When you get on your elliptical you may not realize all of the preparation you should have made before those first few steps. If you want to change your workout and increase the intensity of your workout you can do so by changing how you prepare.
First, you wan to make sure that you are stretching all of your muscles adequately. There are a lot of people that do not understand how thoroughly they should be stretching before they start their workout.
Your stretching should be intense and it will be uncomfortable. If you do not want to be put into any state of discomfort you are going to have to change your mentality to ensure you are getting the most from the time you dedicate to stretching.
Stretching will not only help you push yourself harder during your workout but you will also be able to avoid many injuries and pains. The pains and injuries that are usually associated with exercising are, for the most part, avoidable.
When you are on the machine it is easy for your body to take on some of the shock and the pressure from the workout. This means that when you are on the machine you will be increasing your chances of injury.
If your muscles are taught throughout the workout you will find that you are much more prone to being hurt. There are a lot of people that think stretching is not necessary and will not change their workout in the least.
Take the time to enjoy your stretching and really push yourself in your stretches. The deeper that you stretch the better of you will be when you are in the middle of your workout and trying to push yourself to workout harder.
As you sit down to stretch in preparation you have to make sure that you are stretching properly. Do not bounce during your stretches and make sure that you are holding them for at least fifteen seconds.
When you are holding your stretch you have to make sure that you continue to breathe. As you are keeping your muscles taught it is very easy to forget about your breathing and hold your breath when you are uncomfortable.
Instead of holding your breath you want to focus on pushing yourself to breathe. The more that you can breathe and imagine the oxygen filling your muscles the more beneficial your stretching will become.
After you have completed your stretch you want to make sure that you participate in a warm up period. Many people think that if they have stretched there is no need for a warm up period once they are on the machine.
Although you may feel that this is repetitive you should try it a few times so you can feel the difference in your workout. There are many different ways to start your workout and you want to make sure that you are changing this up every so often.
A great way to warm up is to push yourself on a steep incline at a slow pace. Concentrate on engaging all of the muscles in your legs and focus your mind on pushing through each and every step of the incline.
If you do not like pushing yourself at an incline you can instead do sprints on the elliptical. Although you are not going to be sprinting in the conventional manner you will be basically using the same principles.
Do not use any resistance or any incline and pedal on the machine as fast as you can. Grab onto the handlebars that the machine has and make sure you get your arms pumping just as fast as your legs are pumping.
When you are able to move your body at a quick pace you notice that your muscles will acclimate quickly. You will be able to get blood flowing to your muscles and you will be prepared to start your workout on the elliptical.
After you have finished your bout on the elliptical you will want to let your body cool down. When your body is cooling down you need to ensure that you give your heart and your muscles time to recover from the workout.
You should slowly bring down your heart rate. A great way to bring your heart rate down slowly is to slowly decrease the intensity, the speed and the incline of your machine until you are able to feel a difference in your heart rate.
Concentrate on your breathing and make your breaths steady and consistent.
Jack R. Landry is a personal trainer and has authored hundreds of articles relating to physical training and elliptical trainers. He has been a health expert and physical trainer for over 15 years.
Contact Info:
Jack R. Landry
JackRLandry@gmail.com
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