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ExerciseExcercise Millions of Americans simply aren’t moving enough to meet the minimum threshold for good health — that is, burning at least 700 to 1,000 calories a week through physical pursuits. The benefits of exercise may sound too good to be true, but decades of solid science confirm that exercise improves health and can extend your life.
What is Aerobic Exercise?Adding as little as half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day can help you avoid a host of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancers. Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, reduce stress, control your weight, brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning, and improve your sex life. A Balanced Excercise Program A well-rounded exercise program has four components: aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility, and balance exercises. Each benefits your body in a different way.
Protecting bone with strength training Strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts and the use of weight machines or free weights, are important for building muscle and protecting bone.
Bones lose calcium and weaken with age, but strength training can help slow or sometimes even reverse this trend. Not only can strength training make you look and feel better, but it can also result in better performance of everyday activities, such as climbing stairs and carrying bundles. Stronger muscles also mean better mobility and balance, and thus a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. In addition, more lean body mass aids in weight control because each pound of muscle burns more calories than its equivalent in fat. Ease back pain with flexibility exercises Stretching or flexibility training is the third prong of a balanced exercise program. Muscles tend to shorten and weaken with age. Shorter, stiffer muscle fibers make you vulnerable to injuries, back pain, and stress. But regularly performing exercises that isolate and stretch the elastic fibers surrounding your muscles and tendons can counteract this process. And stretching improves your posture and balance.
Preventing falls with balance exercises Balance tends to erode over time and regularly performing balance exercises is one of the best ways to protect against falls that lead to temporary or permanent disability. Balance exercises take only a few minutes and often fit easily into the warm-up portion of a workout. Many strength-training exercises also serve as balance exercises. Or balance-enhancing movements may simply be woven into other forms of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.
How do you start an exercise program?
How do you stay motivated?
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines aerobic exercise as "any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic in nature." It is a type of exercise that overloads the heart and lungs and causes them to work harder than at rest. The important idea behind aerobic exercise today, is to get up and get moving!! There are more activities than ever to choose from, whether it is a new activity or an old one. Find something you enjoy doing that keeps your heart rate elevated for a continuous time period and get moving to a healthier life. Weight training is important for a couple of reasons. First, the more muscle you have, the higher your base metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn even at rest. But the actual numbers involved in a whole day of "extra" calorie burning due to extra muscle are relatively small compared to the number of calories you can burn during an hour of cardio exercise. The second reason is more important. Whenever you lose weight, you will lose some muscle along with the fat. If you don't exercise and do some strength training, up to 30% of the weight you lose can come from muscle loss, and that isn't likely to be healthy over the long haul. Good strength and muscle tone are essential for functional living and health. You can hold your muscle loss down to 3-5% of total weight loss with moderate strength training. Likewise, strength training helps to preserve bone density, balance, and many other important things. So, strength train each muscle group at least twice a week--this really only takes about 30-45 minutes per workout. Better yet, try circuit training, where you lift weights without resting between sets. This method meets both cardio and strength requirements because you keep your heart rate elevated throughout your workout, increasing the amount of calories you burn per workout. After you've met your two strength sessions per week, focus on cardio if your goal is weight loss. You need the cardio for the calorie burning, and also to build and maintain your cardiovascular fitness. Oftentimes people will do the exact same thing for an extended period of time and wonder why they don’t see any changes. In the beginning, your body is challenged, but eventually it’s conditioned to handle the stress. The body needs to be continuously challenged to see results. It can be as simple as going from the 4.0 level on an exercise bike to 4.3, or from 0 percent grade to 1 percent on the treadmill – slowly putting a little more stress on the body, burning a few more calories, and developing more lean muscle tissue. You'll begin to notice the difference. Shorter Workouts Help Build Consistency
A recent study conducted at Boston Sports Clubs found that participants who exercised for 20-30 minutes did so more consistently than those involved in 45-60 minute workout sessions. This study shows that you're more likely to stick to a shorter duration workout than a longer one. If you are having trouble staying consistent with exercise, try a shorter workout session. Tell yourself that you'll exercise for 10 or 15 minutes, and follow through with it. Of course 10 minutes of exercise is better than totally skipping a workout. But, once you've hit that small goal (whether it's 5, 10, or 20 minutes), ask yourself if you could keep going. You may find that planning on a short workout is enough to get to the gym (or park, trail, etc.), and once you're there, you can do a lot more than you thought. Great fitness begins with a walk!
Walking is an ideal form of exercise for many reasons. You don't need special equipment to do it, it can be done by almost anyone, and you can do it almost anywhere! As an added bonus, there are numerous health benefits from starting a regular walking program: Good for your heart: Walking regularly can result in a reduction of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, both of which contribute to heart disease. Improves balance: This can help lower your risk of falls. This risk increases as we get older. Strengthens bones and joints: Walking is easier on your joints than running or aerobics (which are high impact activities). It also reduces your risk for osteoporosis. Weight control, more energy, better sleep: All benefits of a regular physical activity program. Exercise Extra: Walking shouldn't hurt. If it does, see your family physician. Morning Exercise Works!
More than 90% of those who exercise consistently have a morning fitness routine. If you want to exercise on a regular basis, the odds are in your favor if you squeeze your workout into the a.m. Morning exercise also has the following benefits:
· Exercising early in the morning "jump starts" your metabolism, keeping it elevated for hours, sometimes for up to 24 hours! As a result, you'll be burning more calories all day long--just because you exercised in the morning.
· Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day--not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you've done something disciplined and good for you. (Much better than a worm!)
· Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity--a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends. Exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you're snoozing.
· Assuming you make exercise a true priority, it shouldn't be a major problem to get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier--especially since regular exercise generally means a higher quality of sleep, which in turn means you'll probably require less sleep. (If getting up 30 to 60 minutes earlier each day seems too daunting, you can ease into it with 10 to 20 minutes at first.)
· When you exercise at about the same time every morning--especially if you wake up regularly at about the same time--you're regulating your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Your body learns that you do the same thing just about every day, and it begins to prepare for waking and exercise several hours before you actually open your eyes.
St Stay Active in front of the TV
According to A.C. Nielsen, Americans spend an average of more than four hours a day watching TV. Next time you click on your favorite show, instead of plopping on the couch, try some of these conditioning moves. Aerobic: Spend 10 cardio minutes on the stationary bike or Treadmill. Strength: 2 sets of wall sits, lateral raises with small dumbbells, and standing bicep curls. Flexibility: 10 minutes of side and arm stretches, neck relaxers and calf stretches. Squeeze in exercise and you'll have more time for other things. |
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