Are you a weekend warrior? Training for marathons, playing basketball with friends or just doing wild and crazy things. You won’t be able to do those things if you don’t take care of your body. Your performance can be increased for more fun, less tiredness and more competition. It’s not hard to do and many of the things we do on the weekend can be enhanced in much the same ways.
I’ve worked with a lot of weekend warriors, and there is one thing I tell all of them: you won’t get the best performance out of your body or have the most fun you could have if you limit your exercise to your weekly activity. by only exercising on the weekend you actually increases your chances of injury.
Here are some simple tips that I’ve found work for pretty much everyone. These tips will allow you to improve your performance and stay in the best possible shape for your weekend-warrior adventures.
Stretching.
No matter what sport you’re into, your body will perform better if you continue to have your full range of motion. Supple muscles simply work better. I’ll be happy to give you advice on stretching exercises to enhance your performance at your chosen sport, or else you can look up Yoga stretches online. Just be sure to follow this simple rule: do not continue stretching into pain. Pain means you’re doing damage, and that won’t help your performance at all.
Weight training.
Weight training improves our bodies’ overall performance by making us stronger and increasing our endurance. Even if your sport depends on speed – like competitive running or swimming – you need strong muscles to make that speed happen. Weight training also improves our bone density and keeps our bones strong.
Cardio work.
Cardio work is the ultimate means of improving your performance by increasing your endurance. There are a lot of possible cardio exercises you can try, from dancing to kickboxing. The point here is that you can’t expect your body to perform its best on weekends if you’re not working on your cardio fitness at least one or two times a week in between competitions. Strengthening your heart is a great way to increase your performance.
I know that these tips may sound as though I’m trying to take your weekend fun and turn it into a chore and we don’t like chores. But that’s not the case! Any of these activities that you can do during the week will improve your weekend performance and make your weekend activities more fun for you.
You don’t have to decide to devote your life to fitness to achieve improved performance. Even if you spend a total of three hours a week on some combination of stretching, cardio, and weights, you’re going to see a measurable improvement in your ability to enjoy your weekend activity. You will also feel better and more fit and there is nothing better than that.
Now, if you do want to go all-out – for example, if you want to improve to the point you’re running 10ks instead of 5, or you’ve decided that, just once, you’re going to be able to dunk that basketball – of course you’re going to need to work harder. The more effort you put into anything, the more you’re going to improve.
But if you just want to enjoy what you’re doing on the weekends more and perform a bit better, just scale the exercise tips I’ve given you to a level that will help you meet that goal. You can improve performance and your health with any additional amount of exercise than what you are doing right now. Continuing to exercise during the week can be a challenge with work, family and a million other things that can get in the way.
