How To Make The Most Of Daily Exercise

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF DAILY EXERCISE

Mix it up

Variety is name of the game when it comes to regular exercise. If you repeat the same activities day in day out your body will quickly adapt to the increased physical demands and start using less calories to meet those demands.

There's an old cliché that is in fact very true: 'If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always got.' Shake up your exercise regime and kick start your body into losing weight.

The best thing to do is to keep your body guessing by varying your cardio-vascular training with weight and resistance training, and the odd exercise class thrown in for good measure.

Make the most of a routine

However, you may be one of those people who don't have time to put your body through a whole range of exercises. Instead you may rely on a routine physical activity to count towards your exercise calories, such as walking to work several days a week.

If this is the case, don't worry! Any exercise is valuable, so try to build up the days per week you walk to work. This will allow your body to adapt gradually and reduce the risk of injury.

Keep increasing the amount of walks to work a week until you reach a number you feel is realistic, enjoyable and manageable on a longer-term basis. When you reach a point where you feel your body has adjusted to your chosen walks a week, then you could consider increasing your walking pace and timing your journey if you so wish. Otherwise just enjoy the fresh air and bask in the glory of your established healthy lifestyle habit!

Keeping injury-free

If you are pushing yourself hard on a daily basis, make sure you listen to your body and don't exhaust it. Daily exercise is fine, so long as your body can recover sufficiently quickly. The body uses rest days to build and repair muscle tissue, which decreases the risk of injury, so days off can be just as important as days on!

A varied exercise regime also helps by working different parts of the body in different sessions, allowing other muscles to rest.