 |
|
|
|
Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources | HOME PAGE Health Club 101 DIRECT Natural Supplements | HGH Energizer | Eazol Natural Pain Relief | Revitol Cellulite Solution IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Menopause Symptoms Relief | Insomnia Sleeping Aid Articles & Information Medicine | Nutrition | Exercise | Fitness Equipment | Pregnancy Bodybuilding Supplements | Weight Loss | Breast Cancer | Diabetes Category Site Map |
 |
Exercise: Why YOU Should Do It
Hundreds of Thousands of Americans spend millions of dollars each year on diet pills, "magical" exercise devices, and misrepresented health and fitness products, when in all actuality a good set of dumbbells and a brisk walk may be all you need to get in better shape than you've ever been in. What can you do with nothing but a set of dumbbells, you ask? Provide resistance to your body's movements - also known as weight lifting. That's all weight lifting is - resistance. The terms "weight lifting" and "resistance training" have become one in the same because they are describing the same activity - moving your body under more resistance than it normally has to handle. In fact, you've just stumbled upon the basic secret of exercise in general! Whether you are talking about resistance training, Pilates, Yoga, cardiovascular activities, or any other form of exercise, all of these programs have one thing in common - performing more activity than you would get sitting on the couch. WHY should you exercise, though? How about defying the aging process for starters? Do you know that the primary reason why elderly people end up in nursing homes is because they lose the ability to think and move on their own? Do you also know that the entire process of thinking and moving on our own happens because we do it every day? Until we retire, that is. Once we don't have to go to work anymore, or deal with scheduling and lifestyle issues, suddenly the only thing that we have to think about is whether to watch game shows or soap operas all day long, and the only exercise we get is deftly flying our fingers over the remote control. Mush. That's what our brains and bodies turn into when we stop using them. Think you are still sharp as a tack, and at the height of your game? Try to say the alphabet backwards in 30 seconds or less. Yes?. sharp indeed. What about physically? Think that you can still hold your own even though you don't really exercise much? Stop reading this article and drop down on the floor for some correct-form push-ups. Did you do at least 30 if you are female, or at least 40 if you are male? No? How about 20 or 25? 15? Unless you pulled off 30 or 40, you are probably at less than the 50 percentile mark for your gender - health conditions notwithstanding. Okay, so you've determined that you aren't exactly Olympic athlete material. So what? You don't even like sports, let alone being very good at them. That's fine, and there is nothing wrong with that. So what about fat? Do you like bodyfat? Do you find it physically appealing? Do you think it's healthy? If so, we're done speaking. Go on about your business, and thanks for reading this far. For everyone else, here is a newsflash: In America today - the year 2004 - obesity related health conditions account for more deaths in the United States each year than all known forms of cancer COMBINED. Heart Disease alone is the number one killer of American adults, and it is a PREVENTABLE CONDITION! How about self-esteem? 64% of Americans are overweight. That is almost two-thirds of the population. If you think that a figure like that and the skyrocketing sales of prescription anti-depressants aren't related, you now have a second opportunity to stop reading this article and continue on with your day. Here is the bottom line, folks: Exercise and a reasonable nutrition program are necessary for ALL people, for their ENTIRE lives. Note, however, that I said "exercise", and that I also said "reasonable nutrition program". At no point did I say anything about spending 2 hours per day at the gym, or about eating nothing but carrots and celery for the rest of your life. Why? Those practices are just as ineffective at long-term weight loss as diet pills and late night infomercial products. Here is what DOES work: 1) Weight/Resistance Training - Weight training for both men and women has the same effect - it makes your muscles more metabolically active. In simpler terms, it means your muscles will burn more calories - even when you are sleeping. Muscle is the only site on your body where bodyfat is broken down. Weak muscles = weak metabolism. Weak metabolism = slow calorie burning. 2) Cardiovascular Training - Contrary to popular belief, this type of training is meant to help your cardio-respiratory system function more effectively, and ultimately to last longer. Does it burn a lot of calories? Sure it does. However, if you don't combine it with resistance training and supportive nutrition, you'll likely just burn off water weight and the muscle tissue that you worked so hard for up in step number 1. 3) Reasonable Nutrition Program - Quality sources of complex and fibrous carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and lean sources of protein. Eat those nutrients in reasonable proportions frequently throughout your day, and your metabolism (refer again to #1) will crank up to high, and you'll be burning more calories on a day to day basis than you ever have before in your life. So far we have seen that not only can exercise keep us out of a nursing home, but it can also keep off excess levels of bodyfat which will - literally - keep us alive. We haven't even touched on sports performance, recreational activities, improved energy levels, ability to focus, or many of the other benefits of a regular exercise program. Personally, I'd be happy with just staying out of a nursing home, and staying alive long enough to look good in a bathing suit. What about you? Aaron Potts is the owner and creator of Fitness Destinations. Aaron's experience in the health and fitness industry includes one on one personal training in many different environments, maintenance of several health-related websites, and authoring of many fitness-related products for consumers and fitness professionals. http://www.fitnessdestinations.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Men's Health
