Your heart is the most important muscle in your body as it ensures the operation of all the other organs and elements in your body through blood flow. Normally, an adult’s heart beats between 60 to 80 times per minute.

You can measure your heart rate now by placing your forefinger and middle finger on the inside of your wrist and pressing down lightly. You should feel slight pulses. Count these within in a minute and you should have a result for your resting heart rate.

Make sure that you are relaxed and that you have not done any exercise for at least 10 minutes before taking your resting heart rate. Exercise and strenuous activity will increase your heart rate. You should also not calculate your resting heart rate just after waking as it could be slower than normal.

The higher your heart rate, the more likely it is that you are not fit. Individuals who exercise often and are generally healthy and fit should have a resting heart rate close to 60 but can go as low as 50 beats per minute. However, a heart rate below 60 could also be an indication of Bradycardia and should be checked by a medical professional.

Heart rates over 70 or 80 beats per minute generally point to an unhealthy or unfit individual. A resting heart rate above 100 means that the heart is working too hard to pump blood throughout the body and could indicate a serious medical condition.

People who are overweight or obese will have a higher heart rate than individuals who are fit. As the size of the body increases in volume, the heart needs to work harder to ensure that every part of the body is getting the supply of blood and oxygen required to function.

This means that unfit people often suffer from poor blood circulation and can experience tingling sensations in their extremities. It basically means that not enough oxygenated blood is reaching the area that is tingling.

But resting heart rate alone is not a measurement of fitness. A better measurement tool is to find out how quickly your heart rate returns to the resting number after exercise which is referred to as your recovery heart rate. There are a number of different calculations that are used to determine fitness and most involve an individual performing some type of cardiovascular exercise while their heart is being monitored.

You can perform a simpler version of these tests on your self. Take your pulse, in the same way as explained above, about 10 seconds after you have completed a workout and write the number down. Repeat the process about 1 minute after exercising and write down the second number.

Subtract the second number from the first and the result will give you your recovery heart rate. The higher the difference between these two numbers, the fitter and healthier you are likely to be. The fitter you are, the stronger and healthier your heart is.

So you want to start a new fitness regime to lose a few kilos, to feel good about yourself or to keep your body healthy?  Great!  Exercise plays a major role not just in our physical health, but in our emotional and mental well-being too. 

The problem, you may say though, is which fitness regime to follow?  There’s running, power walking, going to the gym, yoga, and numerous fitness classes too – how do you choose which will work best for you? 

All fitness regimes have pros and cons, and by all means try out a few to see how your body responds.  But before you rush to join the gym, buy running shoes or check out the latest fitness classes, take a moment to learn why swimming may answer all of your fitness dreams!

A Sport That Is Easy On Your Body

Running, walking and other such like sports can be great for some people, but for others can result in pain to ankles, knees or hips.  Of course you can learn how to protect your body when engaging in such sports, but wouldn’t it be great to participate in a sport that has the lowest impact on your body’s joints? 

Swimming not only gives you a whole-body workout, but when immersed to the neck your body will bear only 10% of it’s weight.  Ideal, not only for those with physical limitations, weight limitations or arthritis suffers, but for all who want to protect their body whilst staying fit.

A Sport That Is Great For Your Fitness Levels

When you swim your body uses all your major muscle groups, legs, hips, arms, shoulders, back, abdomen – everything is getting a good workout.  Interestingly swimming is also a great sport for building strength in your body due to water giving twelve times the resistance that air gives.

Great, you may be thinking, swimming sure does sound like the sport for me, but how do I get started? 

Really it all depends what level you are at.  If you’re experience of swimming goes as far as a few swim classes when you were at school, or a paddle around the kid’s pool on holiday, then you may want to consider a swimming class.  Don’t be put off by joining a class with others, you will likely find that most of them are in the same situation as you and the company and encouragement can be worthwhile.

If you know how to swim but simply haven’t been in the pool for a while then set yourself a swim time each week and make sure you stick to it!  Start with setting a small goal, even if it’s only one length, then increase your goal each time.  It’s up to you how many times you can schedule a swim into your weekly plan, but if it allows for two or three time per week you will quickly find yourself swimming for longer and further.

So are you going to give swimming a go?  If you do, you may well find yourself swimming to a slimmer, healthier and fitter you!

