How do you keep fit

How to stay fit forever: 25 tips to keep moving when life gets in the way

Think about the activities you liked as a child. Illustration: Mark Long

Think about the activities you liked as a child. Illustration: Mark Long

Can you carry on exercising when your motivation slips, the weather gets worse or your schedule becomes overwhelming? Experts and Guardian readers give their best advice

W hen it comes to exercise, we think about how to “get” fit. But often, starting out is not the problem. “The big problem is maintaining it,” says Falko Sniehotta, a professor of behavioural medicine and health psychology at Newcastle University. The official UK guidelines say adults should do strength exercises, as well as 150 minutes of moderate activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, every week. According to the Health Survey for England in 2016, 34% of men and 42% of women are not hitting the aerobic exercise targets, and even more – 69% and 77% respectively – are not doing enough strengthening activity. A report from the World Health Organization last week found that people in the UK were among the least active in the world, with 32% of men and 40% of women reporting inactivity. Meanwhile, obesity is adding to the chronic long-term diseases cited in Public Health England’s analysis, which shows women in the UK are dying earlier than in most EU countries.

We all know we should be doing more, but how do we keep moving when our motivation slips, the weather takes a turn for the worse or life gets in the way? Try these 25 pieces of advice from experts and Guardian readers to keep you going.

1 Work out why, don’t just work out

Our reasons for beginning to exercise are fundamental to whether we will keep it up, says Michelle Segar, the director of the University of Michigan’s Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center. Too often “society promotes exercise and fitness by hooking into short-term motivation, guilt and shame”. There is some evidence, she says, that younger people will go to the gym more if their reasons are appearance-based, but past our early 20s that doesn’t fuel motivation much. Nor do vague or future goals help (“I want to get fit, I want to lose weight”). Segar, the author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness, says we will be more successful if we focus on immediate positive feelings such as stress reduction, increased energy and making friends. “The only way we are going to prioritise time to exercise is if it is going to deliver some kind of benefit that is truly compelling and valuable to our daily life,” she says.

2 Get off to a slow start

The danger of the typical New Year resolutions approach to fitness, says personal trainer Matt Roberts, is that people “jump in and do everything – change their diet, start exercising, stop drinking and smoking – and within a couple of weeks they have lost motivation or got too tired. If you haven’t been in shape, it’s going to take time.” He likes the trend towards high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and recommends people include some, “but to do that every day will be too intense for most people”. Do it once (or twice, at most) a week, combined with slow jogs, swimming and fast walks – plus two or three rest days, at least for the first month. “That will give someone a chance of having recovery sessions alongside the high-intensity workouts.”

3 You don’t have to love it

It is helpful not to try to make yourself do things you actively dislike, says Segar, who advises thinking about the types of activities – roller-skating? Bike riding? – you liked as a child. But don’t feel you have to really enjoy exercise. “A lot of people who stick with exercise say: ‘I feel better when I do it.’” There are elements that probably will be enjoyable, though, such as the physical response of your body and the feeling of getting stronger, and the pleasure that comes with mastering a sport.

“For many people, the obvious choices aren’t necessarily the ones they would enjoy,” says Sniehotta, who is also the director of the National Institute for Health Research’s policy research unit in behavioural science, “so they need to look outside them. It might be different sports or simple things, like sharing activities with other people.”

4 Be kind to yourself

Individual motivation – or the lack of it – is only part of the bigger picture. Money, parenting demands or even where you live can all be stumbling blocks, says Sniehotta. Tiredness, depression, work stress or ill family members can all have an impact on physical activity. “If there is a lot of support around you, you will find it easier to maintain physical activity,” he points out. “If you live in certain parts of the country, you might be more comfortable doing outdoor physical activity than in others. To conclude that people who don’t get enough physical activity are just lacking motivation is problematic.”

Segar suggests being realistic. “Skip the ideal of going to the gym five days a week. Be really analytical about work and family-related needs when starting, because if you set yourself up with goals that are too big, you will fail and you’ll feel like a failure. At the end of a week, I always ask my clients to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Maybe fitting in a walk at lunch worked, but you didn’t have the energy after work to do it.”

5 Don’t rely on willpower

“If you need willpower to do something, you don’t really want to do it,” says Segar. Instead, think about exercise “in terms of why we’re doing it and what we want to get from physical activity. How can I benefit today? How do I feel when I move? How do I feel after I move?”

