Fitness Tips: If you knew then what you know now.

[Vintage VFer]

What fitness tips do you wish you'd known when you first started working out? Here are a couple that come to my mind right away. I'm sure there are more.

1. Modify and/or Substitute. I learned this on VF and it is so important. Early on, I thought I had to do exactly what the instructor was doing to have a good workout. VF teaches us to modify or substitute moves as needed. At this point, I think I modify every single workout I do.

2. Foam Rolling before Strength workouts. I saw this technique in a workout set years ago. It was Rachel Cosgrove's "Drop 2 Sizes" set. About the same time, I was at a fitness convention and took a class with Cassidy Phillips who runs Trigger Point Fitness. He had us do a demo where we tried a strength move before foam rolling the muscle and then again after foam rolling. I was surprised at how the rolling improved strength and now foam roll for about 5 minutes before most strength workouts. If I remember correctly there is foam roll work in BeachBody's "Tai Cheng" set. (Which I did once and returned). Foam rolling is a great warm-up for the muscles. I wish I'd known that when I first started doing weight work. Of course, way back then, I'd never heard of a foam roller.

3. Don't waste your life trying to learn choreography if you are choreo-challenged (This one is more a personal observation. ) I was always terrible with complex choreography. Being slightly dyslexic doesn't help. I can't tell you how many hours and how many workouts I tried to learn with little success. It was a stressful waste of my time when I could have been having fun!

Any fitness tips you wish you'd known when starting out?