Men and women are becoming more conscious about their health and physical fitness. Because of that, starting a career in the fitness industry is a great way to take advantage of the popularity of fitness-minded individuals. The career opportunities are expanding every day, for individuals that are highly motivated.

Beginning a Fitness Career

The initial step in launching a career in fitness is choosing a specific path. You might choose to become a trainer for college athletes, work as a personal trainer, or take a coaching position at a high school or university.

The Requirements

Nearly every type of career involving fitness will have its own set of requirements that the individual must fulfill to attain a high position in the field. Most facilities that offer fitness training will require that their in-house personal trainers undergo specific certification programs and training. High-level fitness facilities often require that the individual obtain a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine, kinesiology or other fitness related field.

When seeking a job in the fitness world, most careers will list a specific set of prerequisites that the individual must have including formal training, experience and education. However, some of these requirements can be obtained along the way, as a way to round out an existing career.

Taking the Steps

After choosing a desired field in the fitness industry, it is time to start the process of obtaining the qualifications necessary for the job. This could include the need to enroll in college level courses or degree programs. The individual could also sign up for certification courses or take an entry level job that is directly related to their choice of careers. As an example, fitness instructors typically must be fully certified in CPR. Fulfilling this obligation is a simple process, which can be performed in one day.

Finding Open Jobs

Once all the pre-requisites for the job have been obtained, the individual can begin seeking out the ideal career in their chosen field. They will need to consider the location of the job, and whether it is in a part of town that ideally suits where they want to work and live. Additional considerations include the salary provided along with any benefits associated with the job. Before accepting the position, the individual should thoroughly understand the work environment, and the hours that will be involved.

At first, the individual may need to settle for a position that might be slightly lower than what they expected when starting a career in fitness. Therefore, it is always best to seek out a variety of opportunities before choosing the right job.

Applying for the Position

When making an application for a specific position in the field of fitness, the individual should include a cover letter with their professional resume. The document should detail exactly the level of experience, certifications and education the individual has acquired, so the hiring individual can see if they have the qualifications for the position.

A career in fitness can be a rewarding occupation. Becoming a personal trainer or taking a coaching position requires extensive motivational skills along with the ability to stay focused and task-oriented.

Imagine working your guts out to lose all of your weight, being at the most ideal weight point you have ever experienced, and then just gaining it all back! Horrible right? Believe it or not there are a lot of people out there who have experienced this exact same thing. Not only that, but they lose all the weight, and then not only gain it back but gain back even more!

So why is this the case? There seems to be a lot of misinterpretations when it comes to fitness. Here are some essential keys to staying fit:

Consistency-

Consistency is possibly the biggest key to keeping weight off and achieving optimal health. A big misconception is that once you lose weight you can stop working out and still stay at the same weight. This is a HUGE no no! Not only will you gain all your weight back but you will gain back more then what you started with.

Human beings are meant to be active physically every day. This does not mean that you need to run a marathon every day or hike Mount Everest! In fact, that could be very detrimental to your body. Mixing up your workouts daily, no matter what the intensity, is what will help reach optimal health. Just make sure that you are doing something physically active every day whether taking a walk, swimming or even dancing.

Eating Habits-

Almost every fitness trainer in the world will tell you that this is the most important aspect to losing weight. Almost 80% of weight loss is attributed to proper diet. Remember, you are what you eat. If you eat a bowl of cookie dough, plan on looking like one.  A proper diet is a lifelong commitment if you want to stay at your dream weight.

It is another misconception that this is the hardest part. When I refer to diet, I’m not saying that you should stick to salads every day. In fact, if you don’t indulge every once in a while you are more likely to binge and eat too much. Not only that but if you are eating healthy there is a better chance that you won’t crave your “used to be favorite” treats as often as you used to. If your body has all of the nutrition it needs, you won’t experience cravings as much. It’s a win-win process!

Recovery-

Recovery can be incredibly important when it comes to long term weight loss. Getting plenty of sleep and stretching time in is what will help you reach your goals. The human body is an incredible machine, during sleep it is actually hard at work repairing all of those muscles you’ve spent time working on. For example, if you are a weight lifter, recovery time is key. If you don’t give your body time to recover you won’t build muscle. This is also a win-win process.