6 Find a purpose

Try to move more at work. Illustration: Mark Long

Anything that allows you to exercise while ticking off other goals will help, says Sniehotta. “It provides you with more gratification, and the costs of not doing it are higher.” For instance, walking or cycling to work, or making friends by joining a sports club, or running with a friend. “Or the goal is to spend more time in the countryside, and running helps you do that.”

Try to combine physical activity with something else. “For example, in my workplace I don’t use the lift and I try to reduce email, so when it’s possible I walk over to people,” says Sniehotta. “Over the course of the day, I walk to work, I move a lot in the building and I actually get about 15,000 steps. Try to make physical activity hit as many meaningful targets as you can.”

7 Make it a habit

When you take up running, it can be tiring just getting out of the door – where are your shoes? Your water bottle? What route are you going to take? After a while, points out Sniehottta, “there are no longer costs associated with the activity”. Doing physical activity regularly and planning for it “helps make it a sustainable behaviour”. Missing sessions doesn’t.

8 Plan and prioritise

What if you don’t have time to exercise? For many people, working two jobs or with extensive caring responsibilities, this can undoubtedly be true, but is it genuinely true for you? It might be a question of priorities, says Sniehotta. He recommends planning: “The first is ‘action planning’, where you plan where, when and how you are going to do it and you try to stick with it.” The second type is ‘coping planning’: “anticipating things that can get in the way and putting a plan into place for how to get motivated again”. Segar adds: “Most people don’t give themselves permission to prioritise self-care behaviours like exercise.”

9 Keep it short and sharp

A workout doesn’t have to take an hour, says Roberts. “A well-structured 15-minute workout can be really effective if you really are pressed for time.” As for regular, longer sessions, he says: “You tell yourself you’re going to make time and change your schedule accordingly.”

10 If it doesn’t work, change it

It rains for a week, you don’t go running once and then you feel guilty. “It’s a combination of emotion and lack of confidence that brings us to the point where, if people fail a few times, they think it’s a failure of the entire project,” says Sniehotta. Remember it’s possible to get back on track.

If previous exercise regimes haven’t worked, don’t beat yourself up or try them again – just try something else, he says. “We tend to be in the mindset that if you can’t lose weight, you blame it on yourself. However, if you could change that to: ‘This method doesn’t work for me, let’s try something different,’ there is a chance it will be better for you and it prevents you having to blame yourself, which is not helpful.”

11 Add resistance and balance training as you get older

“We start to lose muscle mass over the age of around 30,” says Hollie Grant, a personal training and pilates instructor, and the owner of PilatesPT. Resistance training (using body weight, such as press-ups, or equipment, such as resistance bands) is important, she says: “It is going to help keep muscle mass or at least slow down the loss. There needs to be some form of aerobic exercise, too, and we would also recommend people start adding balance challenges because our balance is affected as we get older.”

12 Up the ante

“If you do 5k runs and you don’t know if you should push faster or go further, rate your exertion from one to 10,” says Grant. “As you see those numbers go down, that’s when to start pushing yourself a bit faster.” Roberts says that, with regular exercise, you should be seeing progress over a two-week period and pushing yourself if you feel it is getting easier. “You’re looking for a change in your speed or endurance or strength.”

13 Work out from home

You don’t need complex equipment. Illustration: Mark Long

If you have caring responsibilities, Roberts says you can do a lot within a small area at home. “In a living room, it is easy to do a routine where you might alternate between doing a leg exercise and an arm exercise,” he says. “It’s called Peripheral Heart Action training. Doing six or eight exercises, this effect of going between the upper and lower body produces a pretty strong metabolism lift and cardiovascular workout.” Try squats, half press-ups, lunges, tricep dips and glute raises. “You’re raising your heart rate, working your muscles and having a good general workout.” These take no more than 15-20 minutes and only require a chair for the tricep dips – although dumbbells can be helpful, too.

14 Get out of breath

We are often told that housework and gardening can contribute to our weekly exercise targets, but is it that simple? “The measure really is you’re getting generally hot, out of breath, and you’re working at a level where, if you have a conversation with somebody while you’re doing it, you’re puffing a bit,” says Roberts. “With gardening, you’d have to be doing the heavier gardening – digging – not just weeding. If you’re walking the dog, you can make it into a genuine exercise session – run with the dog, or find a route that includes some hills.”

