When you’re short of time, your regular fitness routine is often the first thing to go. However, neglecting your fitness can leave you worse off in the long run. What’s more, it doesn’t take long for all your hard fitness work to go to waste.
With these great ways to increase your fitness, however, you can incorporate effective workouts into your life, no matter how hectic things are:
1. Try HIIT
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves exercising close to your maximum levels of intensity for short periods of time. Even with subsequent rest and recovery periods, HIIT workouts take a fraction of the time that standard bodybuilding training does. As well as saving you time, high-intensity interval training offers great rewards, including weight loss, improved cardiovascular function, increased metabolism, and a recent study looking a telomere length discovered that people doing HIIT were 10 years younger (on a cellular level) than those that didn’t workout. If that’s not convincing enough to get to work… I don’t know what is.
2. Make exercise a form of transport
Instead of using your car to get around, choose alternative modes of transport and incorporate your daily workout into getting from A to B.
If you live in an area with reliable public transport, you could get the bus, train or subway to work and walk for part of the journey, for example. Alternatively, park a little further away from your workplace and walk the last part of the journey. A lot of times this will also keep your car safer from bumps and bruises of heavily trafficked areas.
From taking the stairs instead of the elevator to cycling instead of driving, there are plenty of ways to make exercise functional and useful.
3. Plan a fitness-themed date night
Having a regular date night is an excellent way to ensure you and your partner get to spend quality time together. If you usually go out for a meal or see a movie, why not do something a little different? Heading to a gym class at Fitness 19 or going for a swim in the lake can be a fun way to spend time together and it gives you the opportunity to maintain your fitness too. The endorphins released during exercise are known as ‘feel-good’ hormones for a reason, so hitting the gym could ensure you have the best date night yet, and improve your relationship in the long run.
4. Make your home fitness-friendly
When you don’t have to travel far to stay fit, you’re far more likely to keep up with your routine. Maybe you have a treadmill at home you could dust off or you could join an online at-home fitness program that doesn’t require any equipment?
But, most of us accumulate home fitness equipment over the years, so dig out what you have and put it to good use.
It doesn’t take long for new habits to be established and your fitness and health will be improved quickly!
Boost Your Fitness Now
If you want to increase your fitness levels, it requires consistent effort. However, this doesn’t mean you need to clear your calendar or spend hours a day working out. By making a conscious effort to incorporate fitness activities into your day-to-day lifestyle, you’ll see just how easy it is to increase your fitness. What’s more, making exercise part of your regular routine means you’ll find it easy to maintain your new fitness regime and get the results you’ve always dreamed of.
