After the first long weekend of the summer many Canadians are probably rethinking their summer workout programs. A long weekend of overindulgence can lead to some eye opening realizations. If leading a healthier life is on that list than the lastminutevacations.ca Travel Fitness portion of the blog is a great place to start. It has workouts for all levels. Here is a sample of what a summer workout plan should include.
Variation
Working out can be a chore. Be sure to include lots of variation to every workout program to avoid losing motivation. Include different types of cardio and weight programs and make changes to those programs each month. Things such as swimming, running on hills, biking, skipping, boxing, yoga, pilates, and many other methods should be included in a balanced workout program. Crossfit style workouts are the latest fad. These are often too challenging for the vast majority of people going to the gym and can cause injury if not done properly. However these daily workouts can be tinkered with to exclude the difficult Olympic lifts. Replace power cleans and barbell snatches with medicine ball cleans and dumbbell snatches for more achievable workouts.
Challenges/Goals
Every workout program should be challenging. Set a goal for the summer. Whether it is losing weight for an upcoming wedding, leaning up for the cottage, or general wellness, goals will keep motivation from faltering. If cardio training is too boring, make it challenging by signing up for a 10k run or triathlon. It will give meaning to those monotonous treadmill or stationary bike workouts. A heart rate monitor can be a good tool to ensure workouts are achieving their designed benefits by maintaining a heart rate in the proper zone for your goals.
Fun
Most importantly, a workout should be fun. Do things that are enjoyable. A basketball or ball hockey game can burn just as many calories as 30 minutes on the treadmill so why not do that instead? Enjoy hiking in the woods? Include it in the workout program. Combine these workouts with friends to increase the level of fun and improve the likelihood the workouts won’t get skipped.
Even if living a healthy lifestyle is not the easiest thing to achieve on a daily basis, working out with friends doing fun activities is a good way to improve overall quality of life while staying fit at the same time.