15 Be sensible about illness

Joslyn Thompson Rule, a personal trainer, says: “The general rule is if it’s above the neck – a headache or a cold – while being mindful of how you’re feeling, you are generally OK to do some sort of exercise. If it’s below the neck – if you’re having trouble breathing – rest. The key thing is to be sensible. If you were planning on doing a high-intensity workout, you would take the pace down, but sometimes just moving can make you feel better.” After recovering from an illness, she says, trust your instincts. “You don’t want to go straight back into training four times a week. You might want to do the same number of sessions but make them shorter, or do fewer.”

16 Seek advice after injury

Clearly, how quickly you start exercising again depends on the type of injury, and you should seek advice from your doctor. Psychologically, though, says Thompson Rule: “Even when we’re doing everything as we should, there are still dips in the road. It’s not going to be a linear progression of getting better.”

17 Take it slowly after pregnancy

Again, says Thompson Rule, listen to your body – and your doctor’s advice at your six-week postnatal checkup. After a caesarean section, getting back to exercise will be slower, while pregnancy-related back injuries and problems with abdominal muscles all affect how soon you can get back to training, and may require physiotherapy. “Once you’re walking and have a bit more energy, depending on where you were before (some women never trained before pregnancy), starting a regime after a baby is quite something to undertake,” says Thompson Rule. “Be patient. I get more emails from women asking when they’re going to get their stomachs flat again than anything. Relax, take care of yourself and take care of your baby. When you’re feeling a bit more energised, slowly get back into your routine.” She recommends starting with “very basic stuff like walking and carrying your baby [in a sling]”.

18 Tech can help

For goal-oriented people, Grant says, it can be useful to monitor progress closely, but “allow some flexibility in your goals. You might have had a stressful day at work, go out for a run and not do it as quickly and then think: ‘I’m just not going to bother any more.’” However, “It can start to get a bit addictive, and then you don’t listen to your body and you’re more at risk of injury.”

19 Winter is not an excuse

“Winter is not necessarily a time to hibernate,” says Thompson Rule. Be decisive, put your trainers by the door and try not to think about the cold/drizzle/greyness. “It’s the same with going to the gym – it’s that voice in our head that make us feel like it’s a hassle, but once you’re there, you think: ‘Why was I procrastinating about that for so long?’”

READERS’ TIPS

20 Keep it bite-size

Alex Tomlin

I’ve tried and failed a few times to establish a consistent running routine, but that was because I kept pushing myself too hard. Just because I can run for an hour doesn’t mean I should. Running two or three times a week for 20-30 minutes each time has improved my fitness hugely and made it easier to fit in.

21 Reward yourself

Neil Richardson

I keep a large bag of Midget Gems in my car to motivate myself to get to the gym, allowing myself a handful before a workout. Sometimes I toss in some wine gums for the element of surprise.

22 Call in the reinforcements

Niall O’Brien

I tapped into the vast network of fitness podcasts and online communities. On days I lacked drive, I would listen to a fitness podcast, and by the time I got home, I would be absolutely determined to make the right choices. In fact, I would be excited by it. Your brain responds very well to repetition and reinforcement, so once you have made the difficult initial change, it becomes much easier over time.

23 Use visual motivation

Siobhan King

I have kept a “star chart” on my calendar for the past two years, after having three years of being chronically unfit. I put a gold star on days that I exercise, and it’s a good visual motivator for when I am feeling slug-like. I run, use our home cross-trainer and do a ski fitness programme from an app. My improved core strength has helped my running and ability to carry my disabled child when needed.

24 Keep alarms out of reach

Sally Crowe

If, like me, you need to get up early to exercise or it just doesn’t happen, move your alarm clock away from your bed and next to your kit. Once you have got up to turn it off, you might as well keep going!

25 Follow the four-day rule

Joanne Chalmers

I have one simple rule which could apply to any fitness activity – I do not allow more than four days to elapse between sessions. So, if I know I have a busy couple of days coming up, I make sure I run before them so that I have “banked” my four days. With the exception of illness, injury or family emergencies, I have stuck to this rule for 10 years.

