The Grandslam Workout By Steven Stratton At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

So if you cannot tell by the title, I am a big baseball fan, actually I love watching and playing sports. I love football, basketball, golf, and even soccer. I understand that sports are a pretty big deal in people’s lives. A lot of us were raised playing sports when we were kids, and even though we never made it to the big times, we still enjoy playing whenever we can, even if it is just softball. But even though we might never play in the big leagues, we can still train our bodies and workout like we are star athletes. Yes, we might not be talented enough to ever stand in the batter’s box against Tim Lincecum, or go toe to toe with Lebron James, but we can still take care of our bodies like they do.

There are three important keys that we need to take care of in our workouts, strength training, cardiovascular training, and flexibility/stretching. It is important that when you perform all these exercises that you do them properly, quality is better than quantity. If you can keep the proper form and do 15 repetitions of an exercise, then go for it, but if you cannot keep proper form you will risk injury.

Let’s start off with strength training. Obviously there are the normal and very effective workouts like push-ups, pull ups, bench press and squats, but try switching it up a little. Hit the dumbbells! There are so many strength exercises that you can do with just dumbbells, instead of doing the bench press with the bar, try doing it with the dumbbells, you will find that it can be more difficult because all your muscles are not only trying to push the weight up, but they are also having to stabilize the weight. Include the core in your weight training, that means do abdominal exercises, use medicine balls, exercise balls and cables to strengthen your core. You can avoid a lot of injuries by strengthening your core. Always try to find workouts where you not only have to lift the weight, but you also have to stabilize it. Building muscle helps speed up your metabolism and burns away that excess fat.

Secondly, do some cardiovascular training. This is your chance to be creative; there are so many ways to work out your lungs, heart and endurance. I know that many people do not like running on treadmills, or just do not like running in general. But running is so good for you. If you do not like treadmills then go run outside. If you have bad knees, join a gym that has a pool and do sprints in the pool. Go hiking, hiking is a great way to build endurance and strength, plus you getting to breathe fresh air. I like to get outside and do wind sprints, or get on a basketball court and run lines. There are so many ways to do cardio workouts, even if it just play the sport itself, like basketball, tennis, football, even racquetball. Have fun with it.

Last but not least, flexibility and stretching. I know it sounds weird, but if you are build muscle you have the risk of becoming stiff. That is why it is so important to find some type of stretch routine, it will help your muscles develop and you can avoid pulling a hamstring if you are stretching properly. Yoga, Pilates are pretty advance flexibility routines, but even if you can get a system down that challenges you, it will help a ton.

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