Make 2016 the year in which you finally reach your fitness goals. Why? Because you have a better chance of making it in 2016 than you’ve ever had before; consumer technology offers excellent means to manage your fitness and achieve your desired outcomes, well-researched dieting methods are gaining more popularity, and gyms are easier and cheaper to join than ever before.
This puts you in a prime position to turn your fitness goals into a reality. This being said, you’ll also need the commitment and motivation to ensure you stick with whichever plan you choose. Don’t leave anything to chance, follow our top tips for getting fit in 2016 and you’ll never look back.
Eat
You diet is of the utmost importance to your overall fitness, and also has a large influence on our mood, weight, and cognitive prowess. Keep your diet as varied as possible with plenty of fruit, veg, and proteins to get the best results.
If you’re looking to lose weight, tracking your calories will give you an overview of your intake and clearer picture of what you need to cut-out of your diet. Apps such as MyFitnessPal and SparkPeople offer free calorie counters across iOS and Android. Keeping track of your calorific intake will help you either cut or bulk with much greater ease.
Exercise
You should find time every day for a mild form of exercise, such as a brisk walk or some heavy lifting. Workout wise, you’ll want to aim for a minimum of 3 sessions per day regardless of whether you’re looking to burn fat or build muscle.
Make sure you also keep increasing the intensity of your workout, and mix up your routines as much as possible to keep your exercise diverse and effective. If you become too accustomed to a particular set, you’ll miss out on most of the benefits. Try new things, such as a long-distance ride on an electric bicycle, a marathon or wall-climbing to keep both your interest and fitness up.
Rest
When you’ve exercise, your body is basically damaged and needs to recuperate in order to repair the damage and allow the body to heal. Once healed, you can exercise again and make proper progress. Without suitable rest days your body will simply stay damaged and, whether you’re trying to lose weight or build muscle, you’ll most likely end up just burning yourself out.
If you’re engaged in regular resistance training, have 2 or 3 days to rest. You’ll be more likely to stick to your regular routine with adequate rest, and when the time comes your body will be in a prime state to exercise again.
Travel
Travel is an excellent way of chasing your fitness goals whilst also seeing new parts of the world and meeting new people. The changes which travel forces upon your lifestyle, such as increased exercise and changes in diet make losing weight much easier. Some travel opportunities, such as summer sports camps, are based around active lifestyles and are effective for keeping fit.
Travel is also good for the mind, and would likely improve your motivation to get fit. Reaching your fitness goals is much easier when you are mentally stimulated, so use travel as a catalyst to be a healthier person.
Diversify
Most importantly of all, diversify your fitness efforts and always be open to try new things. Sticking with the same diet for example, no matter how healthy, will never yield the best results. Ensure you’re getting as broad a dietary intake as possible, always incorporating new and healthy foods as you find them.
The same applies to your workout. Your body will eventually acclimatise itself to effects of exercise if you maintain the same routine for too long. Keep your workout as varied as possible and you’ll see good results much faster.