10 top Tips For Effective Fitness Training
My top tips for effective fitness training, whatever your goals.
Planning Tips
- Start gradually—Start easy and build up in training time and intensity, your body will adapt as you get fitter and the training sessions will be more enjoyable.
- Warm up correctly—A poor warm-up will lead to poor gains and injuries, spend the time to get that blood pumping and the body ready to exercise.
- Be specific—The body adapts to the specific demands you place on it – so train for the specific exercise that you want to get better at. For example, if you want to be a better cyclist, for your aerobic work use a bicycle not a treadmill. If you want to jump higher, spend time on squats not bench press.
- Factor in rest—The body adapts when you are asleep so get plenty of rest for maximum gains. Eight hours of sleep a day is average, some will benefit from more, others maybe not so much. It will also help you to not over train.
- Think quality, not quantity—particularly if you are short of time, condensing your training session to a short and more focused workout will get just as good results as a longer session.
- Keep a fitness journal—Keep a fitness journal, this helps to record what you do, plus how you feel. See our free training diary.
- Don’t avoid the exercises you hate—The reason you may hate a certain exercise might be because it is an area of weakness for you. Consider including your areas of weakness to increase your fitness as a whole, and it’ll give you extra confidence too.
- Include physical activity in your daily routine—schedule time in your day for physical activity. If you can’t fit an exercise session in a busy day, make sure you at least incorporate physical activities like taking the stairs and walking instead of driving.
- Be wary of the latest fads—it may be tempting to try the latest new training or diet fad, and it may well keep it interesting, but many are not worth the effort (an costs!). In the end sticking to tried and true methods for improving health and fitness will lead to the best results in the long term.
- Finish with a warm down—an essential part of any routine is to cool down afterwards, allowing the muscles to clear any lactic acid and reduce soreness.
Related Pages
- How to Develop Discipline for Regular Exercise
- Other articles on planning an exercise program
- See also the 'Planning to Train' Tips
- These tips are derived from just a small part of the Fitness Tips eBook 100 Essential Fitness Tips — get your free download.
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
Upcoming Events