An active lifestyle is important at every age, but becomes an even greater factor in health as you age. Regular exercise helps control body weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. It reduces your risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart attack and keeps your bones and muscles strong to ward off osteoporosis. In essence, regular exercise slows the aging process and improves your quality of life so you're able to stay independent as long as possible.
The fitness world can be a confusing place to navigate. Everyone you talk to has a different piece of advice or warning when it comes to stretching, proper form, injury prevention, or staying hydrated. To whom do you listen? If you're new to exercise, your personal trainer can guide you through the ins and outs of getting in shape and reaching your goals, but you may have questions you’re embarrassed to ask.
It's easy to focus on the present without thought of the future, but the choices you make today will affect tomorrow. Stay up late tonight and you’ll be tired tomorrow morning. Skip flossing for a few months and your dentist is more likely to find cavities. Skip exercising and—well, you can overcome that any day, right? After all, you're in good health and not too overweight, so why exercise? Since you don't have time to workout and prefer not to break a sweat, you may think you are exempt from needing to work out.
Have you ever said to yourself “I want to make my life better?” Most, if not all of us have or will say it at some point. It may be that you want more time with your family; you may want to decrease your level of stress, or live healthier and lose weight. These are just a few things that are, or should be important to all of us as humans.
You know you need to eat the right foods and get regular exercise to lose weight. But when the thought of early morning workouts at the gym is overwhelming and the idea of counting calories is making you think twice about getting healthy, you may wonder, “Do I really have to do both? Could I only do one or the other and still see the results I want?”
What your question boils down to is this: Is diet or exercise more effective in the weight loss battle? Many people have asked the same question. Here's the answer.
From correct form and gym etiquette to counting calories and fitness apps, the exercise world can be a confusing place. When you're unsure of the right way to do things, it's easy to make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes can lead to injury, burn out, and a lack of results, all of which lead many well-intentioned exercisers to quit prematurely.
Before giving up on exercise or becoming another injury statistic, take a close look at your exercise routine and ask your trainer: could one or more of the following mistakes be the reason exercise isn't working for you?