Health and Physical FitnessHow To Improve It
& What You Think About It

Keeping your health and physical fitness in good order are essential for an enjoyable and long life. And there are 3 parts of fitness and health that you can control to get that life.

The good news is that you already know a lot about these parts! You may even have some of them figured out. Give others a helping hand with your knowledge at the end of this article.

Have ideas, opinions, or knowledge about strength training, health, and fitness? Click here to Share 'em and sound off below!

Health

• Food

This one should be obvious. Yet, many people continue to eat at McDonald's and other fast, um, I guess I should call them 'food', establishments.

I love the subtitle of Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. That's it, simple as can be.

Eat real food, not sugar coated whatever. Nothing that looks likes it was never a plant or animal.

Don't eat too much of it!

And eat your vegetables. Green is the color of green life, leaves and plants; not an appletini.

I do a lot of martial arts and lifting. When I eat lots of red meat, greasy food, or oily processed garbage, I feel worse and perform worse. Eating healthy just allows me to do the stuff I like to do better.

• Lifestyle

Yep, stress and all that. How relaxed are you throughout the day? Are you doing what you really want to be doing?

This is a large, more metaphorical question, but it needs to be asked. If you're doing something that you love and enjoy it, you'll be happier and have better health and physical fitness.

Building a great lifestyle is hard, but it's your life and you deserve a good one. Consciously construct it, finding those things that make you happy and weaving them together in the best way possible.

When your life is balanced you'll be less stressed and your body will reflect that. You'll get a full night's sleep in the evenings and like getting up.

If you perpetually feel like it's finals week, you need to change it. It's damn hard, you'll get no argument from me on that, but do change it.

It'll be worth it.

• Exercise

Exercise does so much for you. On the most basic level it releases endorphins, making you feel happier. It makes you look sexier, too ;-)

It also allows you to enjoy life. You can't play sports, go for a long hike, have great sex, or go dancing if you're really out of shape. It's hard to appreciate so many thing in life without a good foundation of health and physical fitness.

You don't need six pack abs; just a basic level of strength training, cardio, and/or flexibility so that you can take advantage of all life has to offer.

Fitness

• Cardio

A foundation of aerobic stamina is one facet of keepin' fit. It's embarrassing when you get winded after a bit of basketball or running to catch up with your kid.

Specifically, 20-30 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week. You can definitely do more, but that's is a good start.

• Strength Training

I like strength training and feel that it's important for fitness. After all, this site is called Complete-Strength-Training.com.

Many people don't think of strength training as keeping fit. They're wrong. Even if you don't do sports, strength training still gives you amazing benefits.

Strength training keeps you independent. You can move your possessions yourself, help out other people, and show off for that cute girl over there.

You become more useful and can help those around you. Strength training is important. Add it to your health and physical fitness program.

• Flexibility

Yep, staying limber. This doesn't mean being able to do the splits and then standing up & touching your toes. Just stay flexible.

Flexibility is commonly given far too much weight in health and physical fitness programs. Extreme flexibility is not needed, and must people put too much stock in the benefits of flexibility for preventing injuries.

Flexibility isn't magic. And building a wide range of flexability, but no strength in that range, can lead to even more injuries.

But many sports and activities require flexibility to do well. Also, as you get older being able to put on your own shoes and socks comes in more handy than you might think for staying happy and independent.

So, those are the components of health and physical fitness. Of course genetics has some impact as well, but that's just the way the dice falls. Don't blame yourself for it; just do the best you can.

You probably already know a little about some of these fitness and health practices. Help other visitors by contributing to the pages below.

Inspiration for Beginners (And You More Advanced Folks Too!)

You need motivation and determination especially when starting your strength training, exercise, and/or health and physical fitness program. Click above to share why you want to start going to the gym or what keeps you coming back for more.

We all need to remember why we do this once in a while ;-)

Questions About Strength Training?

Got questions? I'll do my best to answer them in a fast, friendly, and witty manner. Others visitors will also benefit from seeing your question and its answer.

Kettlebells: Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Kettlebells have a rather cult-ish following in the strength training world. They're great tools for working out, but also have drawbacks.

Click on that link & give your opinion on them!

What's Your Favorite Workout Routine?

Have a special workout routine that you use? A combination of lifts and cardio that gives great results? Brag about them here and give other people ideas for their workouts.

There are lots of different workouts out there. So...

Strength training, running, kettlebells, swimming, martial arts, dancing all night; the list goes on and on!

What's your favorite workout activity and why? Share your story & tell people why your kind of fitness is the best!

Also, the top 3 highest quality stories/experiences/opinions (written with panache and substance) submitted to Complete Strength Training each month get an exclusive mention in this site's monthly E-Zine, Starting Strong!

Click below to read about exercises & stories written by other visitors...

Jogging  Not rated yet
I, like many people, find myself attracted to cardio & irony - as is the case with my preference for jogging. I never go without my albuterol at my side,...

Weight Training Bit by Bit  Not rated yet
Growing up, I never considered myself athletically inclined: I didn't enjoy playing sports or running around outside much, and I wasn't strong or at all ...

Now you've got a handle on health and physical fitness. Read other people's ideas and then get out there and start making your life better!

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