Each year, thousands of people start going to the gym – only to be frustrated by a number of different road blocks. That said, with the proper planning you should be able to eliminate most of the frustration associated with your first few days in the gym. In many cases, you’ll find that a few simple actions will vastly improve your comfort level and satisfaction with each workout.
Get a medical checkup
Even if you think you’re perfectly healthy, it’s best to have a physical before you start exercising. During this exam, let your doctor know that you’re planning to start exercising at a gym. This is an ideal time to ask if there are any exercises that you shouldn’t perform – especially if you have a history of any major injuries or illnesses. Work with your doctor to determine what precautions you need to take while you’re exercising.
Hydration and food
If you aren't physically fit, your eating habits probably also need improvement to give you the energy you’ll need to workout regularly. If you skip breakfast, eat too many sweets or fall into any one of a number of dietary traps, you may not have the energy to complete your workouts – and you certainly won’t see the results you want. Work on switching to a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean, healthy proteins.
In addition, while you’re at the gym, it’s best to keep plain water on hand. As you sweat, it’s crucial to make sure that the water from your body is replaced as quickly as possible. This is especially important in the beginning, as you may not even be aware of how often your body suffers from a lack of sufficient hydration. If you do more than an hour of strenuous physical activity, you’ll need to replace electrolytes lost through sweat, but otherwise steer clear of expensive energy drinks – most of them are full of calories.
What to include in your gym bag
If you’re planning to go to the gym on a regular basis, you’ll need a gym bag. If you live far away from the gym – or if you plan to go before work or other activities – it’s also likely that you’ll want to shower there. If this is your plan, you’ll want to carry a towel, a complete change of clothes, your own soap, shampoo, conditioner, and grooming accessories, and a pair of flip flops for the shower. If you don’t want to carry huge bottles with you, small plastic bottles are available that you can use to hold liquid soaps.
Modern gyms offer members many things that they need in order to achieve fitness goals – from personal trainers to group fitness classes and more. Despite all these amenities, people get discouraged or drop out for a variety of reasons. In some cases, simply being prepared for certain situations before you go to the gym will make it much easier for you to continue working toward your fitness goals.
5/30/2008
Your Pre-Gym Checklist
5/10/2008
Building Strength With Pushups
Today, there are many different kinds of exercise equipment available to help you increase strength in your upper body. However, don’t fall into the hype that you’ll only see results if you invest in expensive equipment or a year’s gym subscription. There are several simple, easy exercises – including pushups – you can do at home that take advantage of your body’s weight and give you the results you’re looking for. This exercise remains one of the cheapest and most effective methods for building strength in your back, shoulders, and arms.
Toning Your Back
While pushups don’t increase the amount of weight on your back through the use of external weights, the muscles in your back will be gently toned as you work to keep it straight during the exercise. If you can't keep your legs even with your back at first, you can bend your knees and do a modified push up to keep your back straight. This modified pushup will still help tone your back without causing injury. As your fitness level improves, you may want to go back to a more traditional form of pushup to increase the strength of your back.
Building Shoulder Strength
Pushups are well known for improving shoulder strength and mass. When you do pushups, you're leveraging most of your body weight on your shoulders. Because the shoulders are working together, you'll strenghten the muscles that cross your chest and upper back. In most cases – unless you're interested in body building – pushups combined with other simple exercises should be enough for your everyday fitness routine. Even if you want to go beyond this level, pushups should always be a part of your home fitness routine.
Strengthening Your Arms
In addition to your shoulders, your upper arms and forearms also derive benefit from pushups. As you push your body up off the floor and lower it back down, the muscles in your arms are forced to expand and contract with the added resistance of the weight of your body. As you might expect, when your whole arm is involved in the exercise, you have a better chance of exercising each muscle group. If you do pushups on a regular basis, you may find that your arms will gain tone and muscle definition more quickly than with exercises that work only one group. And – perhaps best of all – you won't have to spend any money on weights or other forms of equipment.
As with any other exercise, you should check with your doctor to make sure that it's safe for you to do pushups. If you have shoulder, back, elbow, or wrist issues, you may want to make sure that these exercises will not add to your problems. When done properly and with safety in mind, pushups serve a vital role in toning and strengthening your back, upper body and arms. Without a question, they have served this vital purpose for millions of people in a way that is easy and cost effective.