Don’t Forget to Stretch!

It’s the end of your workout, and it ran a little long. You’re hungry, you really need a shower, and you need to get on with your day. Maybe you’ll skip out on stretching? Before you do, the team here at Fitrena dug into our collection of fitness ebooks and audiobooks to remind you of some of the many benefits of stretching:

Stretching increases flexibility. Having trouble bending down to tie your shoelaces lately? Stretching can solve that in a number of weeks, and generally increases flexibility throughout the body.

Stretching helps prevent injuries. Flexibility comes into play again here, increased flexibility means a decreased risk of injury.

Stretching reduces muscle tension. And that’s not just after exercise, that’s on a daily basis, meaning fewer aches and pains overall.

Stretching increases your range of motion. Much like with flexibility, stretching can drastically improve your range of motion, meaning you can finally scratch that itch on your back.

Stretching improves posture. While there are a lot of reasons for improper posture, overly tight muscles are major contributors and can be alleviated with stretching.

Stretching helps to relieve back pain. With better posture comes less back pain, and as an added bonus, less pain often means more energy too!

Stretching helps with circulation and blood flow. As another added bonus, increased blood flow to the muscles often translates into more energy as well.

Looking for some fitness related reads? Visit our online library at Fitrena for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

Alternatives to Ab Crunches

Who wouldn’t love six pack abs? Problem is, they’re a lot of work, not just to achieve but also to maintain. Along the way on your journey to the six pack you may encounter the dreaded abdominal crunch, a torturous exercise some of us may remember from high school gym class. But are crunches absolutely necessary to get six pack abs? We don’t think so, and here are some alternatives:

Planks. There’s no doubt that planks target the abdominal area, but they do so much more, engaging more of your core and incorporating an element of balance. Planks also help burn calories, and there are countless variations to keep your body from adapting too quickly and to keep you from getting bored.

Ab rollers. These handy little devices can be found at most gyms, but they’re so inexpensive that it’s worthwhile having one at home and sneaking in an extra little ab workout every now and again. They’re great for targeting lower abs where stubborn fat can be hard to get rid of, and they’ll definitely have you feeling the burn in short order!

Dumbbell side-bands. With so many exercises geared towards the upper or lower abs, it can be easy to forget all about the obliques! That’s where dumbbell side bends come into play, working a section of abs that often get neglected. Don’t feel like heading into the gym? You can substitute the dumbbells for a backpack full of books!

Looking for some fitness related reads? Visit our online library at Fitrena for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

Should You Exercise Every Day?

If you read the bible, even God took a day to rest, so you should too, right? But here’s the thing; exercise is a lifestyle choice that takes a lot of hard work and dedication to turn into a habit. While conventional wisdom may dictate that your body needs some time to rest and recover in order to grow stronger, we’d like to put forth a different theory: You should exercise every single day. Now let’s set some ground rules.

Rest and recovery are important. Your body and your muscles do in fact need time to recover, but odds are you won’t be working the same muscle groups every day. Really want big biceps? That’s great, but you probably shouldn’t be working them more than 2-3 times a week, and you can work other body parts in the meantime.

You don’t always have to exercise to the point of exhaustion. Even bodybuilders can’t give it their max 7 days a week. Exercise doesn’t necessarily mean working your muscles to the point of failure, it can mean a light jog, a fun swim, or even a long walk. The point is to favor activity over time spent on the couch snacking on chips or candy.

Listen to your body. If your legs are sore, it may be a sign to reschedule leg day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get some quality time in with the rowing machine or on the bench press. Adapting your routine to what your body is telling you that day is an important part of preventing injuries, and it’ll go a long way in making daily exercise a sustainable practice.

Looking for some fitness related reads? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

The Keys to Staying Focused While Training

It’s not always easy to stay focused when you’re training, but here are four tips that may help.

Set your goals. It’s easy to lose focus when you haven’t set specific goals. Everyone wants to be in better shape, but when you set a goal with measurable results your training will feel much more rewarding when you attain those results! Want to lose weight? Set yourself a 5 or 10 pound weight loss within a given time. Want to get stronger? Set your sights on being able to lift a set amount of weight.

Make your goals realistic. You can’t be muscle bound in minutes, you won’t have a beach body by your first session, and you won’t drop a lot of weight right away. Goals take time to achieve, and setting realistic goals will go a long way in staying motivated, whereas unrealistic goals will often lead to giving up.

Develop a routine. Once you have your goals set, form a plan on how you’ll achieve them, and stick to that plan. Planning on going to the gym? Set a dedicated time each day and stick to that time, you’ll find that making it a routine will be the best way to stick to it in the long run.

Acknowledge that there will be bumps in the road. No plan is perfect, and sometimes life gets in the way of even the best of plans. You might get sick or injured, you might have a busy week, or something else may pop up to stop you from training. Don’t worry, these things happen, and it’s important to get right back to it as soon as you can when they do.

