Use these fitness tips from Village on a Diet trainers Garfield Wilson and Mike Veinot to kick start your physical activity!
Top three tips from trainer Garfield Wilson:
Aerobic Exercise: Getting into regular aerobic activity is essential for health and wellness. The exercise (running, walking, biking, dancing, etc.) is performed at a moderate intensity over a relatively long period of time. This will strengthen and enlarge the heart muscle to improve pumping efficiency and reduce its resting heart rate. It will also reduce the risk of diabetes, improve circulation efficiency, reduce blood pressure, and improve the strength and endurance of the entire body. I could go on but you get the idea … Get out, MOVE, and you will improve your health and wellness.
How to Push Properly: Pushing without running the risk of injury (which is common) comes from body awareness and connection. It is a complete body engagement using your legs, upper body, and–most importantly–your core muscles. Strengthen your core and it will stabilize your lower back, which is commonly strained when pushing. Get low and use your legs. Too many injuries occur when pushing from an upright position just using your upper body… Get low, engage your core (abs), use your legs, and you will have greater success.
10-Minute Daily Stretching Routine: Start with your calves and work your way up from the lower extremities to the upper body. This will help lengthen the muscles, encouraging better circulation. Ten minutes isn’t a lot of time, but you will be surprised how just 10 minutes of stretching will clear your mind and help you relieve stress and improve your health and fitness.
Top three tips from trainer Mike Veinot:
Exercise by Gardening: Here area few things that you may not know about gardening … It is a great form of activity and exercise. The activity would be actually getting outside away from the TV and computer. You’ll be using muscles in your arms and shoulders for shoveling dirt, and in your legs and lower back for lifting the dirt and plants. Another thing you need to watch out for is your lower back–always make sure that you are bending from your knees if you are doing lots of lifting. Keep yourself hydrated by drinking lots of water and make sure that you wear lightweight clothing so you don’t overheat.
Bootcamp for Strength and Endurance: You can actually increase both strength (muscles) and endurance (heart and lungs) during a bootcamp/circuit class. Bootcamps are set up with an equal amount of weight-bearing and cardio exercises for the purpose of increasing your overall fitness. Most bootcamps are an hour in length and will increase your heart rate so that your body is getting the most benefit in burning calories. When you combine cardio and strength-training, your body will make huge gains.
Swimming: Swimming is an excellent, low-impact form of cardiovascular cross training, so it is great exercise for those who are overweight, unfit, or new to exercise. Swimming is a great way to comfortably increase intensity without causing injury to your joints, so because of that, it is a fantastic form of rehab for people that have injuries–especially lower body.
Follow this routine at least three times a week, and also make sure to get at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise everyday (this can be as simple as brisk walking).
