Tips to Working out in Your Teenage Years

[TeenHelp]

Tips to Working out in Your Teenage Years
By Paisley Hansen (guest author)

Your teenage years are your most productive. During this period, you’re discovering yourself and what you like and don’t like. You’re also very conscious about how you look. Choosing an exercise to keep you fit or help you lose weight could be hard because you’ve never done it before. Luckily, there are ways to go about it, and they are outlined in the following tips.

Eat Healthy Foods

You need strength and energy to work out. Therefore, make sure that you eat well before you engage in any physical activity. Before you leave the house, eat a healthy breakfast. You can have some cereals, eggs, and fruits for breakfast. Eating in the morning will keep you satisfied for longer. You should also drink plenty of water to replenish your energy. Eat lean proteins to build muscles. You can either use supplements like power life high impact protein or eat lean beef.

Cardio

For the first part of your day, you can start with intense exercises. Join your school’s track team or play basketball with your friends. Anything to get your heart pumping and your blood flowing. If you’re not into sports, running on the treadmill or swimming are great alternatives. Do between 20 to 30 minutes of cardio training.

Strength Training

You can take a rest, before continuing with another 30 minutes of strength training. Here you may have to lift weights. However, don’t lift weights that are too heavy because it could lead to injury. When doing strength training, focus on both the upper and lower body. Ensure there’s balance because stamina and power come from the whole body.

Push-ups are great for strength training, but they can be addictive and bad for you. Don’t do too many push-ups and forget about other strength training exercises. Push-ups tend to build your chest more than other muscles. If you overdo it, you’ll have a weird-looking upper body – your chest will look more developed than the rest of the body.

You should also pay attention to your breathing when strength training. Always breathe out during the hardest part of the exercise. For example, if you’re doing a bench press, breathe out when you lift the weights and in when you go back to the starting position. Your brain needs oxygen for you to keep exercising.

After an intense strength training session, you should stretch out to help your body cool down and ease tension in the muscles. Since these exercises can be a bit hard on the body, give yourself time to relax. You can do intense training for three days a week.

Staying Active

Another way to keep yourself fit is to do everyday things like walking or riding a bike to school. Anything to limit the amount of time that you spend on your computer or in front of the TV. These mundane activities don’t look like much, but they are actually great for building endurance. If your school is close to your home, you can walk instead of driving every day.

Seek Professional Advice

You should talk to a professional trainer or your coach to see which exercises are good for you. Since your body is still developing, there are some things that you may not be able to accomplish at this stage in your life. Your trainer will help you create realistic expectations and save you from disappointment and feeling bad about yourself. They’ll also help you create a training schedule and meal plan to achieve your fitness goals.

If you want to stay healthy and fit, be consistent in everything that you do. If you can no longer go to the gym because they’re closed, do strength training exercises from home. Do some pull-ups and squats in your room. Take your dog outside for a walk even if you don’t feel like going out.