This Wednesday 22nd September is National Fitness Day – A day dedicated to getting fit. Whether your goals are to feel better, be healthier or simply to start a new hobby, National Fitness Day is a great time to start!
Fitness is broadly the level to which an individual is conditioned and healthy for daily activities, sports or possibly other activities they intend on being involved with. As such, fitness needs vary widely for different people. Importantly, we must be mindful that we are all unique and therefore our goals and aspirations differ. One individual may aspire to run marathons or ultramarathons, whilst another person may desire being able to use the stairs in the workplace without getting out of breath. To achieve these aims, the training requirements will be different. There are lots of different ways of improving our fitness, including:
Exercise
A key component of fitness is exercise. This can include both aerobic (exercises whereby your body is using the oxygen we breath in to fuel our muscles – this includes long distance running for example) and anaerobic exercise (anaerobic meaning ‘without air’ – things such as sprinting, heavy weight lifting, HIIT). Both of these types of exercise help to improve our fitness levels. With exercise it is important to remember that our bodies are all different, and one type of exercise may work well for one person, but may be unsuitable, or cause injury in another. Listen to your body and challenge yourself appropriately!
Diet
We’ve probably all heard the adage ‘you can’t outrun a bad diet’. What this means is no matter how often you train, if you’re eating the wrong things your progress will be stunted. Unfortunately this rings true with our fitness. Too much food high in sugar and trans-fats can cause weight gain and changes in hormone levels in the blood. This can make exercising hard more difficult, and of course can lead to weight gain. Eating a balanced, healthy diet with sufficient protein and refined carbs can support you in achieving your desired fitness goals.
Rest
As obvious as this may seem, getting enough rest is really important as it allows our bodies a chance to repair and replenishes energy stored in our muscles. Insufficient rest will impact your ability to reach your fitness goals and likely lead to injury.
If you would like to hear more about this topic, please join our live Webinar on National Fitness Day on Wednesday 22nd September at 12:00pm-12:30pm. To register, please use the following link –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1214766152699739920
Please be aware that Care first is an external provider and the information in their webinars may not fully align with advice from the University on some subjects