It doesn’t matter if you live in downtown New York City or the further reaches of Siberia. Fitness is a universal pursuit. Nevertheless, your circumstances can have a significant influence on your workouts. Here are a few suggestions to keep your cardio up and your health on point in any environment.
Warm Weather Fitness
The most common way to exercise outside is in warm, sunny weather. Exercise programs and weather apps often gauge fitness goals specifically based on if the temperature is comfortable and the sun is shining. Even so, there are a couple of major factors that can impact your warm-weather activities. One of the biggest of these is whether you’re in the water or on land.
Water-Based Activities
If you live near an easy-to-access body of water, there are countless ways that you can use this proximity to stay fit.
- Swimming: First and foremost, you can simply go swimming. There are many different swimming strokes that are easy to learn and can keep the activity interesting. If you want to take things to the next level, you can even do a full-body workout right in the water.
- Paddleboarding: Stand up paddleboarding (SUP) is a popular, water-based pastime. Tower Paddle Board says there are many different kinds of SUPs available, as well. This makes the activity accessible for any level of commitment or cost.
- Small watercraft: If you’re not interested in getting wet on a regular basis, consider getting a canoe or a kayak. Smaller, hand-propelled watercraft offer an excellent way to work out in a peaceful environment. It’s a good way to get in some cardio without getting wet in the process.
It doesn’t matter what your particular level of aquatic interest is. There are many ways to maintain your fitness when you have a body of water near-to-hand.
Landlocked Activities
Most individuals don’t have easy access to an outdoor body of water — and that’s okay. If the weather’s warm, there are numerous ways to use your current environment to sneak in some exercise.
- Stretch your legs: Keep your blood flowing by doing things like walking the dog and training for a marathon. If you live near a high-altitude area, look for a good place to hike.
- Ride a bike: If you live in an area with little variation in altitude, you may want to try riding a bike. This is a great way to propel yourself along at a faster rate. It enables you to exercise without losing interest in flat or dull surroundings.
- Join a pickup sport: If you find that your environment is either limited or restricted — such as dwelling in an urban area — consider looking for a pick-up sport to play. This provides you with an engaging environment where you can meet with others and stay fit together.
From walks to bikes to pick up sports, there are plenty of ways to stay healthy in any warm-weather environment.
Cold Weather Fitness
When the weather gets cold, it can be difficult to stay active. Fortunately, there are many ways to get through the chilly weather without giving up on exercising in that crisp outdoor air. Many of these are similar to warm-weather fitness pursuits, though they should be handled more carefully.
- Go for a walk or run: As long as the roads aren’t snowed under, you can still walk, jog, hike, and run, even in the cold weather. However, make sure to take proper precautions. Wear shoes with good traction. Dress in warm, dry layers. Warm-up beforehand. Protect both your skin and your extremities. Even consider dressing in bright colors to help stay visible during the shorter, cloudy days.
- Go ice skating: When the water becomes too cold to swim or boat in, consider shifting to ice skating. You can skate laps on your own or gather a group of friends for recreational trips to the closest outdoor rink. If you’re more serious, you can even join a pick-up hockey league. Once again, make sure to take cold-weather precautions beforehand.
- Find snow-themed activities: If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, steer into the skid — literally. Invest in a good sled, skiing, or snowboarding gear. Consider getting a pair of snowshoes. Even look for ways to turn snow shoveling into a fitness regimen. If you do the latter, Spine-health recommends selecting a good snow shovel that won’t strain your back.
If you take the time to strategize, there’s no reason your activity needs to slump along with the thermostat.
Indoor Fitness
The coronavirus forced many individuals to find ways to stay fit from the cramped confines of the homefront environment. Even here, though, there are plenty of ways to stay in shape.
- Deskercise: There are many exercise routines such as rockstar-ride.com that can help you stretch and stay fit. These can be a lifesaver if you find yourself spending endless hours sitting in your home office.
- Get fitness equipment: Stationary bikes, treadmills, and home gyms are all great ways to keep moving in a contained space. If you have money to invest, you can go big by getting a Peloton bike. If you’re more budget-conscious there’s always second-hand fitness equipment available on sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.
- Try the 7-Minute Workout: A 7-Minute Workout is a great way to stay fit in cramped quarters with limited time. As the name suggests, the workout only takes seven minutes to complete. It also only requires basic elements like a chair and a wall.
It’s easy to stay fit, even in your home. All it requires is a little creativity.
Fitness isn’t just a good idea. It’s an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. That’s why it’s important to always stay ready and resourceful when it comes to maintaining an exercise regimen. Don’t let things like weather and other environmental limitations hold you back from staying fit.
Instead, review the recommendations listed above. Then, consider your surroundings and craft the best fitness routine you can. Don’t just do your best to avoid environmental constraints as you do so, either. Instead, steer into the unusual aspects of your current exercise space and look for the ways that it can breathe new life into your health and wellness journey.
