Outside Magazine recently posted an article listing their all-time best fitness advice from the past 30 years. It’s interesting that workouts and fitness have changed so much over the past few decades, yet some advice remains timeless. Here are some of our favorites:
• Protect Your Knees
By doing nothing. A lot of blown ACLs could be avoided by simply staying down and resting after a fall. A stretched ACL is easily torn on subsequent falls.
• Train with a Plan
Here’s how to reach peak shape for any sport with one 12-week program.
FIRST MONTH: Complete a full-body weight-lifting circuit twice weekly. Do your cardio workouts on three other days, going long once. Each week, increase the duration of the long day’s workout by 10 percent. During the fourth week, cut the workout load by 50 percent.
SECOND MONTH: Follow the first month’s plan, but cut back to lifting once a week and add another day of cardio. During the eighth week, which is for recovery, cut everything in half.
THIRD MONTH: Stop lifting and use that day for cross-training. Ramp up speed by completing one cardio day each week with intervals at your intended race pace. Your long cardio day remains the same for the first two weeks, and for weeks 11 and 12 you cut its duration in half. During week 12, taper by doing only 50 percent of week 11’s work.
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• Cheat Sheet
Lift: Lower weights slowly. It helps train your muscles to absorb shock and control your descent in real-world action.
Hydrate: For workouts lasting one hour or less, drink only water. For longer outings, bring a sports drink with carbs.
Relax: Don’t try to make up for missed workouts by doing two long days back to back. If you miss a day, just let it go.
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• Build Functional Strength
“When you sit down on an exercise machine, with your back against a chair, you tend to shut down the rest of your body,” warns LAIRD HAMILTON. “You want strength that you can actually control and apply.” It’s called functional strength, and it dictates the way you should lift weights.
• Listen to Your Heart
It will help you avoid overtraining during intervals. Use a two-to-one work-to-recovery ratio. Let’s say your intervals last two minutes each. After the first one, recover for one minute and check your heart rate. The first time your heart rate fails to drop to this number on subsequent intervals, you’re done.
• Stretching Is No Joke
OK, the scorpion pose is a joke. But daily yoga or stretching improves flexibility and muscle endurance.
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• Understand What Motivates You
“I don’t know if it’s so much winning but the fear of losing,” LANCE ARMSTRONG famously said before winning the Tour de France in 2003. “I don’t like to lose. I just despise it.”
Curated article from:
Outside Magazine
