Most of us are just too busy that we have no time to exercise. Exercise is not only for physical fitness, but also for cardiovascular and mental health. Exercise should not be the first thing to fall off the list of your busy schedule.

An improved physical fitness will not only improve your health, but will help you feel more confident. The first step you need to take when planning an exercise programme is to assess your physical fitness level. This will help you know how physically fit you are and what levels of improvement you will need to make. It may just be that you need a simple exercise programme. However, no matter the fitness level, there are many strategies that you can choose from in order to achieve your goals.

In this post, I will be sharing with you 3 easy ways to improve your physical fitness. The three ways are actually a sum of many other activities brought together.

Increase Your Physical Activities

The more you carryout a physical activity, the better for you when you want to keep fit. Make sure you set fitness goals and work towards achieving them. Don’t forget to track your fitness progress because that’s what will make you stay motivated. There are many fitness progress apps that you can download on mobile devices. Other tracking methods include weight or body measurements, number of sit-ups or push-ups you can do, mile time, how much weight you can lift, etc

Getting physically active is not just something to be done in a day, so do not be in a haste. You should know that it may be dangerous for you to just jump into vigorous exercise after you have been inactive for a long time. Although cases are rare, it could increase your risk of having a heart attack. So why be in a haste. Just go slow and begin with something that is less intense. It could be walking, biking, swimming, short distance jogging, etc.

Your day may be a very busy one like mine. To substitute exercise on certain days, I try to add more physical activity in the things I do. I will take a couple of minutes to to do some sit-ups. There are many activities that you can fit in your daily schedule that will substitute for physical exercise. For instance parking your car farther away from your office or grocery store, substituting the elevator for the stairs and many more. All these will help improve your cardiovascular health as well as make you strong.

If you are unable to meetup with your own plans, maybe it is time for you to do so with a personal trainer. A fitness trainer will help you out with effective workout plans or strategies that will keep you motivated. Some of them will give you meal plans that will help you improve your eating habits. Eating habit is one of the 3 ways to improve your physical fitness I am going to talk about.

Improve Your Eating Habit

What is your daily caloric intake? This is one of the most important things you need to know if you want to improve your physical fitness. You need to know the number of calories your body needs per day. You should pay careful attention on your diet. If your plan is to lose weight, then you have to eat less calories than you can burn. If it is the other way round, then you have to eat more. This means you will have to keep track of everything you eat as well as measure your food to ensure underestimation or overestimation.

You should always have a balanced diet. This will give a big change in your results and the way you will be feeling. When I talk of balance diet I mean fruits and vegetables (bananas, oranges, apples, spinach, broccoli, carrots, etc.), lean protein (skinless chicken, thin slices of grass fed beef, etc.), and complex carbohydrates (brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc.).

If you have to improve on your diet, then you have to eliminate the unhealthy choices. Make sure you reduce your intake of foods like cheese, butter, red meat that contain a high level of saturated fats, sugary things like candy, baked goods; fried or greasy stuffs like deep fried fish, French fries and highly processed foods like crackers, canned soups and frozen dinners.

It is so important you drink lots of water. This will help you to stay hydrated. Drinking water fills your stomach, hence making you to eat less for while. For you to stay hydrated, you need to drink at least eight 250ml glasses of water a day. This means if you have been carrying our workout activity, you need to drink more to replace water loss from your body. If you are getting on well with your eating habit, then to finalise, you need to make some lifestyle changes which I will explain below.

Important Lifestyle Changes

Some of the things in this third section may not concern all of us but it might be good to know such you can share with friends and family. Some of the diet changes above may require the need for you to see a medical practitioner. If you are to make major changes in your diet or activity level, for your safety, I will advise you see a doctor. I am not a doctor. This means you should not rely on the Internet to tell the restrictions you have based on you medical situation.

If you are overweight, then it’s good to burn the extra fat because it puts you at risk of having diseases like diabetes. Don’t forget that it will prevent you from easily carrying out any physical activity. That extra weight maybe killing you slowly, so I advise you start a weight loss program.

If you are a smoker, for you to improve your physical fitness, you need to quit smoking because it can be life-threatening and will interfere with your fitness goals. Seek advise from a physician if you smoke. You have smoking cessation programs and prescription drugs that can help you quit smoking.

If your intake of alcohol is large, then it will be difficult for your physical fitness to improve. Alcohol can cause dehydration as well as adds empty calories into your diet. You may want to see a medical officer if you find it difficult to moderate you alcohol intake.

I hope this post will help you in your quest for physical fitness. Do you have more ideas and/or tips? We love to hear for you. Do drop your idea in the comment box to help build a physically fit and confident community.