7 Ways To Know Your Blog Is On The Right Track
Blogging is one of the most popular ways of expression on the internet. It can be defined in various ways. Some people write about travelling, some write about art, others write about tech, some write about food and so on. However, what all of them have in common is a desire to grow.
To be honest, that’s not easy. With so many blogs out there, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to make yours stand out. One thing to remember though – success won’t come over night, it’s going to take some time. However, you shouldn’t get discouraged by it. You can easily tell whether you’re moving in the right direction, you just need to know where to look. Let’s talk about that.
1. You’ve Found Your Niche
One of the best ways to know you’re on the right track is to know your niche. It’s the most important part of blogging. Like we’ve said – people write about different things, travel, tech, music… You have to find your own thing and stick to it. People follow blogs because they care about the thing you’re passionate about. Don’t just write whatever – you can’t and you shouldn’t cover every topic out there.
Why you might wonder? Well, first of all, you can’t be passionate about everything, which is why you won’t be able to deliver the same quality to each post. Secondly and arguably more importantly – people love consistency and knowing what they can expect. If you lure people in by writing about tech, you may lose them if you switch over to food – because they came to you for tech, not for recipes and risotto reviews.
2. You Notice Follower Growth
Call them however you want to call them – followers, subscribers, fans, reader – it’s all the same. The more, the merrier. Your follower count is a direct representation of your work. Blogs are different from social media. People follow blogs for quality content and if you notice a steady increase in the number of your subscribers – you know you’re on the right track. However, don’t get discouraged if you don’t notice it right away. Building a loyal audience takes time. Also, an audience can be of great help to your blog. You could ask for insight as to how they feel you might improve and if you can take constructive criticism and sound advice – you could attract for subs in no time.
3. There’s An Increase In Comments
Oh yes, the comments. The algorithm kings. The comments, aside from being useful, are one of the most cherished things on the internet. Unless they’re the hate comments or self-promotion spam that is. in general, most authors welcome comments with open arms. That means that what they wrote or presented to their audience in any way is generating some kind of feedback. So, if you notice the number of comments increasing, that means you’re on the right track
Even if you notice spam comments it means you’re doing something good. Sure, comments that spark up conversations are the best kind, but even those boring ones from people just looking for a backlink mean you’re doing something good. You’re being noticed. So, appreciate them – they usually mean you’re doing something good.
4. Your Content Quality Is Improving
There’s no other way around it – quality content is the greatest asset of a successful blog. Anyone who has seen their fair share of blogs, like wordpens.com for example, will tell you that nothing comes before quality content. You could spam backlink comments as much as you want – it wouldn’t make a difference.
The best thing about this is the fact that you don’t need anyone else to tell you your content is becoming better. Simply take a look at your first post and compare it to your last and you’ll see the difference.
5. There’s More Likes & Shares
Likes and shares are critical for your page’s growth. Even so, that a lot of authors end up being caught up in like and share chasing, which is not something that should be done if we’re being honest, but you can’t deny the results. It’s not a secret that we live in the world of social media and that social networks are more important than ever. For blogs – social media is crucial. If you notice an increase in likes and shares of your posts – it means you’re doing something right.
Shares do hold extra value, that’s why there are always fewer shares than likes. People will like anything, they’ll give you a thumbs up just because they know it means something to you. Sharing something on the other hand is a different beast. People don’t share something unless they really like it or believe in it. Sharing is personal – it’s a reflection of you. So, if you notice your posts becoming shared more than usual – that means you’re getting through to people and they’re responding in the best way possible.
6. You’re Making Blog Buds
One of the best things about an online presence is the fact to you get to meet a lot of like-minded people. That’s especially true when it comes to blogging. You’re basically all part of a large community and you depend on each other in one way or another. Once you notice you’re getting more involved in the community and you start making friends – it means you’re moving up in the world. You could even argue that you couldn’t succeed in this world without blog buds and that may very well be true. You’ll feed of off each other, you’ll exchange ideas, support each other and so much more.
7. Guest Posts Are Becoming A Regular Thing
One of the most popular things in the blogging sphere is guest posting. Most authors do this. It allows them to take a little break without depriving their audience of the content. Not only that, by doing so, they allow for something new and different on their page – which is a good thing. So, if you receive an invite or a request to guest post, that can only mean one thing – you’re really good at what you’re doing. No one’s going to invite someone to post on their page unless they consider them worthy.
Also, if you receive a request for someone else to guest post on your blog – that also means you’re doing good, because, let’s be honest – nobody wants to make a guest appearance on a page no one visits or appreciates.
As you can tell, there are a number of different ways to see whether you’re on the right track or not. You just have to pay attention and not worry too much. Success will come, just take your time with it and keep getting better.