How to Keep Fit While Injured

This article was co-authored by Scott Anderson, MA, ATC, SFMA, DNSP and by wikiHow staff writer, Megaera Lorenz, PhD. Scott Anderson is the Chief Clinical Officer at SyncThink, an award winning startup founded out of Stanford University. Scott previously served as the Director of Sports Medicine/Athletic Training for Stanford University for over ten years from 2007 to 2017. Scott has over 18 years of clinical and management experience, and is a recognized international speaker on topics of clinical specialization, which include developmental kinesiology, neuroscience/concussion, and movement dysfunction. He is a certified Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization Practitioner (DNSP), Sports Safety Specialist and is certified to conduct Selective Functional Movement Assessments (SFMA), and Functional Movement Screenings (FMS). He earned a BS in Athletic Training from Washington State University in 2000 and an MA in Athletic Administration from Saint Mary’s College in 2002.

There are 32 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

This article has been viewed 1,597 times.

Whether you’re an athlete or someone who just likes to stay fit and active, getting injured can be an incredibly frustrating setback. Fortunately, there are still plenty of things you can do to keep fit and get the physical activity you need while you’re healing! Talk to your doctor or a physical therapist about adjusting your exercise routine so you can get back on track as quickly as possible. Don’t forget to take care of your overall health to promote faster healing.

10 Ways to Keep Fit and Live Healthy

Staying fit is a highly important aspect of our everyday lives, particularly for people with physically demanding jobs. In order to function effectively in any and everything you do, you need optimal physical health. It keeps you in shape, sharpens your mind and keeps your head clear for any challenges that might come your way.

It is however quite unfortunate that a lot of people don’t find the time to stay fit and take care of their body’s physical well being. Most times, people blame it on their hectic schedules, work or any other factors. The truth is that no matter what you do, keeping fit and staying in good health should be at the very top of your priority list. Below are a few ways which we have come up with that will help you in conquering gout and avoiding getting excessively overweight.

Frequent Check-Ups

As much as they could waste time in making sure that every aspect of your health is covered, you should always make out time to get regular and thorough medical checkups. It helps as it makes sure that all is well and as it should be regarding your health. Whenever you notice something particularly wrong or odd about your body, you should try as much as possible to get it checked up. This is particularly advantageous as it helps you to detect any abnormalities and more effectively.

Get Sufficient Rest

This is one aspect where busy people seem to lag behind. We hardly get enough sleep and it affects us greatly. A consistent lack of enough sleep makes you look older and gradually slows down body metabolism the next day. Other aspects of the body’s functioning that sleep deprivation affects are mood, concentration, motor skills, cardiovascular health, etc.

Bottom line is this; sleep is good. Not excessive sleep, but just enough.

Eat Healthy

This is another very important aspect that needs to be gotten right in order to stay healthy. Your feeding habits are a part of your life that you should not joke with in any way at all. The food you eat goes a long way in preparing you for the day, although you might not know it. You should consume enough and appropriate food in order to stay in optimal health. Eat healthy food (fruits are highly important to prevent diseases) and stay off junks, fattening foods and carbonated drinks. They produce gradual effects but the main problem arises when these effects become pronounced.

Don’t Skip Breakfast

You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Although most people chalk it up to marketing strategies by cereal manufacturers, it is actually true. Breakfast awakens your brain and feeds it with the necessary nutrients needed for it to function maximally all through the day. Your breakfast might be light; probably a few slices of bread and some tea or coffee. That amount alone is enough to provide nutrients for the brain. Breakfast is good. Eat more of it.

Consume Plenty of Water

It is highly important to keep your body hydrated. It reduces the risk of exhaustion, asphyxiation and choking and also keeps your skin fresh and rejuvenated. Hydrating your body is highly recommended and should be something you do regularly. At least, you should consume 1 or 2 bottles of water daily. Take water to work, school, anywhere!

Try Reducing Stress

Stress is one of the factors that instigate fatigue and exhaustion. When you have too much on your plate, the chances of you getting easily stressed out are increased exponentially. As much as you possibly can, reduce stress to the barest minimum. Make sure that you have your day planned out, arrange everything around you and know what everything is and what it does. Organization is one of the keys to a long and healthy life.

Exercise

Here’s the truth: no matter how busy you are, you owe it to yourself to get exercise. The hectic nature of your schedule really doesn’t matter. You could get a home gym or at least some simple exercising tools to help you keep fit while at home, in case you’re worried about the long journey to the nearest gym. There are a plethora of awesome exercise procedures and fitness advice that can save you time and help you become more productive. You can even work while conducting some of these exercises. There are excellent home workout sessions you can engage in that will benefit you greatly and save you the trouble and cost of visiting a local gym.

