Whether it is running a race, cycling for charity, joining a team and playing in a league, doing a muddy adventure challenge or participating in a workplace challenge such as reaching step targets, putting your fitness to the test in a competitive environment is good for a number of reasons.
When you have completed a tough workout or played a tough match, how you recover is as important as how you train or perform. Certainly, a hard session or a period of sustained activity will leave you with sore, stiff muscles but the last thing you should do is just decide to sit it out. This is where active recovery comes in.
If you are following a training regime for any length of time, then your body will adapt to the stress your exercise is putting on it. This means the muscles, heart and lungs all adapt so they can cope with the work load. While this is great for efficiency, it does mean that you have to work harder to lose weight.
A lean, toned body is many a gym-goer’s dream. Unless you are training to become the next Mr or Mrs Universe, then mostly you will be seeking ripped muscles, a sleek torso and not a hint of flab anywhere.
We talk a lot about all the different training methods and new ideas as they come into the mainstream, but there is one exercise activity that never goes out of fashion – running.
Sometimes you just want to go to the gym and work yourself until you drop. You know the feeling. A hard day at work, a self-critical look in the mirror, a feeling of pent up tension – whatever it is, you just want to leave it all on the treadmill, the weight deck or the gym mat
The difference between conventional weight training and functional fitness is that conventional weight training isolates muscle groups, but it doesn’t teach the muscle groups you’re isolating to work with others. Functional fitness teaches all the muscles to work together efficiently.
Spin classes, boxercise, bootcamp circuits, smash HIT – whatever your thing, group fitness is becoming a huge trend, and for good some very good reasons.
A total body workout using training ropes is the new kid on the block when it comes to building muscle and toning the body, but ropes have been part of the martial arts gyms, boxing ring routine and football training for years.
For some people, cycling is a necessity, a means to get to college or work; for others it is a passion that leads them to ride for hours at the weekends; for many it is an activity that makes up one part of their weekly fitness regime.
