5 Tips to Help You (Hopefully) Get Healthier #2

Hello :)

I'm back again with some new tips to hopefully help you get a bit healthier, as I said in the previous post in this series (linked HERE), I would talk a bit about working out and being active. I haven't always been very into working out or sport, in fact I'm still not a huge fan of sport to this day, but I do enjoy being active, so here are a few tips for those wishing to tip their toes into working out and making a change for the heathier.

• The first thing I'd bring out, is that working out doesn't have to feel like a chore, you just have to find something that you enjoy. Just as I said about eating, if you don't enjoy it, then you will be less likely to stick to it. For example I don't enjoy ball games, because they tend to be very agressive or just too agressie for my liking, but I enjoy yoga, pilates, strenght building exercises, cycling, stretching and jumping on the trampoline, which is probably my favourite way of doing cardio, so just by trial and error you can see what you enjoy, but give everything at least a few tries, then you'll know for sure. I know a lot of people enjoy boxing, running, swimming, just see what you enjoy, explore all of the options and soon enough you'll find yourself hooked to doing something.
• Another thing that I believe is very important is avoiding injury. If you have any previous injuries or problems with health, be sure to consult with your doctor to see, if you are fit to work out or if there are certain excercises you should avoid. Also while working out, make sure that you've got good form, looking yourself in the mirror or recording yourself will help. Obviously if you can afford a personal trainer, then that's an option as well or taking public classes. So really warm up before working out, ease into it and listen to your body, if something feels wrong, then stop, readjust and try again. I love watching other people give fitness tips on YouTube since that helps a lot and also inspires me to work out more.
• I personally believe that being active every day is important, however, you don't have to work out every day, your body needs a few rest days as well. You can be active by going for a walk, doing some stretching, working around the house or garden, just a little bit of movement, maybe have an app or activity monitor to track your steps, so you could see by the end of the day, how active you have been, it's a great way of keeping yourself accountable. An hour of being a active a day, is considered healthy, so that would be a good start. As for excercising, the minimum is 3 times a week for about half an hour, that really isn't much, if you find something that you enjoy.
• A great way to see what your starting point is, is to measure your resting heart rate. You can do that with an acticity monitor that tracks your pulse or measure it yourself from your wrist or your neck, it's fairly easy, you can check a tutorial online, if you are unsure about how to do it. The ideal resting heart rate is around 60, 40 or below is considered low, but up to around 70 is still normal, a much higher resting heart rate can be a sign that you are a unfit. That will also give you a general understanding at which level you can do different excericises. You can also check how fast it takes for your pulse to go back to it's regular rate, if it's more than 10 minutes after you have finished working out, then that can also be a sign that you are unfit.
• Lastly, I would like to point out that working out too much is also not good, since it causes a lot of stress in the body. In fact the life expectancy of someone who excercises excessively is the same as the person who doesn't work out at all, so it's all about finding balance and just being active, without pushing yourself too far.

That's all for today, but I do have a few more health related topics that I'd love to write about, so stay tuned for those posts.

Kaiela :)