Springtime Fitness Tips - Getting in Shape

Looking for a few springtime fitness tips to help jump start the warmer months?

For many of us, a year of quarantine and working from home has seen our activity levels plummet and our opportunities for snacking soar.

Starting a new fitness regimen now will help you come out of the pandemic feeling your physical best. But it will also have the added benefit of improving your mental health in the meantime. 

Below are some tips for successfully starting a springtime exercise regimen, and getting yourself in shape for the summer!

Find An Activity That You Enjoy

If you intend on sticking to a workout, then do yourself a favour, and choose exercises, activities or sports that you actually enjoy. 

If you don’t like traditional indoor gym stuff, no problem! There are hoards of other options to help you break a sweat. 

For example, you can try heading out to the tennis courts with a friend. Tennis is a great outdoor option! Plus, it allows you to remain socially distanced throughout the game.

You can also go hiking if you’re lucky enough to live near natural terrain, or simply go for long walks around your neighbourhood. 

If you’d rather stay at home, that’s no problem either.

You can also exercise from home by trying online yoga tutorials or you can let off some steam by putting on some music you enjoy and dancing around for 30 minutes or more. 

There are numerous ways to accelerate your heart rate and improve your fitness without needing to enter a gym or use any machinery.

Find an activity you enjoy and you’ll be much more willing to incorporate it into your routine. 

Be Realistic With Yourself

Sometimes, we get a little eager when planning out a new fitness plan.

We somehow imagine our future self will be motivated enough to go out for a run at 6 am every day and happily do an ab workout five times a week.

If you’re really able to do that, then good for you. But for most of us, these plans simply aren't realistic.

Instead of setting yourself up for failure, really think about what is realistic for you.

Following along to three short YouTube workouts a week is far better than nothing at all — and it’s pretty easy to stick to.

Aiming to do at least a small amount of physical activity every day is also a good start. And you can always increase the time you spend exercising as you get more accustomed to it. 

When we set modest, realistic goals, we’re more likely to achieve them.

This makes us feel accomplished and motivated to do more and push ourselves!

Search for affordable college and university textbooks and more at www.textbooknova.com

Find a Fitness Buddy

One way to ensure you have a good time working out is doing it with someone that you enjoy spending time with.

The prospect of seeing your friend and catching up will probably motivate you to get out and exercise, plus other people make us accountable and much more likely to show up!

You might even have a healthy sense of competition with your pals, which will motivate you further. 

Don’t Neglect Your Diet 

As we all know, getting in shape requires a combination of good diet and exercise.

But a good diet doesn’t necessarily mean a restrictive one.

If you want to really get a good workout in, then you need adequate fuel. And this means you need to eat enough calories, protein and other nutrients. 

Restricting calories makes it harder to maintain a good physique in the long run as your metabolism drops. You won’t have enough energy to put in effective workouts, and your body will be reluctant to build any new muscle. 

Try to make all your meals (and even snacks) well-balanced with protein, fat and carbs.

Add in a good daily portion of fruit and veggies too.

If you want to lose weight, focus on maintaining a healthy diet with a slight calorie deficit and ample exercise. 

Build Some Muscle

In the past, fitness was very focused on cardio and calorie burning.

However, now we’re seeing a shift towards weight lifting and muscle building, even among women to get into shape. 

The more muscle you have, the more toned you will look.

But more than that, you will have a higher metabolism which will make it much easier to lose fat.

You’ll also feel stronger and fitter on a daily basis!

Getting In Shape For Summer

Spring is a time of new beginnings and this makes it the perfect occasion to start implementing a new fitness routine and focus on getting in shape.

Stick to these tips and you'll be ready for the beach in no time!