Love What You Do-

The best way to motivate yourself when it comes to fitness is to love what you are doing. Find a physical activity that you love like swimming, or dancing and just go wild with it!

Each day, individuals make a vow to themselves that they’re finally going to get in better shape, and need quality food. They make this choice because they have decided to improve their general health. Individuals often tend to make a quiet commitment in their head, and usually, do not tell anyone as an effective tool to keep them on track. However, to be more successful, it’s important to write down goals that state clearly exactly what to do to lose weight and become physically fit.

Writing Down the Goals

Before beginning any type of workout regimen or change in diet, it’s important to write down goals. Create an actual “to do” list so you will have something to look at every day. This will serve as an important reminder of exactly what you’re going to do to achieve your ultimate goal of being physically fit and healthier.

Creating and following along with the “to do” list might appear to be a simple act, but it can be an effective tool that is used to reinforce your goals. One of the components on the list should include affirmations, which will provide the right type of motivation you’ll need to keep yourself accountable until you reach the goal.

The Weigh In

One of the easiest tools to stay on track to maintain physical fitness or get healthy is to weigh yourself every day. This effective tool can be discouraging at first, when you realize exactly how much weight you need to lose. However, there are simple steps that can avoid the depressing feeling that you have a long way to go.

On day one, simply weigh yourself and write it down to begin your weekly log. Recognize that as your body loses weight, it tends to hold onto water. There may be times during the week where you may weigh more on one date and you did the day before, even though you ate right and exercise routinely. Over the course of one week your log should indicate that you’ve lost a significant amount of weight, maybe one or 2 pounds of undesired body fat.

Part of the weighing in process requires that it is done the same way every day. Be consistent during way in time. If you wear shoes when weighing in, make sure you wear the same shoes every day. If you weigh yourself just after stepping out of the shower, do so every day.

Feeling Better

At some point along the way you’re going to feel struggled and want to turn back. However, your health and fitness goals should be strong enough to keep you pointed toward your goals. Realize that as your appearance change, you begin having significantly more energy, with better thoughts and emotions.

The transformation to living a healthier lifestyle takes time. Remember that you did not put on your excess weight and become out of shape in just a single day. Getting back on track and healthier again will take a little longer than you hope. However with determination to reach your goals of being physically fit you will get there in no time.

The Lazy Fitness Program

Although we probably all want to keep fit, for most of us we can’t do it for one reason or another. It may be that we are just busy, we have health issues, or we are not sure what to do. Yet exercising is so easy to do, so why don’t we more of us do it? Probably because that when we think of exercise we imagine a man running at 100mph on a treadmill, dripping sweat, with muscles like the Hulk. However that is far from the truth of the reality. You will find below some very easy to do exercises.

Weight Lifting

Now you are not going to have to run out and order 100kg weights from the nearest sports store. All you need to start with is a couple of bags of sugar, or tins of rice pudding. While sitting down hold the weights as far out in front of you as you can and count to 10. Then put them straight up above your head and count to 10. Then put your arms out to the side in a cross formation, and again count to 10. Then repeat as many times as you can, but it should hurt your arms as that means it is doing some good. After a few weeks you may feel as though you can step it up with some proper handheld weights.

Walking

Amazingly, proof is starting to appear that walking is one of the best exercises anyone can do. We are not talking about strolling around the shops, but walking non-stop for 15 to 30 minutes at a reasonable pace. This will get your heart beat increasing, and a cardio will help keep things like heart disease. It is better if you can include a hill, and you may want to vary it by travelling to other places for a walk. If you have a dog then that is an incentive, if not, ask a neighbor can you take theirs.

Leg Muscles

If you have stairs at home or work, then use them. Stairs are great at giving a number of muscles in your legs and hips a great workout, and they also force you to pull in your stomach muscles. Do not run up and down stairs, as that is dangerous, but keep going until you are out of breath. If you do that every day them after a few weeks you will notice that you are doing more.

Doing any kind of exercise will certainly help your overall health, and as well as protecting your heart, it can help keep diabetes type 2 at bay, boost your immune system, and improve your memory. After a few weeks you will also fell much healthier, and you will see another side to life. Never overdo it when you are starting out, just do everything slowly so that you learn what you limits are. But once you have been at it for a few weeks things will get a lot easier.