We all think sometimes that there is a secret universal recipe to stay fit and healthy. The truth is: there isn’t. To achieve a desired level of fitness and health, different people have to do different things. A desired level is here defined as the (medically healthy, of course) level in which you feel most comfortable with your body, the way you look and the way you feel. We think each person should take general health and fitness advice seriously, but cautiously. In fact, as said before, not every advice is good for everyone.
But what is a health and fitness plan?
Anything that improves your physical and mental health can be considered to be part of a health and fitness plan. From exercising to eating properly to sleeping enough hours, many things in your daily life can contribute to making you feel better, as these things affect your overall health.
There is nothing wrong with browsing through general health and fitness tips to get inspired or get some advice: however, you should ultimately create a personalised plan. There are certain elements and factors that you might want to consider when you create such plan, tailored to your needs and wants. Here we consider some of them:
- Age: A younger individual (i.e. children and teenagers) should move much more than adults or an elderly person. It is known that a person’s fitness declines with age, especially once reaching the age of 45. Hence, age is an important factor to consider when planning on creating a personalised fitness plan.
- Time: How much free time do you have? This is an important point that will help you establish whether you are really going to be able to do the workout routine you saw in the magazine just the other day. If the routine is 45 minutes, but you do not feel like you can take the time off all at once, then consider a few shorter routine, or break the one you found into pieces. Note: be careful before you break your routine into pieces, as it might be a 45-minute workout for a reason. For example, it might be a routine aimed at increasing resistance, and it would obviously not achieve the goal if you break it into parts.
- Physical condition: If you are not feeling well for the moment or have a temporary or permanent physical condition, you should tailor your fitness routine accordingly. The problems you might experience can be ranging from having the cold to having a back problem. If you want to start a fitness and health routine properly, you have to take into account the limits that your body can reach. If you are not sure about what those are, ask your doctor.
- Mental condition: Again, whether your state of mind is stress-related or you have a diagnosed mental condition, you should take that into account when creating your perfect health and fitness routine. Self-help books, taking a few days off work or seeing an old friend can all affect positively your overall health and you should give these factors some consideration.
Have we forgotten anything? Remember your own health and fitness plan will not be perfect straight after you create it. Tailoring it to your needs is an on-going process and when you change lifestyle, you might have to tweak it again. The important thing is that you give yourself time to plan it because, if you do, you’ll benefit from taking care of your own health.