|
Women's
Health |
Children's
Health |
Elder
Health
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
4 Steps To More Effective Aerobic, Streching, and Weight Training Exercise We all know that well-balanced diets include the different nutrients we need to maintain health and well-being. But did you know that your exercise program needs to be well-balanced, too? There's three types of exercise to include in your work-out diet. Diet and Exercise - Without Going to the Gym Exercising and dieting are tasks that are very difficult for many of us, but usually just the thought of it that makes us queasy. There are some simple ways to get out and get fit, and you just might enjoy yourself too. 7 Reasons To Start Up With an Exercise Program Most of us need to follow an exercise program. This is due to the fact that just a minority of Americans exercise in a significant way. A Great Way To Spice Up Your Workouts -- Interval Training There's been a lot of buzz recently about Interval Training. So, you may be wondering what it really is and, more importantly, why you should incorporate it in your fitness workouts. Great Summer Workouts: Just Add Water With warm weather season now in full gear, exercisers want to take their workouts outside and breakout of their indoor fitness ruts. But, when temperatures reach record highs and humidity levels soar, traditional outdoor workouts become less appealing. The Importance of Stretching Exercises Muscles and connective tissues shorten over time and that results in less flexibility. If your muscles have gone some time without being used, they tend to become weaker and quite stiff. Strategies for Alleviating the Boredom Associated with Exercise Just about every expert in the ADD field will tell you that exercise is one of the best ADD management strategies there is. According to the book Delivered from Distraction:"When a person exercises, she sets in motion a cascade of events that her brain loves. Are You A One-Dimensional Trainer? Most people are classically biased toward one of the three legs of the fitness triad: progressive resistance training, cardiovascular training or diet/nutrition. How many folks try and lose weight by dieting and dieting alone? A safe bet would be a majority of individuals. Core Strength Limits Arm and Leg Power Core training has become such a hot topic in the exercise field recently and rightly so. Ask just about anyone what they understand about the body's core and you're likely to get an answer as it being the abdominal muscles. Tips To Deal with Exercise Induced Asthma For approximately 80-90% of people that suffer from asthma, exercise can be a strong stimulus for an attack. This syndrome has become known as exercise induced asthma or EIA. VO2 Max- Exposing the Myth VO2 max is defined as the maximal amount of oxygen the body is able to extract and use to support work performed by the body. It is therefore an indirect measure of the aerobic power of the body, which is controlled by complex interactions between neural (brain and nervous system), cardiovascular (heart and lungs) and skeletal muscle factors. Exercising With Kids -- Tips For Parents Making exercise a priority is a challenge for everyone. And for parents it can be especially difficult to find time to workout because of the full plates that they often juggle. Sports Specific Exercise The Greek physician Galen (AD 129 - 210) is generally accepted to be the originator of formalized exercise, he even pointed the way forward by stating,"?movements which do not alter respiration are not called exercise".Whilst he was chief physician to the Gladiators, Galen devised training drills to replicate movements from the arena, as seen in the 1960 film Spartacus. 3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.Fall is the time for new beginnings. Sweating Vacation It seems like everyone is concerned about putting on the pounds over the annual holiday season, but what about summer vacations? We spend the greater part of the new year trying to shed the weight gained from an over-indulgence of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies and various other sweets in order to slip into that new bikini or eliminate the gut before shedding the shirt at the beach. What happens when you reach your destination of summer frolicking? Toss your diet out the window and reward yourself with excess? Stay loyal to your eating and exercise plan? Somehow manage to find a happy medium? I was faced with these questions when I embarked on a weeklong excursion of bliss to Kona Village on the Big Island of Hawaii. How to Pick a Good Personal Trainer One of the major benefits of the YourBestBodyNOWProgram and several other programs like it is that you can lose weight and meet your fitness and weight loss goalseven if you have neither the time nor money to get a personal trainer.At the same time, if you do ultimately decide to hire trainer at some point,I want to make sure that you are going about it in a way that will bring you the absolutemaximum benefit. How To Get Started With Exercise: The Magic Pill Of Your Weight Loss Program In a previous article, I mentioned the weight loss mantra of "Eat Less.. How to Get Better Exercise Results By Improving Hydration Water and ExerciseYour body excretes water in a number of ways: through urination, defecation, breathing (that's why we always enjoyed breathing condensation on mirrors when we were kids) and perspiration. And when you are exercising, your body can lose a large amount of water. Basic Abdominal Exercises If it's six pack abs that you're after, daily abdominal exercises are the key to reaching your goal. There are a variety of effective abdominal exercises that you can try out to find which one is best for you. When Exercising Right Looks Wrong III (Back) Hopefully, if you read my last article I got you thinking. Thinking about different ways to train, not necessarily using machines, but using your entire body with each exercise.
|
|
home | site map Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources |
|
|