Exercise is the surest and fastest way to keep fit and promote your health. You should try it more.

Always Find Expression

This is more of a mental aspect than it is physical. Releasing your emotions regularly allows you to be free inside and keeps you in a perfect state of mind. From there, you’ll be free to exercise and go about your daily business freely and without carrying any baggage with you.

Let your mind be free. Release your emotions and express yourself always.

Moderation Is Key

No matter the procedures indicated above it is important to know that these things should be done moderately and with self control. Hitting the gym 5 times a day doesn’t necessarily guarantee a buff and alluring body. Over-exercising could even lead to stress or some metabolism-related physical issues. It’s not really a matter of who has the best body; it’s just about keeping fit.

Kick off Bad Habits

Everyone knows that thing (or those things) that we do. Things that we know are generally bad for our health but we still engage in them anyway. It might be time to stay away from those for good. You might not know it, but these things have a way of forming habits and becoming part of us and gradually, they’ll keep killing us and endangering our health.

Stop junk food. Stop excessive sleeping. STOP THOSE BAD HABITS!

tanvirzafar is author at LeraBlog. The author’s views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views and opinions of LeraBlog staff.

11 ways to get fit for free

Updated by Nele van Hout
24 December 2021

Hitting the gym requires more cash and commitment than we care for, but treadmills aren’t the only way to stay in shape. Here are our top tips on how to get fit without joining the gym.

Credit: Olga Niekrasova – Shutterstock

If you’re looking to get or keep fit, there are loads of great ways to exercise, live healthily and get a fit body without going to the gym.

Getting fit for free is easier than you might think, and there are actually plenty of ways to become more active which (dare we say it) can be quite fun – not to mention effective for looking after your mental health.

To help, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite ways to get in shape for free.

How to get fit

Here are our top tips on how to keep fit for free (or for very little):

Home workout YouTube tutorials

YouTube tutorials are some of the best ways to get fit at home. There are thousands of free-to-watch fitness routines to choose from on YouTube. So, whatever difficulty and style of home workout you’re looking for, there will be a video tutorial for you.

Most YouTube workouts don’t even require you to have any equipment or let you use household items, like a bottle of water.

If you’re not quite sure where to look, here are some of our recommendations:

Join university sports teams

You don’t need to be a pro athlete to get involved with sports clubs at university.

Joining a sports club is a brilliant opportunity to stay active without going to the gym, especially if your timetable is just a little bit too packed.

Every university has an array of sports clubs, from the bog-standard (football) to the weird and wonderful (Quidditch), and the best part is these club sports activities are usually free or cheap to do.

Considering you’re already paying a fair amount in uni fees and general living costs, society memberships are usually kept as affordable as possible, so you can get involved with your favourite sporting society without stretching your student budget too far.

Download free fitness apps

There are so many great fitness apps that can help you track your progress and work towards different goals.

Apps like Sworkit and 7 Minute Workout are great for squeezing in a quick session at home, and you’ll only need floor space and a pair of comfy joggers to get fit with their fantastic (and exhausting) workouts.

Strava is a particularly popular fitness app – it’s essentially a social media platform that focuses on exercise, letting you share your runs, cycles and walks with your friends. You can also see what others have been up to, and give them ‘Kudos’ for their efforts.

Plus, Instagram is full of its own fitness celebs with God-like status who can keep and make the hard task of getting fit for the summer actually enjoyable: check out Michelle Lewin, Kayla Itsines and, of course, Joe Wicks, if you haven’t already.

Just have a quick browse through the Google Play/App Store and you’ll easily find free workout and fitness apps with diet plans, recipe tips, workouts and trackers to follow your running and cycling routes.

It’s also worth remembering that lots of great free workout apps will appear in each app store’s top picks in January (when everyone’s desperate to shed Christmas pounds), so keep an eye out.

Use home exercise equipment

Ever dreamed of a home gym? If you take away all of the shiny, expensive bits, you basically can have one (or near enough!).

You can get cheap versions of gym equipment on Amazon, such as a rowing exerciser for around £10, and skipping ropes are cheap as chips (but way less fatty).

If you’re really looking to save some money, keep an eye on Freecycle and swapping sites, where you’ll sometimes find old gym equipment that you can pick up for free.

Stop eating junk food

A cupboard full of crisps and a Domino’s pizza delivered to your door might sound like the best option when you flop on the sofa after a hard day, but it won’t be doing your waistline – or your wallet – any good.

