6 Fitness Habits You Should Avoid

You think you have been doing great work at the gym, making every effort to keep your body in shape. But you’re still not seeing the results you want. Can you guess why?

Jillian Michaels says that she has seen many people with unhealthy fitness habits. She adds that besides being bad habits, they are also bad choices which may affect your health in long term. If you have any of these bad habits, then it’s time for a change.

Jillian highlights some of the bad fitness habits that you should avoid, to get the desired result and stay healthy:

1. Exercising on an Empty Stomach

According to an old theory, exercising on an empty stomach help burn more calories. In addition to using stored fats as a fuel, your body also needs glucose to get energy while you work out. If you do not have sufficient blood glucose available, it will start using glycogen from muscles as source of energy. Low levels of blood sugar will also make you feel tired and dull. You may even feel dizzy at your workout sessions.

Many studies revealed that working out on an empty stomach is a bad idea as it hampers your performance and prevents you from an intense exercise. Jillian Michaels suggests that eating 30-45 minutes prior to the workout may provide sufficient energy to work harder, increase your performance and enhance toning of muscles. Berries with yogurt, almond butter on apple slices or a banana will be a great option to get strength before your exercise. Fueling your body is essential for burning enough calories during a workout.

2. Improper Stretching

We were instructed earlier to stretch a group of muscle at a time. Contrary to this belief, that static stretching is best after a workout when your body and muscles are warmed up. To stretch in a right way, first warm up your body with 5-10-minute cardio which may include jogging, jumping jacks, and jumping rope and then do stretching.

Dynamic stretching includes motion stretching, so your body and muscles get warm up slowly. You can do arm circles and leg swings but do not bounce stretch as it may injure you while doing ballistic stretch.

3. Avoiding Strength Workout

There are many women who avoid strength workout because they fear that they may get “big” which is a myth. To get big, whether female or male, he or she will have to consume enough calories. In addition, since women lack androgenic hormones, it is harder for them to gain muscles, unlike men. So, don’t resist yourself from strength training as these are beneficial in maintaining thin muscle mass, increase bone mass, enhance metabolism, and burn calories efficiently than cardio alone can do.

This doesn’t mean that cardio is not a healthy exercise. It strengthens your cardiovascular system and burns fat. But this is not the most efficient way to burn your calories. Jillian Michaels says that she is a huge proponent of circuit training. It is a series of exercises one after the other with no halt in between. For example, if you’re performing push-ups, you are engaging your chest, abs, shoulders, triceps and then you can switch directly into lunges. In this way, you can change muscle groups, but you have not stopped working out.

Additionally, you can go for high-intensity training (HIIT) along with intense cardio plus resistance-training circuits. For example, doing jumping rope or jumping jacks increases your heart rate and will burn a lot of calories. After this you can switch to resistance-training. This way you utilize your time with maximum calorie burn. When a set of these moves are done, you go back to the beginning and do them again before moving on to the next circuit. A circuit-training workout increases your heart rate and involve your whole body and a variety of muscles. After this, you can regularly alter your circuits to impact different parts of your body.

4. Getting Stuck in Your Workout Routine

Most people follow a strict workout routine. This is not an ideal practice for many reasons. By repeating an exercise, you may get an overuse injury. Also, you will reach a plateau and won’t notice any progress. This happens because your body adapts to the stimulus produced for a specific work. If you don’t alter your workout routine, your body will not be able to get more fit.

So, make sure you change your routine every two weeks. Try to incorporate changes in the workout you are doing and keep on changing the amount of reps, sets, and weights you are lifting. By training your body in several ways, it will become more effective and more resistant to injury.

5. Not Focusing on Your Workout Intensity

You need to exercise hard to burn more calories. Focus more on your workout intensity as this is key to losing more fat. Pump your heart rate up and try to burn maximum calories. If you want to calculate the maximum heart rate and you are a woman, subtract your age from 220. If you are a man, subtract your age from 226. That will be your maximum heart rate (in beats) per minute. You may only decrease your intensity if you feel that you are working too hard which can injure you.

6. Not Knowing the Limits

Whenever you work out, it is very necessary to know your limits. Working too hard and injuring yourself is not a good idea as it may take several weeks to recover. So, always take time to practice proper move. If a particular exercise is hard for you, try other forms. If any part of your body gets injured, you can still workout but there are a few points you need to keep in mind. If your upper part is injured, you can do high-intensity cardio involving your lower body. These include step, jump rope, running, spinning, and elliptical. You can even do lower body exercises, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, or leg presses.

If you have injured your lower body parts, like knees, feet, ankles, or calves, you may opt for low-impact cardio which include recumbent biking, shadow boxing and swimming. You can continue with resistance-training forms for the upper body workout.