Guiding Star

Keeping fit

Alex and Sam Lowes are 16 year old racers in the British Supersport championship in British Superbikes. They race with Double Vision Racing www.doublevisionracing.co.uk. They have devised their top ten tips for keeping your fitness levels high.

Fitness isn’t just being able to run fast or do sit-ups. Fitness is the ability to meet the demands of the environment. Which includes home, school, work, family and friends; all of these make demands on you.

To ensure that we can easily cope with these demands and daily activity we need to make sure that we are fit enough to do so. This doesn’t mean training strenuously for hours every day this just means looking after yourself and doing small exercises so that you save yourself from getting as tired during the day, meaning you can have more fun in your free time!!

Here are the top ten hints for keeping fit:

Eat healthily and ensure that you have a well balanced diet, so that your body has enough energy stores to cope with activity. You can eat any foods and even McDonalds every now and again as long as you don’t eat too much of one thing. Obviously eating nothing but sweets and chocolate isn’t a balanced diet.
Always drink lots of water to avoid becoming de-hydratedl. Drink at least two litres a day, especially if you are exercising. If you are thirsty, you are already de-hydrated.
Try to prevent risk of injury and viruses as these affect your fitness levels and even when they have gone, you have to work to get your levels back to what they were.
Try to exercise at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes. This is the period that allows your heart to beat a lot faster than usual, causing the muscle in your heart to be worked. Like any other muscle, the more you work it, the stronger it becomes. The stronger the heart can beat the blood in your body, the further each pump will go resulting in your fitness improving. Examples of ways to exercise: light jog, walk to the shops instead of drive, walking up stairs instead of taking a lift, cycling, walking the dog or going swimming. These are examples of light training that can improve your fitness. They are more activities than exercises! If you want to become fitter and have a bigger effect on your fitness in specific areas or even just generally, there are more intense exercises you can do:
Weight training, in a gym or at home with light weights. This exercise is widely used and can be done at a gym or at home. Becoming stronger allows you to not use as much effort lifting daily objects so in turn not tiring yourself out as much. You don’t need to go and do the heaviest weights and become bulky with muscles like a weightlifter!!! You just need to do very light weight with high repetition so that you can cope with daily lifting easily.
Aerobic training. This can be done on your own or in a group at a club or in sessions. It consists or exercises such as spinning (cycling on gym bikes), running, aerobic sessions in a gym, swimming, cycling etc… this improves your stamina and allows you to have more energy during the day and not be as tired. This can be very fun if done in a group and is very effective. Again it doesn’t have to be at a very high intensity, just enough to make you sweat a little!
These exercises will help you become fitter but the amount you exercise and the intensity that you exercise is down to the individual and what they want to get out of it. If you want to become really fit in specific areas and train for something then your training needs to be a lot harder and frequent. Exercise will help with your fitness about two/three times a week will easily be enough.
When you exercise stretch, warm up and cool down slowly. Just a few minutes of gentle warming up and cooling down will really help you avoid feeling stiff the next day.
If something hurts, STOP. It is better to do lots of small amounts of exercise safely than work above your capacity and hurt yourself. If this happens not only will you be unable to exercise whilst you recover, undoing all the good you have done but it will put off doing exercise in the future.
Above all ENJOY IT. Exercise should be fun.

Before and after you exercise you must always stretch to prevent injury and stay healthy. The last thing you want when you wake up in the morning is aches and pains from your exercise.

Click here to learn some great warm-up stretches.





	Keeping fit Alex and Sam Lowes are 16 year old racers in the British Supersport championship in British Superbikes. They race with Double Vision Racing www.doublevisionracing.co.uk. They have devised their top ten tips for keeping your fitness levels high. Fitness isn’t just being able to run fast or do sit-ups. Fitness is the ability to meet the demands of the environment. Which includes home, school, work, family and friends; all of these make demands on you. To ensure that we can easily cope with these demands and daily activity we need to make sure that we are fit enough to do so. This doesn’t mean training strenuously for hours every day this just means looking after yourself and doing small exercises so that you save yourself from getting as tired during the day, meaning you can have more fun in your free time!! Here are the top ten hints for keeping fit: Eat healthily and ensure that you have a well balanced diet, so that your body has enough energy stores to cope with activity. You can eat any foods and even McDonalds every now and again as long as you don’t eat too much of one thing. Obviously eating nothing but sweets and chocolate isn’t a balanced diet. Always drink lots of water to avoid becoming de-hydratedl. Drink at least two litres a day, especially if you are exercising. If you are thirsty, you are already de-hydrated. Try to prevent risk of injury and viruses as these affect your fitness levels and even when they have gone, you have to work to get your levels back to what they were. Try to exercise at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes. This is the period that allows your heart to beat a lot faster than usual, causing the muscle in your heart to be worked. Like any other muscle, the more you work it, the stronger it becomes. The stronger the heart can beat the blood in your body, the further each pump will go resulting in your fitness improving. Examples of ways to exercise: light jog, walk to the shops instead of drive, walking up stairs instead of taking a lift, cycling, walking the dog or going swimming. These are examples of light training that can improve your fitness. They are more activities than exercises! If you want to become fitter and have a bigger effect on your fitness in specific areas or even just generally, there are more intense exercises you can do: Weight training, in a gym or at home with light weights. This exercise is widely used and can be done at a gym or at home. Becoming stronger allows you to not use as much effort lifting daily objects so in turn not tiring yourself out as much. You don’t need to go and do the heaviest weights and become bulky with muscles like a weightlifter!!! You just need to do very light weight with high repetition so that you can cope with daily lifting easily. Aerobic training. This can be done on your own or in a group at a club or in sessions. It consists or exercises such as spinning (cycling on gym bikes), running, aerobic sessions in a gym, swimming, cycling etc… this improves your stamina and allows you to have more energy during the day and not be as tired. This can be very fun if done in a group and is very effective. Again it doesn’t have to be at a very high intensity, just enough to make you sweat a little! These exercises will help you become fitter but the amount you exercise and the intensity that you exercise is down to the individual and what they want to get out of it. If you want to become really fit in specific areas and train for something then your training needs to be a lot harder and frequent. Exercise will help with your fitness about two/three times a week will easily be enough. When you exercise stretch, warm up and cool down slowly. Just a few minutes of gentle warming up and cooling down will really help you avoid feeling stiff the next day. If something hurts, STOP. It is better to do lots of small amounts of exercise safely than work above your capacity and hurt yourself. If this happens not only will you be unable to exercise whilst you recover, undoing all the good you have done but it will put off doing exercise in the future. Above all ENJOY IT. Exercise should be fun. Before and after you exercise you must always stretch to prevent injury and stay healthy. The last thing you want when you wake up in the morning is aches and pains from your exercise. Click here to learn some great warm-up stretches.

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