Fitness Tip #5: lack of motion at a joint may not be inflexibility! It may be weakness of supporting muscles. If your muscles cannot support the movement, your body will not allow it to happen, giving the illusion that the area is “tight” or inflexible. That’s why motion should be checked both actively (on your own) AND passively (someone moves it for you), as well as lying down AND standing. Why spend time stretching something that’s not tight when it’s actually the other side that’s weak??
Fitness Tip #4: Work on gaining mobility and proper full range of movement before working on greatly increasing strength. One way to accomplish this is by adding self-myofascial release (foam rolling, etc) and static stretching to your workouts (or every day) prior to your dynamic warmup. Make the time for it and you won’t regret it!
Fitness tip #3: fruits contain alot of water. So if the heat is killing your desire for regular food, have some cold fruit and be fed AND hydrated!
Fitness Tip #2: Exercise larger muscles before smaller, assistive muscles in your workout.
Fitness Tip #1: In general, you should perform your weightlifting exercises before your long, continuous cardio in your workout routine.
You are so right! I used to work on machines thinking I was really doing some good but I hardly noticed a difference. When it was noticeable, it was only to one muscle group at a time. I started lifting with free weights and that all changed. I feel I accomplish a lot more in a shorter period of time; always feeling sore the next day and not just in one area but often my entire body. I’ve seen a huge difference on the field as well. The benefits of building strength throughout my body, rather then just the target areas I used to focus on, are obvious as I am much more stable and powerful when tackling.