Perhaps you have tried to work out and adopt a healthier living style before, but quickly lost your motivation. Chances are, your efforts failed because you did not know enough about what works and what does not. Go through these tips about fitness to find out what you can do.

When you’re working through a fitness regimen, remember that you should always warm up. If you are under the age of forty, hold your stretches for thirty seconds. If you are over the age of forty, your stretches should be held for sixty seconds. Muscles become less limber as you age, so it is wise to adjust your workout to keep on top of these changes.

Drink water before, during and after your workout. Water is the single most important substance for human beings and is required by every cell in your body. It’s crucial to stay hydrated. Not only that, but during a workout, your cells can create a lot of waste products. Water helps flush those toxins from your system.

If you are a regular runner make sure that you replace your running trainers at least every 500 miles. If you don’t replace your trainers when the soles have worn out, you will be running in an unstable trainer which could lead to knee injuries and ankle pain. A worn out shoe sole can also cause the bottoms of your feet to be covered in blisters and hard crusty callouses.

If you are a tennis or racquetball player and want to strengthen your forearms, pay attention to the following tip. Find a flat surface and put a big piece of newsprint onto it. Take the paper and crumple it up, do this for a half a minute. After doing this twice, change hands and do the action again, then twice with your dominating hand once more.

Clean all the equipment at the fitness center before you start using it. Other users may have left germs on the equipment. The purpose of going to the gym is to get fit, not sick.

One basic tip for fitness is do not overtrain! Sometimes when you have a health or fitness goal you want to achieve, it is tempting to push yourself to your fullest capacity, but this is not healthy. Set regular achievable goals for yourself and results will be well within your reach.

You will find that fitness includes extra things in addition to physical benefits. Achieving physical fitness can improve your emotional well being. The endorphins released while working out can improve your mood as well as some depression medications. You also increase your mood and confidence when you work out. You are essentially only a couple workouts away from being happy.

Now that you know everything about fitness, it is time to set up a schedule and stick to it. Make sure you start slowly and add new exercises to your routine progressively. Take your time, do not exhaust yourself and have a good time: these three elements are essential to fitness.