What Are The Core Aspects Of A High Quality Health And Fitness Program?

Every year millions of people decide that they are going to try and improve their health and fitness levels and while many are successful, a large number of people find that they are not reaping the benefits of their seeming hard work. As a result of this, they can quickly lose motivation and creep back towards bad, old habits.

At the heart of many of these failed training regimes, is a misunderstanding of the balance required to ensure that a program satisfies all forms of health and fitness. Many people will assume that because they decide to start eating more healthily, or that they start taking more exercise, that they will achieve the health and fitness benefits they are seeking.

While this can certainly help, the truth is that any fitness program or health kick is only likely to achieve long-lasting success if it encompasses all aspects of health and fitness, while still holding the interest and motivation for the individual to stick to it. This motivation can be intrinsic, some individuals are more driven than others and find it easier to stick to even the sternest of training programs, but for many, the motivation also has to come from the enjoyment they get while undertaking exercising and seeing the benefit their program is having on their body.

In this article, we’ll examine some of the key features that a good, healthy and balanced program should possess, which covers all key areas of fitness and health.

1. Diet

The vital nutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids and essential oils you need to maintain your body and to exacerbate the positive effects of exercise can only come from one source; your diet. Therefore, to ensure that you are getting the most possible from your exercise and to maximise the benefits on your health, you need to ensure you are eating a diet that is low in saturated fats and sugar, but high in vitamins and many other natural sources of energy.

A balanced diet will not just improve your health, but will help your body burn the right fuel for each different type of exercise, allowing you to perform better for longer and continue the upward curve for your health and fitness.

2. Cardiovascular work

Whether you want to improve your stamina, reduce conditions such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, or just improve your general levels of fitness, cardio work is absolutely vital. A good cardio workout will stretch your body, but not to excessive (or dangerous levels). Any exercise should put you in a state where you are sweaty and out of breath. For those who have existing medical conditions or who have not exercised for a while, it is wise to seek advice on the level of exercise to begin with from a medical professional before starting.

Remember too, as your health and fitness improves, your body will adapt and exercises that you once found difficult will become easier, so you need to increase intensity or frequency or both in order to ensure you reaping the benefit!

3. Strength conditioning

Strengthening core muscle groups can play a huge role in improving your overall health and fitness. This doesn’t mean bodybuilding, but simply improving the function of the muscle, either in terms of the amount of mass it can deal with (by increasing the size of the muscle), or by increasing the duration it can perform an exercise which helps tone the muscle and burns fat.

What is great about this form of training in a program is that it can be targeted to specific muscle groups, meaning that if an individual is unhappy with how one part of their body looks, they can work hard to improve it as part of an overall physical program, though it is important to target these groups as part of a full body strength conditioning program.

4. Flexibility

One of the most overlooked aspects of fitness is flexibility. For many of us, this means just a few stretches before exercise, but studies have repeatedly shown that the very best athletes maintain high levels of flexibility. Performing a wide range of stretching exercises and similar to help improve flexibility, the range of movement a joint can perform and similar, has many benefits.

Firstly, it can help the efficiency of the body when performing an exercise, secondly, it reduces the probability of injury, muscle pulls or tears as a result of exercise and lastly, it helps fight off the effects of advancing age.

5. Endurance

All athletes whether they are long distance runners, or body builders, need to work hard to improve their endurance. While this is often a by-product anyway of a good exercise program, it does no harm to ensure that you are working hard to improve this aspect of your health and fitness. Focus on aerobic activities that are longer lasting and promote endurance, such as dance classes, swimming, jogging and similar.

6. Variety

One of the biggest problems many individuals feel when they start on a health kick is that after a few weeks, they are stuck in a rut and that the appeal of the program has now dwindled. Keeping yourself motivated and mentally stimulated in an exercise and health kick is vital, keep a diary of your exercise, vary the exercises you are doing and don’t be afraid to try new things. Keeping your mind stimulated while exercising is vital – it keeps you distracted from the work your body is doing and can provide a superb challenge for the brain, keeping it as healthy and strong as the body.

7. Refuelling and Recuperation

The two R’s are key to any training program. Studies have shown eating certain foods at certain times prior to and after exercise can help the body recover from exercise and grow stronger. Athletes now ensure how they refuel after exercise is a top priority, eating and drinking the right things to replenish the body with the key nutrients to grow stronger, fitter and healthier.

Recuperation is also vital, over-exerting yourself when your body is not ready is a sure-fire way to incur an injury and do more damage than good, so build into your program a healthy period for recuperation. What this is depends on the program and the individual in question, but if your body is telling you it is not ready to exercise, then listen to it.