Staying fit requires two main things, a willingness to work and a willingness to stick with it. People go into a new fitness routine with a huge sense of enthusiasm and excitement, but as the time goes on the novelty wears off, and so does the workrate. Use these tips to keep you motivated.

In order to maximize your fitness potential, be sure to lightly exercise sore muscles the next day. This will allow blood to flow into the muscles at a much higher rate, therefor speeding up the healing process. Be sure to do more repetitions, but at a lighter weight or lighter strain.

A great way to get fit is to cut out regular soda from your diet. Drinking regular soda is pretty much the equivalent of drinking sugar. It definitely will not facilitate any kind of fitness goal. Instead, switch to diet soda or better yet, switch to water.

After a particularly strenuous workout of a muscle group, you can help your body to recover from the stress by performing a lightly targeted workout of the affected muscles one day after. By gently engaging the muscle, you are helping it to repair itself faster by enabling your body to more efficiently deliver nutrients and blood to the area.

Avoid trying to hack a basketball down when trying to take it from an opponent to avoid a foul. Instead try flipping the ball upward from underneath. This is more of a subtle, yet surprising technique that your opponent will most likely not see coming. It’s also much easier to grab it from a height than from the ground.

If you have a dog you should try walking him or her more often, so that you can take advantage of the workout. Take your dog out for a walk two or three times a day and you will be burning off many more calories than if you just went for one walk a day.

A great tip to boost your metabolism and increase the speed at which you burn calories is simple: take a walk after meals. This technique kick-starts your metabolism and begins burning fat, protein and other nutrients. By walking after meals, you ensure that your metabolism is working at a high rate throughout the day–you also make it more difficult for your body to store calories as fat.

To get the most optimum weight workout possible, keep your sessions to sixty minutes or less. If you continue your weight workout past the hour mark, your body actually starts creating more cortisol, a stress hormone, which can block testosterone and actually waste your muscles instead of building them.

To rock or wall climb more efficiently, purchase footwear that fits so tight on your bare feet that you can stand up but not walk without discomfort. For climbing, footwear this tight gives you the most effective control of your feet as you can better feel the rock you are climbing.

Consistency, consistency, consistency! These are the hallmarks of ANY fitness routine. If you can maintain your plan you will succeed. Use these tips to find new ways to work out or new reasons to keep up your motivation. Remember, we only get one body; let’s treat it right.