100 ideas for a better life: If you want to live a healthier and sportier life, you don’t have to change your entire everyday life. Often even small changes are good for the body.
100 ideas for a better life
Eat enough
Pay attention to your diet and integrate more exercise into your life – this is certainly a good recipe if you want to generally get fitter or reduce your weight a little. And psychological well-being is also strengthened. However, many people tend to change their behavior excessively. They keep a strict diet, constantly balancing on the verge of starvation and at the same time training intensively. This is not beneficial in the long term and is actually counterproductive.
On the one hand, such a strict regime is difficult to maintain – there is a risk of low motivation and binge eating, so many people experience the famous yo-yo effect at some point. Medical experts also warn of the increased risk of injury in certain sports because concentration decreases when you are hungry. And from his point of view, the body acts sensibly when it is fed little food and is under heavy strain: it burns what gives it energy – including muscle mass.
Nutritionist Paolo Colombani advises: “Eating less is certainly helpful when it comes to losing weight, but it shouldn’t get out of hand. Exercising counteracts muscle loss, but has little effect on fat loss.” Because when you exercise, only around ten to thirty grams of fat are burned per hour. So overall it takes more time, patience and balance.
Don’t always run at the same speed
You can always run at the same pace, but you can’t expect any improvement. Performance improves through variation, the body only changes thanks to different stimuli. According to running expert Maja Neuenschwander, “the right mix of different forms of exertion is what determines success.”
There is, for example, the five-stage model, which recognizes different levels of intensity: from slow units to moderate and medium intensity to very high intensity. If you want to find out what else is possible in your personal running experience, you should take a look at such a model and try out how your running performance develops. If variation is difficult on your own, joining an ambitious running group often helps.
Keep a cycle diary
The female cycle influences athletic performance. How big this influence is, however, seems to be individual. It is often said that the body tolerates intensive training better in the first half of the cycle, but after ovulation you should take it easy. But that has not been proven.
In general, amateur athletes are advised not to rely on studies, as there are few good ones and some results can hardly be adapted to recreational sports. Rather, a cycle diary helps to train body awareness and to design the sports routine according to your own needs. It is important to include as many factors as possible: performance, motivation, need for recovery, mental state, etc. Sports watches or apps help with cycle tracking and evaluating the data.
Do planks
Can an exercise be both the most frustrating and the most motivating at the same time? Somehow. If you do planks for the first time, supporting yourself on your toes and forearms and keeping your entire body in tension, you will quickly reach your limits or fall to the ground. But you are making rapid progress, every second is a success.
Planks primarily strengthen the core of the body, which many people neglect. The full-body exercise requires no aids and can be done almost anywhere and at any time. It is often recommended by experts because it does not contain any sweeping movements and is therefore less complex to perform – although of course you have to pay attention to certain things such as the correct posture of the back and shoulders.
Buy hiking poles
If you don’t take hiking sticks with you on the tour, it’s your own fault. Tired muscles have weakened coordination, which can lead to more falls, especially when going downhill. In addition, in everyday life we are all trained to push weight away from us, but when hiking we have to support our weight and that of our backpack when going downhill.
We use sticks to absorb some of the weight. Anyone who feels slight pain in their calves, knees or thighs after a hiking tour is recommended to try out poles. Adjusting the poles is easy: When you stand with them on a flat surface, your upper and forearms form a 90-degree angle. For steep passages, the length is adjusted by five to ten centimeters.
Play like a child again
Adults play games from their childhood on the game console, listen to hits from their youth, and treat themselves to sweets from the past. Nostalgia is good, but few celebrate it in sporting matters, even though experts say this would be psychologically and motivationally valuable.
At some point in life, sport becomes a compulsory program for many people. You choose an activity that is somewhat enjoyable or fits well into your everyday life. If you want to reawaken a child’s desire to move, you should reactivate old activities. Why not do rubber twisting, catch or play basketball, uncoordinated kicking around on the soccer field or running around the ping pong table? Just like that, with no goal, just for fun.
Pay attention to your breathing
If you don’t breathe properly, you’re limiting yourself. This knowledge has now also found its way into recreational sports. When you breathe deeply, more oxygen gets into the blood more quickly, it is transported quickly and reaches the muscles, among other things. Breathing has an effect on athletic performance.
But how do you breathe correctly? This varies depending on the sport. In sports such as swimming or yoga, breathing is given specific instructions by teachers. There is also advice for running – but how your body feels is also important. It’s better to find your own breathing rhythm than to pant in stress and follow an imposed rhythm. And in certain strength sports, breathing breaks are part of it. In general, it is advisable to consult a specialist if you are unsure or feel unwell.
Give yoga a chance
Yoga is proliferating everywhere, in very different forms – and that’s a good thing. Even if some enthusiasts exaggerate the effect of the sport and attribute many miraculous powers to it, this exercise routine is still advisable for many people. It trains body awareness and helps with focusing and switching off. And with yoga, many structures that have been shortened by too much sitting are carefully reactivated. Breathing and relaxation are also very important.
You can start at any age and you don’t have to be fit or flexible to practice yoga. And not healthy either: Many people try yoga exercises for the first time when they feel suffering and their body is causing problems. The course offerings and video tutorials are so numerous that there is a suitable variant for every need.
Brush your teeth on one leg
The more suitable for everyday use, the better – this applies to many sports units. Brushing your teeth on one leg may not be a sweaty sport, but it is a valuable activity for long-term enjoyment of movement. “Balance training is a central element of fall and accident prevention,” says sports doctor Natina Schregenberger. It is a misconception that you should only train your balance when you are older, because regular practice always helps and has effects for many sports.
What’s the point of setting up a slackline in the garden and then having it of little use? Then it’s better to incorporate a short exercise session every day while brushing your teeth, to make things more difficult with a non-slip balance ball or a rolled-up towel, on tiptoes or with your eyes closed.
Have your feet and running style analyzed
Anyone who buys running shoes today without a prior foot analysis is missing out on meaningful support right from the start of their jogging career. The analyzes are not time-consuming, are often free and help you find the right shoe model. Especially for newbies, it is valuable to be supported or cushioned in the right places. This not only helps with the feeling of running, but also helps protect the parts of the body that are particularly stressed when running.
If you go jogging regularly, advice on your running style is also helpful. Does your hips buckle, do your arms swing awkwardly, does your upper body wobble too tightly, or do you walk too heavily on your heels? Often even small adjustments can make a big difference, improving running pleasure and, if desired, performance.
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100 ideas for a better life