Among the most popular are to enhance one’s appearance, increase their overall level of health, and to prolong and improve the quality of their life, though there are many different reasons for starting up or intensifying your physical fitness program. Use the information found in these tips to get started with your new plan.

It is imperative to exercise the brain, as well as your body, to keep both fit, as you grow older. Playing word memory and games exercises will improve the mind and stave off dementia or other memory illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease. For example, while walking, take notice of five blue objects and when you have returned home, try to recall them.

Lifting weights should be a large part of any fitness program. Weight lifting will help build muscle muscle and mass burns more calories then fat, so losing weight will be an easier goal to achieve. Weight lifting also helps to build strength and is a boost to the metabolism.

Look for support all around you. It’s a lot easier to do a workout program when you are working with others. If anyone is interested in joining you on your fitness program, check at your work, your neighborhood, even your monthly book club and see. Having a partner makes the work even easier.

If cycling is your exercise mode of choice, you can increase the efficiency, endurance, and coordination of your muscles by pedaling your bicycle using only one leg at a time, then alternating after every three to five minutes. This helps to engage all muscles in the leg by distributing the work evenly up and down the entire length of your feet and legs.

To build strength, quickly lift light weights. If you were lifting heavier weights at a slower rate, working quickly will allow your muscles to use as much energy as they would. For example, on bench press, lift forty to sixty percent of your max weight and do eight sets of three repetitions, doing this as quickly as you can.

You will need to build up your forearm strength if you want to play a sport like tennis or racquetball. To do this, you could lay a barbell on your arms and bring the weight up slightly and keep doing this until you feel the burn in your forearms.

Many people want to improve their balance. A great way to do this is to balance on an unsteady surface like a sofa cushion. This will improve your balance dramatically. You can also add something heavy like a phone book, and move it from hand to hand to improve your balance.

Before you begin your regular exercise routine, perform dynamic stretches instead of static stretches. Stretching is key to preventing injury during exercise, and dynamic stretching greatly reduces your risk of injury compared to static stretching. Dynamic stretching also provides you with a gradual warm up to your exercise, saving you time in your fitness routine.

Focus on different body parts for dip workouts. To exercise your arms, keep your elbows tucked tightly in to your body. To exercise your chest, lean forward and push your elbows away from you. Using both methods can give you a varied exercise session in a short amount of time.

To get the best quality curls or shoulder presses, only exercise one arm at a time. Do one set with your right arm, then follow it up with an identical set with your left. You are more likely to see quality results than by doing the sets simultaneously, by separating the two.

Now that you have identified your key motivation for starting up or stepping up a comprehensive fitness program, you can take some time to plan out and visualize your most effective contingency and approach plan. Use these tips and tricks as you push yourself to beat the obstacles and win your way to physical fitness.