 10 or 15 times.
• Balance walk – it’s harder than you may think! Raise your arms to shoulder height. Find a focal point ahead of you, stay focused on it, and walking in a B-line, i.e., one foot directly in front of the other, walk towards your chosen destination. Do this slowly, and then change which leg you lead with.

No matter how you incorporate these four ways to build a good fitness foundation, remember that you don’t have to do them all at once, and a change of pace is good for you. No matter which one you choose, we recommend that you  subscribe to one of our Mobile Apps for your phone for safety and protection while you are exercising away from home. Knowing you can get help at the push of a button may spur you on to find bigger and bolder ways to get your exercise in.