How to improve flexibility

Improving flexibility is a goal for many athletes, whether they’re daily exercise devotees or weekend warriors. Taking steps to improve and maintain flexibility has numerous benefits that can pay dividends for athletes of all ages.

According to the Harvard Medical School, well-stretched muscles more easily reach their full range of motion. That benefits athletes by improving their performance, and it can also improve daily life for non-athletes by making it easier to reach, bend or stoop to perform everyday tasks.

As beneficial as being physically flexible can be, many people, no matter how hard they try, struggle to improve or maintain their flexibility. Fortunately, there are some ways that devoted men and women can improve their flexibility and enjoy all of the benefits that increased flexibility provides.

• Choose the right activities. Harvard Medical School notes that activities that lengthen and stretch muscles can help active men and women reduce their risks for injury while potentially preventing back pain and issues that may affect their balance. When done correctly, yoga can improve balance and flexibility. In addition, numerous studies have linked yoga to additional health benefits, such as stress reduction, that can make people less tense, thereby improving their flexibility.

• Drink more water. Drinking water helps to prevent tightness and muscle cramps. In fact, tightness or muscle cramps in the large muscles of the leg may be indicative of the early stages of dehydration. Drinking plain water is the most effective way to stay and remain hydrated. Don’t count coffee, tea or sports drinks as water, as such beverages many contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic, and while diuretics cause the increased passing of urine, they also decrease the amount of water that is absorbed by the kidneys, potentially contributing to dehydration. Drink plenty of water before, during and after workouts.

• Start over after an extended break. If it’s been awhile since you last worked out, resist the temptation to push yourself when returning to the gym. Depending on how long it’s been since you last exercised, you may need to start back at square one, which means reducing the amount of weight you lift and decreasing the resistance during cardiovascular exercises. Putting too much strain on muscles that have been sedentary for an extended period of time can cause aches, pains and even injury. Muscle tightness also may develop if you go too hard too quickly, greatly reducing flexibility.

• Get up and go. Poor flexibility may be a byproduct of your lifestyle. Men and women who live sedentary lifestyles are less likely to enjoy the full range of motion from their muscles than those people who are more active. Get off the couch when spending time at home, and if you work in an office, take routine breaks to stand up and walk around. Poor flexibility can be painful and inconvenient, but there are many ways for men and women to improve their flexibility and, as a result, their quality of life.

Strategies to avoid holiday weight gain

Staying fit during the holiday season can be quite challenging, even for the most ardent fitness enthusiasts and disciplined calorie-counters. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, many people are offered a wide assortment of foods, beverages and other indulgences — typically in mass quantities.

According to researchers at Stanford University, although the average person only gains around one pound during the holiday season, quite frequently that pound sticks around, and those extra pounds add up year after year. As a result, it doesn’t take too many years of holiday bundt cakes to gain a considerable amount of weight. Holiday season weight gain is not unique to the United States and Canada. Investigators at Tampere University of Technology in Finland tracked weight gained in the United States, Germany and Japan during those countries’ festive times and found that each country’s participants gained weight, particularly during the holiday season. Annual holiday weight gain can contribute to weight-based problems such as obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

The holiday season might not be the best time to start a diet, but holiday eating does not have to derail healthy lifestyles. The following are ways to avoid holiday weight gain and still enjoy all of the parties, adventures and time spent with friends and family.

• Focus on festivity instead of food. When hosting holiday festivities, make the bulk of the celebration about an activity rather than food. If guests are focused on fun, such as a sing-a-long, dancing or tree-trimming, they may be less likely to overeat.

• Don’t show up starving. Eat a light, healthy snack before participating in any holiday revelry. Hunger pangs may drive one straight to the buffet table.

• Survey your options prior to eating. Guests should scope out the food choices and then make the smartest selections possible. Avoid creamy sauces, greasy foods and those that are heavy on cheese. Fill up on vegetables and then you won’t feel bad about splurging on a dessert.

• Go sparingly on alcohol. People seldom realize how quickly calories from beverages can add up. A 12-ounce glass of beer has about 150 calories, a five ounce glass of red wine has about 125 calories and a 1.5-ounce shot of gin, rum, vodka, whiskey, or tequila has about 100 calories, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Furthermore, alcohol lowers inhibitions, so you may be more likely to overindulge in more spirits or extra food when intoxicated.

• You can’t buy back calories with exercise. Putting in a marathon exercise session the next day probably will not undo the damage done from overeating the night before. Maintain a consistent workout schedule all through the holidays. Holiday weight gain is not inevitable for those who take control and exercise discipline.     

How to improve overall endurance

Pushing oneself physically can be exhausting and demanding. But whether you’re a seasoned athlete, a part-time fitness enthusiast or even someone who lives a largely sedentary lifestyle, you can find ways to dig down and improve your overall endurance. Many athletes find pushing their bodies past certain boundaries to be empowering. Letting complacency set in is easy, but finding the motivation to press on and push ahead takes mental determination. The following are a handful of ways to push past physical glass ceilings and improve endurance.

• Join a marathon. The statistics reporting site StatisticsBrain.com states that only 0.5 percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations have ever run a marathon. Running on the treadmill at the gym or a couple of miles around the track is excellent exercise. Runners can take their passion a bit further by enrolling in any of the hundreds of marathons and half-marathons held annually. Crossing the finish line after running 26.2 miles is a rewarding feeling, and few activities do more to improve endurance than running a marathon.

• Try a new gym class. Pushing yourself physically may mean getting out of your comfort zone. Gyms typically offer an array of classes to appeal to as many members as possible. Take advantage of these group classes or personalized training sessions. Explore barre workouts, TRX® and ViPR®, which involve loaded movement and strength training paired with cardiovascular workouts.

• Increase workouts gradually. It can be daunting to think about greatly improving your endurance levels. But taking a gradual, incremental approach to improving endurance is both safe and effective. Also, when engaged, mentally divide the workout into smaller chunks of time. This way you have several smaller goals to accomplish, rather than one large goal. This can make it easier to digest a tough workout.

• Use friends to keep you motivated. Having friends workout alongside you can keep you motivated. Workout buddies may offer the encouragement necessary to keep pushing through. Another motivating factor is bragging rights afterward.

• Have a good emotional connection. A desire to have a great body may not be enough to motivate you to workout and push harder. If not, think of a better reason to exercise, and it may be the mind over matter you need. Many people find inspiration from family health history risk factors or through the goal of reversing negative health reports from doctors’ offices. These motivating factors will help you press on and push harder. Continuing to surpass fitness goals is something to include in this year’s list of health resolutions.