On the other hand, having a healthy, balanced diet can help you feel much better, and improve your energy levels too.

Cut out the takeaway meals, fatty foods and snacks and not only will you see the difference in your fitness levels, but you might also lose weight and notice yourself feeling stronger as well.

If you’re in need of some guidance on how to become a master of your student kitchen and cook easy, healthy meals, our essential cooking tips will come in handy.

And for extra foodie inspiration, check out our student meal plan. Who knows, you could be the next Jamie Oliver (or not).

Drink water instead of fizzy drinks

You might be pretty on top of this healthy-eating business, but have you stopped to think about what else you’re chucking down your throat?

Fizzy drinks like Coke, Sprite or Fanta, along with highly sweetened or flavoured fruit juices, are only good for two things: rotting your teeth and piling on the pounds. They’re also very expensive.

Switch to plain old water and you’ll find it’s cheaper (even free!), much more refreshing and will help remove toxins from your body, speed up your metabolism and generally be healthier.

Experts recommend that we drink eight to 10 glasses (equal to around two litres) of water every day to maintain proper hydration.

Go to the park for exercise

Even taking regular walks outside can be enough to improve your fitness levels. But if you really want to amp up on exercise, grab your running shoes or trainers and go for a jog around your local area – you might also be surprised at what you see.

Parks are brilliant hubs for different ways of keeping fit. Find out whether there’s a local park run going on near you (they usually happen on Saturday mornings and are completely free).

Outdoor gyms that can usually be found next to the playgrounds are also great alternatives to splashing out on an actual (indoor) gym membership. Loads of the same equipment without the sweaty gym air!

One thing you need to keep in mind, though, is that you’ll need to use your body weight more and accept that fitness machines won’t be adjustable for your personal body specifications.

Not only is walking or running the cheapest option on the menu, but you can even download apps that pay you to walk.

If you want to ease yourself into it, check out the NHS’s Couch to 5k app that will help you run for longer distances, even if you start as a complete beginner.

Do indoor workouts

Despite what we said in the last tip, the great outdoors can be a massive deterrent to a generous bout of healthy exercise, especially when it’s too cold, too hot, too rainy or too dry (or any other excuse you can possibly think of).

But, don’t let that put you off. As well as the workout videos we suggested earlier, there are lots of things you can do in your house, right now, without buying any gym equipment or having to pay for online fitness coaches.

From running up and down the stairs (yes, that is a legitimate exercise) to squats, press-ups and star jumps, you won’t have to step a foot out the door to start feeling the benefits of your new health routine.

Again, there are loads of fitness apps to choose from that cater to those who want to tone up but can’t bear to leave the house: no gym, no excuse!

Use free sports facilities

There’s no denying that some sports can be costly and there are plenty that require you to join a team or the gym to take part (ugh, commitment). Luckily, this isn’t the case for everything.

Lots of councils and universities will offer free facilities, whether it’s a field for a kickabout or some tennis courts, so check out what’s available in your area.

If you live near the sea you can also check out if there are any tidal swimming pools, which are almost always freezing, but free.

Switch up your routine

Even the laziest of people can start to burn off the calories by making a few simple tweaks to their daily routine.

Pop down to the shops for your weekly groceries instead of buying online and make sure to use a basket instead of a trolley (work those biceps!).

To burn some calories and get your cardio done early in the day, consider cycling or walking to university instead of taking the bus, or just simply get off a stop or two before your destination. Make sure you always take the stairs instead of the lift – it’s the easiest way to get fit for free!

Last resort: join the gym

Granted, this doesn’t exactly fit the aim of this article, but we know some of you will ignore us and sign up for a gym membership anyway.

If you are going to sign up, just make sure to get the best gym membership deal you can possibly get.

Haggle your membership, ask for a student discount, take advantage of free gym trials and taster personal trainer sessions – do whatever you can to get the price down.

Not only will you start getting fit before you actually spend any money, but it will also help you understand more about your fitness goals and what kind of exercise you enjoy.

It’s so important to look after your mind as well as your body. To help you unwind, we’ve put together a list of the best self-care ideas that you can do on a budget.

How To Keep Fit In An Unhealthy World

by Diethics · Published October 16, 2017 · Updated October 16, 2017

Learning how to keep fit is everyone’s dream. Being “fit” is actually going to be different for everyone. For some it may be staying at a certain weight while others have different aspirations of gaining muscle or being very athletic. There are varies ways in which one can keep fit and in this article we are going to look at how to keep it and benefits of being fit.

