Staying Fit During the Off-Season

The holidays are an excellent time of the year to relax with friends and family, catch up on old times and most importantly, eat. Just because you take some time to relax, however, doesn’t mean you have to let your physical fitness go by the wayside. After consulting Livestrong’s recommendations for developing a physical fitness plan, our cheerleading blog has developed a step-by-step guide to help you stay in-shape during the off-season. Fitness Plan Construction 1. Get a calendar and decide how many days a week you want to exercise, 2. Decide whether you want to develop an exercise plan to improve cardiovascular health, to help you lose weight; or, strength training, to help build muscle, 3. If you decide on a cardiovascular-based program, refer to the section labeled “Cardiovascular exercise”, 4. If you decide on a strength-training program, refer to the “Strength Training” program, 5. THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP! Commit yourself to exercising according to your plan, 6. Follow your schedule for at least one month. By this point, you should begin noticing results, which should give you enough motivation to want to continue your exercise program. Cardiovascular Exercise 1. Develop 30-minute routines and write them down on your calendar. By putting it down on paper, you have a much greater likelihood of actually doing the task you’ve assigned yourself. 2. In your plan, identify a specific exercise for each day of the week. Activities like running on a treadmill, climbing a stairmaster, biking, swimming and playing basketball are all activities that promote cardiovascular health. 3. Establish some goals for whatever program you decide upon. 4. Be sure to warm-up and actively stretch for at least 5 minutes before beginning any of the activities you have outlined in your fitness program. 5. Exercise at a moderate pace for 20 minutes, 6. Follow this up with a 5-minute cool down, 7. After the initial 30 days, increase the amount of time for each activity to make sure you’re receiving adequate cardiovascular exercise, 8. Stick to your schedule. It’s important not to sell yourself short here. If you stick to your plan, you should start noticing changes within that initial 30 day period. Although it may be difficult to motivate yourself at the beginning of the program, it will become part of your routine over time. If it helps you create a personal contract with rewards and penalties for meeting/failing to meet the criteria you’ve established in Step 3. Weight-Lifting 1. Allocate 30- to 60- minute lifting sessions. Try not to spend a lot of time chatting or resting throughout the workout. If you actually focus on your exercises, that should be ample time to get a good lift. Additionally, try not to rest more than 60 seconds between each set. 2. At the beginning of your program, choose lifts oriented towards improving overall physical fitness, instead of individual muscle groups. It is extremely important to focus on all muscle groups to ensure balanced development, 3. Once you have some experience lifting, split your workouts. Doing so enables you to apply focus to developing individual muscle groups. A popular method for creating split workout plans is: “one third Chest and triceps, “one third Back and biceps, “one third Shoulders and legs 4. Rest muscle groups between sessions. Allocating ample time for muscle recovery is just as important as keeping on your lifting schedule. Generally, muscle groups should be given at least one day of rest between sessions. Muscles are unable to grow without ample time for healing and recovery. 5. Modify your schedule to make sure you’re meeting your goals, 6. Stay on schedule (this means your “muscle recovery’ schedule, as well). Creating your own physical fitness plan is a great way to stay in-shape during the off-season, improve conditioning or muscle strength and promote healthier living.