Is your fitness training well balanced? Are you getting everything you need out of your weekly routines? Having a well-rounded routine ensures your body will get all the benefits it needs from exercise. It also helps you avoid getting bored from doing the same types of workouts every day. Learn more about the essential ingredients of a well-balanced fitness routine for weight loss.
3 Ingredients For A Well-Balanced Fitness Routine
- Cardio: a good cardio workout will incorporate large muscle groups and boost your heart rate. You should also be breathing faster and more deeply, which strengthens your cardiovascular system. Common examples of cardio exercise include walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming. You might also take an aerobic exercise class that combines several types of movements into a routine.
- Strength training: it’s especially important to do strength training if you’re on a weight loss plan in order to avoid losing lean muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so building lean muscle mass can actually help boost your metabolism. Strength training might include using weight machines, weight lifting with free weights, training with resistance bands, or using your own body weight to strengthen your muscles. Sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, squats, and pull-ups are excellent examples of strength training exercises that require no special equipment.
- Stretching: if you’re doing aerobics and strength training, your muscles are probably contracting and flexing. Stretching brings balance to your body. It can also increase your flexibility, protect your joints from injury, and relieve stress. Doing basic yoga poses a few days a week is a great way to add stretching to your fitness routine.