Four Ways To Ramp Up Your Fitness This Spring
The spring season is now upon us, and for a lot of people that tend to bring about a renewed focus on health and fitness. With winter leading a lot of us to indulge a bit more and exercise a bit less, and summer bringing about sunny days and swimsuit season, Spring simply seems to be a natural time for people to ramp up their efforts.
Unfortunately, things might be a little bit different on this front in 2020. With the coronavirus outbreak having turned the world upside down, there’s no telling when it will be safe to get back in the gym — let alone whether or not there will be much of an upcoming swimsuit season anyway.
Even so, however, it’s a good time to work on your fitness. You’ll have an effort to focus on while we’re all keeping our distance from one another, and you may just emerge from all of this in better shape than you were in when it started.
With that in mind, here are our four tips on how to ramp up your fitness this Spring.
1. Start with Sleep
You’re probably well aware that getting some more sleep can boost your fitness efforts. Our article on the ‘10 Simple Ways to Cut Calories’ emphasized the importance of sleep in keeping unwanted weight at bay as well. But it doesn’t matter — we’re going to emphasize it again! The simple fact is that sleep is incredibly important for any fitness effort, and most people simply don’t make it a big enough priority. Better rest will help you to avoid weight gain, prime your metabolism, and also give you the energy you need to get through the day’s workouts. Of course, getting more sleep is not as easy as it sounds these days. But even an extra hour a night can go a long way, and you may be surprised at how much easier and more effective it makes your spring efforts.
2. Embrace Tech on Your Run
If you’re looking to establish a running routine this spring, you might want to consider embracing tech for it. And we don’t just mean by slapping on an Apple Watch or Fitbit so you can track your mileage and heart rate. Rather, we’re talking about taking an active approach to becoming a smarter, more effective runner as you progress in your routine. This can be done through wearable tech that goes beyond smartwatches and wristbands to actually analyze how you run. Nurvv claims you can “become a better runner” with this sort of technology, specifically highlighting smart soles that can track performance and drive improvement. Using this sort of system to improve your running technique now will help you to get more out of your workouts, both this spring and in the future.
3. Find an At-Home Bodyweight Routine
A bodyweight routine, if you’re not familiar with the term, is essentially a workout that exercises your muscles without requiring equipment or free weights to do so. In other words — particularly in the time of coronavirus — it’s a good way to get a gym-like workout in the comfort of your own home. Typically these routines involve combinations of resistance exercises, cardio activities, and high-intensity interval principles. You can find plenty of freely available bodyweight routines online or through any number of apps, and use them to tone your body and even build muscle without ever leaving your room. That said, one fantastic option that’s making the rounds of late is a “pyramid” workout from “This Is Us” actor Sterling K. Brown.
Men’s Health profiled the routine, and you can take it from us that it’s a pretty effective addition to any spring fitness effort.
4. Try a Masterclass
For a slightly more outside-the-box idea, you might also consider trying out an athlete’s Masterclass. An increasingly trendy online program in recent years, Masterclass invites you to learn from the best in a range of areas — including comedy, writing, music, etc. “Sports and Games” is another category the program includes though, and it features video tutorials from the likes of NBA star Stephen Curry, tennis legend Serena Williams, and gymnastics icon Simone Biles. Every class is different, and some of what these athletes will teach you can only be practiced out on a court, or in a gym. However, you’ll also gain insight into some invaluable skill work that you can do at home, both to improve at a given activity and — in the process — burn some extra calories.
It’s always good to try something new when you start up a spring fitness routine. And with the unique concerns 2020 has brought about, it may be more important than ever to get creative and find better ways to exercise on your own. Hopefully, the ideas listed above will get you well on your way to an effective workout plan and a healthier you!