How To Keep Fit

Basically, learning how to keep fit is not that hard; however, it cannot be achieved overnight as it requires commitment, time, effort, and sacrifice. Let’s look at how one can keep fit and how to maintain the fitness. Here are some of the best tips on how to keep fit.

Always Eat a well-balanced diet – Balanced diet means eating all types of food, in a balanced amount which will supply all essential nutrients to uphold a fit and healthy body. Balanced diet is the most important aspect of keeping fit as it matters a lot. The kind of food that we eat everyday has a great impact on our body and health. It is always recommended that we eat a well-balanced diet in all our meals. The importance of eating a well-balanced diet is:

1)В В В В В In a well-balanced diet the body receives all the required nutrients and thus it improves the functioning of the immune system which is responsible for the prevention of various diseases and infections. In this way our body is fit as it is free from infections and disease that causes discomfort in our bodies.
2)В В В В В В Balanced diet helps to control our weight thus enhancing fitness.
3)     It facilitate a Healthy Body Growth – Once the body receives all the fundamental nutrients on a regular basis, it will certainly be fit.

Doing Regular Exercises – There are different types of exercise that can have great impact on our body and in how to keep fit. In order to be fit all the different types of exercises should be done. These exercises include aerobic, strength conditioning, and flexibility. The most common exercises are running, stair climbing, swimming, biking, or simply invigorating walking. Regular aerobic exercises are a great way to burn calories and help control your weight. Some of the benefits of doing regular exercises are:

1)В В В В В Exercises raise the body temperature that promotes the burning up of the toxic substances in the body.
2)В В В В В Regular exercise strengthens the muscles thus promoting their development and increases their efficiency.
3)В В В В В Exercise helps in prevent excess weight gain and also helps maintaining weight loss
4)В В В В В Regular physical activity or exercises helps in preventing or managing a wide range of health problems thus making someone to be fit.
5)В В В В В Regular physical activity relaxes the body thus allowing someone to have a better sleep or deepen your sleep. A good sleep and a relax body helps one to be fit.

Always make sure that you eat more vegetables, cut down on red meat, caffeine, sugar and salt – Nutritionist advises people to take more vegetables rather than red meat. Red meat, such as hamburgers and steaks, is mainly filled with saturated fat and is high in bad cholesterol that increases excessive weight and fat in our body thus making our body unhealthy. Vegetable are always fresh and can be eaten raw thus providing all the nutrient and fiber that helps in digestion of food. This will help you burn fat more easily and therefore get fit quickly, but most importantly it will make you healthier and help you live longer.

Don’t skip meals – Breakfast is very important as the body needs it’s supply of essential nutrients in the morning, especially protein, because excess or circulating proteins have been used up to recover muscles, hair, skin, nails or to create millions of antibodies to defend against bacteria which may have entered the body during sleep.

Drink a lot of water – Water contains many minerals that are essential in our body. It is required to metabolizing stored body fat, digestion, transportation, hydrating the skin, and absorption of vitamins and minerals. Another use of water is that it aids in circulatory and digestive functions, controls body temperatures, prevents dehydration, and removes toxins from the body. This keeps our body fit and healthy.

Always have good health habits – Avoid smoking and drinking of excessive alcohol as it contributes to a variety of health conditions. Smoking can cause lung cancer, heart disease and a multitude of respiratory problems. Meanwhile, excessive drinking damages the liver. For someone to be fit it is advisable that one should quit smoking and drink alcohol with self-discipline.

Benefits of knowing how to keep fit

There are so many benefits of keeping fit. Some of the main advantages are:

1)В It reduces the level of stress that causes so many diseases such as high blood pressure, headache, depression, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, and anxiety.
2)В Being fit gives someone a good physical appearance.
3)В Being fit allows you to have a higher confidence level thus having better self-esteem.
4)В Staying fit and maintaining a healthy weight reduces cases of obesity that can cause various diseases such as stroke, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
5)В It helps older adults become stronger and move around more easily. This reduces the signs of aging.
6)В Knowing how to keep fit increases burning of calories thus a good body weight.

In conclusion it is important to keep fit in order to reduce the cases of heart disease, slow the process of aging and to stay healthy.В Knowing how to keep fit is important to your everyday life.