Usually, most of us avoid any strenuous physical activity in the scorching heat of summer. Summer also means vacations and vacations imply exotic destinations with delightful delicacies. Now all that extravagant indulgence and no exercise at all obviously imply a few extra inches here and there. But this does not necessarily mean that you need to give up exercising all together while on vacation. You can stay indoors and still stay fit and fine. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and observing a few basic guidelines will ensure that you do not gain any unwanted pounds during summer.
A Balanced Diet
The secret lies in maintaining a healthy diet and observing regular eating habits. The summer season necessarily calls for the temptation to quench your thirst with chilled drinks. Instead of consuming aerated beverages which are not only loaded with heavy sugar content, but also cause dehydration, it is advisable to drink fresh fruit juices. These keep you from getting dehydrated and dont add to the calorie intake. It is perfectly alright to enjoy cakes and ice-creams, only if due attention is paid to maintaining a good, balanced and nutritional diet. Avoid skipping meals and irregular eating habits. Instead of snacking too much on junk food, it is better if you include fresh fruits, sandwiches, salads, yoghurt, milkshakes and other food products than have high nutritional value in your diet.
Exercise
In addition to a well-balanced, good nutritional diet, you also need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercising is crucial for a fit and healthy body. Depending on your age, lifestyle and other factors, you can choose from an array of different exercises like swimming, aerobics, gym workouts, jogging, bicycling or playing your favorite sport. Exercising on a daily basis not only boosts your health and confidence but also allows you to enjoy a heavy meal, once a while. While on vacation, take advantage of being outdoors and enroll in some sporting or physical activity like trekking or mountain climbing that will enable you to keep your body fit and toned.
Besides this, it will also keep you feeling charged and energetic. Choosing the right type of exercise will not only enhance your morale, but will also prove to be a great stress-buster. It is a well-known fact that exercising regularly improves your immune system and other bodily functions thereby reducing your chances of being afflicted with any ailments and aiding years to your life. In addition to physical fitness, due attention should also be paid to emotional stability and mental fitness. Practicing yoga and other similar exercises aid in developing your entire well-being. In other words, exercising implies staying healthy for a longer time, which in turn means experiencing life to the fullest.
Regular Sleeping Habits
Last, but not the least, in addition to good eating habits and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is also vital to observe a regular sleeping pattern. Your body needs sufficient rest in order to feel rejuvenated and refreshed. In addition to feeling relaxed, your body also needs to sleep in order to feel active and revitalized after you wake up.
Nutrition And Fitness Program
You now know that regular physical activity and exercise can help you avoid preventable diseases and add to both the quality and length of your life. If you are currently active, you are more aware of the benefits of regular physical activity and should be motivated to continue your efforts. If you are sedentary or sporadically active, you realize that you should not delay one day longer in making the behavioral changes necessary to improve your fitness level.
Identifying Your Fitness Goals
Before you initiate a fitness program, analyze your personal needs, limitations, physical activity likes and dislikes, and daily schedule. If you have inherited no major risks for fatal or debilitating diseases, your specific goal may be to achieve(or maintain) healthy levels of body fat, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, or flexibility/mobility.
Once you become committed to regular physical activity and exercise, you will observe gradual changes and note progress toward your goals. Unfortunately, you can't get fit for a couple of years while you're young and expect the positive changes to last the rest of your life. You must become committed to fitness for the long haul-to establish a realistic schedule of diverse exercise activities that you can maintain and enjoy throughout your life.
Designing Your Fitness Program
Once you commit yourself to becoming physically active, you must decide what type of fitness program is best suited to your needs. Good fitness programs are designed to improve or maintain cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and endurance, and body composition. A comprehensive program could include a warm-up period of easy walking followed by stretching activities to improve flexibility, then selected strength development exercises, followed by performance of an aerobic activity for 20 minutes or more, and concluding with a cool-down period of gentle flexibility exercises.
The greatest proportion of your exercise time should be spent developing cardiovascular fitness, but you should not exclude the other components. Choose an aerobic activity you think you will like. Many people find cross training alternate-day participation in two or more aerobic activities(ie, jogging and swimming)-less monotonous and more enjoyable than long-term participation in only one aerobic activity. Cross training is also beneficial because it strengthen:, a variety of muscles, thus helping you avoid overuse injuries to muscles and joints.
Responding to the exercise boom, fitness equipment manufacturers have made it easy for you to participate in a variety of activities. Most colleges and universities now have recreation centers where students can use stair-climbing machines, stationary bicycles, treadmills, rowing machines, and ski-simulators.
What Do You Think?
You now have the ability to design your own fitness program. What two activities would you select for a cross-training program? Do the activities you selected exercise different major muscle groups?
Cross training Regular participation in two or more types of exercises (e.g., swimming and weight lifting).
Both Kris Koonar & Robert Baird are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.