What comes first, school/work or the gym? This is what seems to be a very obvious question that school should come first. For me, I am taking six online summer classes and find it hard to go to the gym. Actually, I find it hard to go anywhere; seeing my friends, going to the beach, even just leaving myself. It all becomes impossible when working all the time on homework. This is very similar with having a real person job where people will work for forty plus hours a week. Taking six summer classes or working the typical 9-5 can make going to the gym rather difficult. The gym can be useful for many reasons such as muscle gain, weight loss, or just to remain healthy/ fit. Everyone should be going to the gym at least three times a week for about one hour per session. People should be including a mix of cardio and weights. I understand your thought of how can I get to the gym when I am so busy. The easy solution for me was to go to the gym first before starting my school work. Depending on how busy my day will be influences my decision on whether or not to set an alarm to wake up. Whether I set my alarm or not I always make sure I go to the gym as soon as I wake up. This allows improved productivity, boosts my metabolism, gives me better sleep, and allows me to have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. Going to the gym in the morning immediately wakes me up and prepares me for the day. One of the major benefits listed is getting better sleep, for me, working out in the morning helps with that. When I exercise at night it is a lot more difficult for me to sleep because I have so much energy which makes me stay up for hours. Another benefit was boosting the metabolism, because I am often fasting until ten, and I workout before I eat breakfast, this allows me to workout during my fast which speeds up my metabolism even more. I personally would suggest putting your workout before school/ work to get all of the best benefits. Going to bed slightly earlier than I used to so I can workout in the morning is worth it for all of the reasons listed above. Although sometimes a workout cannot come before work/ classes. For those who have early jobs and classes (I had two 8ams last semester), sleeping in a little bit might be more helpful for those of us who are not morning people. For those who do not want to wake up at 5:30am to workout and get ready before class, working out in the afternoon/ evening might be the only option. For me though, this is a last resort because i do not receive as many benefits. Of course working out at all allows benefits for everyone, so as long as I get a workout in I am satisfied. To help with planning my week, I make sure to put everything in a planner. Planners help me to know when I should do certain things and helps me to achieve all of my goals for the week. As a side note for achieving goals with food, I would suggest using myfitnesspal to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients your body needs for your aspirations.
Tag: healthy lifestyle
Stretch or Eat Chips
The video attached was made by the Mayo Clinic, which is a nonprofit academic medical center based in Rochester, Minnesota, focused on integrated clinical practice, education, and research. They know a lot about becoming/staying healthy and how to improve health. The video they made talks about the benefits of stretching. A lot of people do not understand the benefits of stretching after a workout and tend to skip it. Not stretching after a workout can lead to strains, tightness, stress on joints, and injuries. Stretching should be a part of someone’s workout routine, it only takes five to ten minutes to complete if done correctly. The video states that the benefits of stretching after a workout includes increasing range of motion, improving performance, and reducing risk of injury. If these benefits are not appealing to you, do not bother stretching or in fact working out. Why bother working out if you are not going to help your body get the best results by stretching. Just stay at home, eat your potato chips, and think about the injuries you are not getting. The other option, if you do not want injuries is to workout, stretch, go home and relax, then think about the injuries you are not getting. It is up to YOU with what you would prefer. The reason why it is good to stretch after a workout is because your muscles are warm and therefor very responsive to stretching. As the video states, stretches should be gentle, slow and held for about thirty seconds. While stretching, there should be no bouncing or intense pain. If there is pain while stretching it can cause damage to the muscle. In the moment you may not think stretching is important, but down the road you will be thankful.
Alyssa's Blog 