How to Safely Achieve your New Year Fitness Goals
How time flies— It’s a brand new year again!
Welcoming another year means there’s that renewed motivation to get healthier and start exercising more. While we always encourage our patients to get regular exercise, we don’t advise newbies however, to get super intense from the get go.
Often, people like to achieve their fitness goals faster by taking a shortcut. Now that’s a recipe for disaster. Engaging into a physical fitness program too quickly or too intensely may only result to injury and pain. You certainly don’t want to lose motivation after this point right?
Here at Norwest Chiropractic we always want to help you achieve your fitness goals safely. With that, here’s some useful tips.
Don’t focus on your weight
Focusing too much on how you weigh now and how you want to weigh next week or next month will not help you on your fitness journey. This just leads you to set unrealistic goals and pushes you to work out too much. Remember that in fitness, there’s no rapid results. The best way to go is slow but steady approach to a healthy lifestyle.
Do what you enjoy
Choosing something you actually enjoy as your exercise is a good start, especially for newbies. If you don’t have any physical hobby yet— cycling, yoga, jogging, dancing, swimming or gym work are some of the popular choices. Just be careful to choose something within your capability to avoid future injury.
Listen to your Body
Another important thing is to focus and listen to what your body says. Give it time to adjust, adapt and rest. For example, if your body can only do half a mile walk everyday, then stick to what you can realistically do for a period of time until your body is ready to take more.
Don’t forget the proper form
Learn to do warm-ups and exercises correctly. The better your form, the better your results, and the less likely you are to hurt yourself. If you’re unable to maintain good form, it is most likely a sign that your body is not used to the difficulty of that exercise, or you are lacking mobility in an area of your body. Start with a basic move and small number of reps, and increase the difficulty when you finally get the hang of the proper form.
Follow these simple tips to lessen your chance of getting start-up injuries. As a bonus tip, consider getting regular chiropractic care! It complements any exercise program, and helps in preventing injury and keeping your body balanced and on track.
Here’s to finding fitness and health this year. Good Luck!