Keep it Positive.

Tracking progress is always important.  It’s good to know where you are compared to where you've been. It lets you know if what you are doing is working and can be an amazing feeling to see how you have progressed.  But the opposite can also be true.  If you haven’t been working out for a while you might not want to see the decline.

This is where apps like RunKeeper come in handy.  Most people have heard of RunKeeper for tracking runs, hikes, walks, and so on.  However they have also come out with some additional useful features. The good folks at RunKeeper recognized that it is important to always focus on the positive.  To this ed they were able to write there algorithms to congratulate you for any number of achievements.  This includes things like best time, most elevation change, and farthest distance.  These cover multiple time frames such as best this month, week, and so on.  This way you always get positive encouragement.  This is exactly what I needed on my most recent run.







I have not been training for a long time now.  I finally had some time to go for a respectable run the other day and I wasn't very impressed with myself.  That easy stride I used to have was completely gone.  By the end of the run I felt pretty crappy.  Thankfully RunKeeper pointed out that I was 9 seconds away from my best 5k time. (I race faster than I train) The point is that a positive attitude is key for improvement.  If your tough on yourself like many people are it's nice to have positive reminders.  There are many apps available that have similar notifications and tracking
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He's going to pump..... You up!

My favorite fitness social media site, Fitocracy.com has teamed up with biggest fitness icon of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Together they have created something called the 1% Challenge.  Together they have created 5 workout routines (so far) that take about 15 minutes each.  There are strength and cardio as well as equipment and body weight routines. Where does the 1% come in?  15 minutes is roughly only 1% of your 24 hr day.

I've talked about Fitocracy before but adding in these routines takes it up a notch.  Your not just blindly trying out exercises to see what works, though that's not always a bad way to begin.  All of these routines have video tutorials which is great for beginners who aren't sure of correct form.  In preparation for writing this post I watched a couple and I would even recommend them to people who know the exercises.  There are some good tips on how to keep your form all the way through the routine.

My favorite Routine is B or the Body Weight Circuit.  These means you can do all the exercises without buying any equipment going to the gym or even being at home.  If you live out of a suitcase you still don't have an excuse for not doing these.  Once again this is a great routine for beginners because it's much harder to injure yourself with no heavy objects around.  If this gets too easy you can always up your repetitions or jump over to the intermediate body weight routine D.

To ease myself back into working out and make sure I don't injure myself like I did last time this is how I'm starting off.  Personally I have added in some crunches and side planks but as with any exercise routine only do what feels comfortable to you.

//Actuator//