Make Your Workouts Count

It's hard to make time to exercise, so you want to make every workout the best possible. Check out these reliable tips for improving your workouts:

Vary your workout program. If you always do the same thing, you won't challenge your muscles as much because your body will adapt to the repetitive challenges. You'll want to introduce new exercises because each new activity will challenge your body in a new way, which builds more muscle and forces your body to expend more calories.

Protect yourself from injury. This is one more reason to develop a love for several different sports--you'll prevent yourself from wearing out your joints or building muscle in one area but neglecting another. It's best to invest in at least three different forms of exercise, such as running, yoga, and aerobic dancing, all of which you do every week.

An ideal exercise program consists of both cardio exercise and resistance training. Try to engage in resistance training twice a week and cardio three to five days a week. Pamper yourself in between weight lifting sessions so your muscles can repair, and make the most of your cardio sessions by alternating fast and slow paces.

Build your program gradually. If you push yourself too hard right away, you won’t be motivated to workout the next day. You don't want to injure yourself. Start out exercising at a level that feels challenging, but only leaves you moderately sore. Slowly add more challenges to your exercise program as your body adjusts, always seeking to exercise hard enough to be mildly sore. If you aren’t sore at all, you’re not pushing hard enough. You forced yourself to work too hard if you need to take painkillers to get through the next two days.

Get training where needed. Make sure you know how to use all equipment properly; your gym probably has a free orientation program that can help a lot. Make sure you know how to perform cardio exercises properly so you won’t hurt yourself and will make the most of your exercise sessions. You'll be amazed at how many variations there are on exercises you thought were plain and simple.