Getting fitter is a never-ending goal for any runner, so making sure you enjoy the process is critical. Unlike other goals in life, staying healthy and being able to continue running requires you to continue to exercise. When you quit exercising, you will gain weight (even if your diet is good), and your muscles will lose definition. Also, for optimal health, it’s crucial to take care of your internal organs at all times.
Though it may seem impossible at first, maintaining fitness throughout your life is actually rather simple if you learn the tricks of the trade, especially when you are a runner. Find out what some of them are below, and pick the ones that strike your fancy. Once you know the best fitness ideas for you to try, you’ll never have a problem staying fit again – and your running will improve massively.
1. Use A Personal Trainer
If you want to get in shape and keep it that way when you are a runner, hiring a personal trainer is a great investment. Having a personal trainer ensures that you get the best advice possible on which workouts you should be doing if you want to achieve certain distances or perhaps become a faster sprinter. You’ll also learn the proper form for these activities, which will lessen the likelihood of injury and the accompanying pain and setback to your fitness goals.
With a personal trainer keeping tabs on your progress, you’ll be forced to keep up with your workouts. If you have a personal trainer, you are more likely to keep exercising since you won’t want to let them down.
2. Find Fun Classes
Finding a class that you enjoy will help motivate you to stick with your workout routine. The more you love working out, the more you’ll do it, and the better you’ll feel in general, thanks to the flood of feel-good endorphins your body will produce as a result of your regular exercise routine. If you know what a runner’s high feels like, you’ll know how good endorphins can be.
Some people find going to the gym and utilizing the machines there uninteresting. Taking a fun class instead, such as Zumba or boxercise, might help keep you motivated to stick with your workout routine. It’s not running per se, but you’ll use a lot of the same muscle groups, and besides, it’s fun to switch things up sometimes.
3. Play A Childhood Game
Do you recall the carefree days of your youth, when you spent all your time playing outside and having a good time? You were working out without realizing it. If you can, try to apply that philosophy to your adult life as well.
The benefits of playing games you enjoyed as a child do not diminish with age; on the contrary, they become even more important as you get older since they help you maintain a healthy body and mind by relieving stress, which is a major contributor to a lack of motivation to be physically active.
Pick a game like tag that involves a lot of running around, or set up a game of touch football with your kids. This can help hugely.
4. Work Out At Home
Maybe you just can’t fit in a trip to the gym or a class at your local community center. The time it takes to go to and from the gym is an additional barrier for some people, especially if you use virtual address locations because you want to work from home and don’t actually want or need to go out at all. You shouldn’t let this deter you from working toward your fitness objectives.
Even if you only have a few minutes to spare each day, you can still maintain your fitness routine by doing some fantastic exercises in the comfort of your own home. Starting with only 10 minutes of cardio every day is a terrific idea, and if you can work up to 30 minutes, that would be even better. An alternative that can work just as well is to devote an hour three times a week.
Of course, the best thing to do is to go for a run if you want to get better at running, but when this isn’t possible, a quick at-home workout can be a good alternative.
5. Go For A Run
It should probably come as no surprise that, if you want to be a better runner and get fitter at the same time, making time to go for a run is crucial. Perhaps more than anything else on this list, if you’re serious about running, you need to prioritize it and ensure you do it as much as possible. As we’ve said, that’s not always going to be possible, which is where strength training with a personal trainer or working out at home will be ideal, but when you can run, you should.