Looking for some fitness related reads? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

You Don’t Need a Workout in Order to Exercise

What is exercise to you? Ask most people and you’ll get the common types of answers you’d normally associate with exercise: Running, cycling, swimming, weight lifting, crossfit, yoga, or just about any other dedicated form of moving your body and elevating your heart rate. But what if you didn’t need to engage in any of these activities in order to exercise? Sounds impossible? According to a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it’s not.

Labelled high-intensity incidental physical activity, the paper suggests that everyday activities like taking the stairs, sprinting for the bus, walking uphill, or carrying heavy grocery bags home, is enough physical activity to produce health benefits, even if it’s only done in 30 second bursts throughout the day. Considered to be a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), these day to day activities can add up to big benefits down the road.

Now let’s be honest here, taking the stairs a few times a day isn’t going to work off that double bacon cheeseburger you had for lunch, the decadent chocolate cake that followed your dinner, or even that can of Coke you had as a pick-me-up on your work break. What it will do, however, is contribute to overall good health for people who already make sensible lifestyle choices, and emphasize the importance of leading an active life.

Looking for some great fitness related reads? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

Workout Plans: The Key to Successful Exercising

Sticking to an exercise regimen isn’t always easy, but it’s almost always worth it. There are many tips and tricks along the way, but perhaps the biggest key to exercise success lies in a simple but effective tool: The workout plan. Far beyond a mere list of exercises, the workout plan addresses the key components of your exercise routine: Where, when, and how.

The where need not necessarily be at the gym. For those who live too far away or who just can’t work it into their schedules, effective workouts can still take place at home, or even sometimes at work. For those sick of staying indoors during the cold winter months, plans can be modified according to season to ensure plenty of outside activities.

The when is an important part of any plan, and should definitely include a certain amount of flexibility. While dedicated exercise time is important to commit to, when schedules change it’s certainly handy to have some backup times planned.

When it comes to how, specific exercise routines are not only a great way to effectively use exercise time, they’re a way to obtain measurable results that will lead to more motivation. Exercise routines can also include a certain amount of flexibility to accommodate for soreness or unforeseen injury.

Looking for some great fitness content? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices, and sure to get you moving!

“Fitness Breaks” For When There’s no Time for a Workout

We get it, you’re a busy person with a lot on your plate, and you don’t always have time to make it to the gym for a full workout. That said, you know exercise is important, that it will help you look and feel your best, and you’d still like to find a way to work it into your busy schedule. The answer may be “fitness breaks,” short bursts of high intensity exercise multiple times throughout the day. A recent study has shown that fitness breaks may just be enough to improve overall fitness levels and offer health benefits. Here are three ways you can incorporate fitness breaks into your daily routine.

Climb the stairs. If you work in an office building or from a home with multiple levels, 60 seconds of stair climbing may be enough if done at high enough intensity at multiple times throughout the day.

Push-ups. With no exercise equipment necessary, you can drop and do some push-ups just about anywhere. It may be slow going at first, and you may need to start on your knees rather than in a full plank, but you’ll build up strength and endurance before you know it!

Run around the block. No kidding. What may have once been suggested dismissively could actually be an effective way so stay in shape. If at all possible, get outside and take a run around the block a few times a day to help get the exercise you need.

Looking for more fitness fun? Visit our online library at www.fitrena.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime from your favorite devices, and sure to get you moving!

The Benefits of Proper Posture

Your grade school teacher wasn’t telling you to sit up straight just for the heck of it, in reality, proper posture can be extremely beneficial to your health. It may take some time and dedication to correct bad habits, but with some work and exercise most people can at the very least improve their posture and reap the rewards. Here are just a few of the many benefits of proper posture.

Less fatigue/more energy. Proper posture means your body is in alignment creating less stress and fatigue on your joints and muscles as they’re allowed to function more efficiently. The end result is a decreased sense of fatigue, which often translates into increased energy.

Fewer headaches. Cervicogenic headaches originate in the neck but quickly spread and radiate up. Although poor posture is definitely not the only cause of headaches, improving posture can help reduce the neck pain that leads to these specific headaches.

Reduce hip/knee/ankle pain. Posture has a huge effect on how we walk, and improper alignment while walking can often result in hip, knee, or ankle pain. Taking steps to improve our posture can also help eliminate these pains, as proper posture produces less stress on our joints while walking.

Better digestion. Yes, that’s right, poor posture could actually hinder digestion leading to conditions like acid reflux and heartburn. Straightening out can help alleviate pressure on our digestive organs, leading to fewer digestive difficulties.

Looking for more health tips and motivation? Browse the large selection of books available at www.fitrena.com.