How much aerobic exercise do you need to do to gain the benefits?
There are two physical activity guidelines in the Unites States. The first, the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health, is a lifestyle recommendation. That is, you can modify it to fit into your daily routine and activities of daily living. The recommendation is that all adults should accumulate 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most, if not all days of the week. The key words are "accumulate" and "moderate-intensity." Accumulate means that you can do 10-15 minutes at a time and repeat that a couple of times throughout the day; for example, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at lunch, and 10 minutes around dinner.
Moderate intensity is equivalent to feeling "warm and slightly out of breath" when you do it.
The second recommendation is from the American College of Sports Medicine. The ACSM recommends 20-60 minutes of continuous aerobic activity (biking, walking, jogging, dancing, swimming, etc.), three to five times a week, at 60%-90% of maximum heart rate, and two to three days of resistance training. This is a more formal, "workout" recommendation, although you can also accumulate the more intense workout in bouts of 10-15 minutes throughout the day if you like.
Which one you choose is a personal choice. They are not intended to compete with each other, but rather provide options, and maybe even complement each other. For instance, the Surgeon General's recommendation may be more practical for individuals who are unwilling, or unable, to adopt the more formal ACSM recommendation. Of course, there's no downside to working out regularly with aerobic exercise and also becoming more physically active as per the Surgeon General (take more stairs, mow the lawn by hand, park far away from the store and walk).
How do I go about getting started with aerobic exercise?
My suggestion for getting started is almost always the same. Keep it simple, keep it practical, keep it convenient, keep it realistic, keep it specific, and don't try to make up for years of inactivity all at once. Select any activity and amount of time where the probability of sticking with it is high. You may not love walking, but if you can do it right outside your door, and it requires no special equipment, and you already know how to do it (you've been walking your entire life!), then walking might be your best bet for getting started because it's so convenient.
What I mean by "be specific" pertains to setting exercise plans. Planning is helpful for behavior change, and I suggest that you set goals each week. I suggest writing down what day(s) of the week you'll exercise, what time of day, minutes of activity, location, and the activity that you'll do. Be as specific and realistic as possible, and remember that it's not how much you do when you get started but that you simply get started (getting started is usually the hardest part).
A sample plan might look like this:
Monday: Take a 20-minute brisk walk at 7 a.m. around the block four times.
Tuesday: Do the same as on Monday.
Wednesday: Take a 20-minute walk at 6:30 p.m. (right before dinner) around the block.
Thursday: Take the day off.
Friday: Take a 20-minute walk at 7 a.m. around the block.
Saturday: Walk with your family at 10 a.m. for 45 minutes in park.
Sunday: Bike ride with your spouse for 60 minutes in park at noon. Mom will baby-sit.
I suggest keeping records of your weekly progress by writing down what happens, or at least checking off that you followed through, and then setting your weekly plan every week for at least three months. Then at three months you can evaluate your progress and see if any changes need to be made. Also ask yourself at that time if you believe you will be exercising regularly in six more months. If the answer is "I'm not sure," or "no," then you ought to continue to set weekly goals. If you are confident that you can maintain the behavior and will be exercising in six months, then you may not need to set weekly goals, but at the fist sign of slipping, you ought to go back to it.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Aerobic Exercise 3
What is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise?
I defined aerobic exercise for you in the introduction. It's any activity that stimulates your heart rate and breathing to increase but not so much that you can't sustain the activity for more than a few minutes. Aerobic means "with oxygen," and anaerobic means "without oxygen." Anaerobic exercise is the type where you get out of breath in just a few moments, like when you lift weights, when you sprint, or when you climb a long flight of stairs (or a short flight if you're deconditioned!)
A caveat
Dancing, swimming, water aerobics, biking, walking, hiking, and many other activities are all examples of aerobic activities, but they can be anaerobic too if they are performed at a high enough intensity. Try riding your bike alongside Lance Armstrong in the French Alps and you'll know what anaerobic exercise means in moments. But then again, riding along on your bike at a leisurely 8-10 mph on the boardwalk at the seashore is the same activity, but at a much lower intensity, much lower heart rate, and much lower oxygen consumption, and so in this case, biking is aerobic. The bottom line is that the intensity that you perform an activity determines if it's aerobic or anaerobic.
What are the health benefits of aerobic exercise?
Perhaps no area of exercise science has been more studied than the benefits of aerobic exercise. There is a mountain of evidence to prove that regular aerobic exercise will improve your health, your fitness, and much more. Here's a partial list of the documented health benefits of aerobic exercise.
Cancer prevention
Colon cancer. Research is clear that physically active men and women have about a 30%-40% reduction in the risk of developing colon cancer compared with inactive individuals. It appears that 30-60 minutes per day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk, and there is a dose-response relationship, which means that the risk declines the more active you are. Breast cancer. There is reasonably clear evidence that physically active women have about a 20%-30% reduction in risk compared with inactive women. Like colon cancer, it appears that 30-60 minutes per day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk, and it is likely that there is a dose-response relationship as well. Prostate cancer. Research is inconsistent regarding whether physical activity plays any role in the prevention of this cancer. Lung cancer. There are relatively few studies on physical activity and lung cancer prevention. The available data suggest that physically active individuals have a lower risk of lung cancer; however, it is difficult to completely account for cigarette smoking. Other cancers. There is little information on the role of physical activity in preventing other cancers.
Cancer treatment
There's some good news for people undergoing cancer treatment. In one study, aerobic exercise performed five days per week for 30-35 minutes for six weeks at 80% of maximal heart rate reduced fatigue in women being treated for cancer. In another study, 10 weeks of aerobic exercise at 60% of maximum heart rate for 30-40 minutes, four days per week, reduced depression and anxiety in female cancer patients. Aerobic exercise isn't a panacea when it comes to cancer, but evidence suggests that it certainly can help.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone density which can lead to an increased risk of fracture. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including over 300,000 hip fractures, 700,000 vertebral fractures, 250,000 wrist fractures, and 300,000 fractures at other sites. The good news is that exercise may increase bone density or at least slow the rate of decrease in both men and women. It may not work for everyone, and the precise amount and type of exercise necessary to accrue benefits is unknown, but there is evidence that it can help. In children there is good news, too. It seems that active children have greater bone density than sedentary children and that this may help prevent fractures later in life.
Depression
Most of us who exercise regularly understand that exercise can elevate our mood. There have been a number of studies investigating the effects of exercise on depression. In one of the most recent studies, it was shown that three to five days per week for 12 weeks of biking or treadmill for approximately 30 minutes per workout reduced scores on a depression questionnaire by 47%! It's not a substitute for therapy in a depression that causes someone to be unable to function (in which case medication and /or psychotherapy may be necessary), but for milder forms of depression, the evidence is persuasive that it can help.
Diabetes
No study has been more conclusive about the role of lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) in preventing diabetes than the Diabetes Prevention Program. It was a study of more than 3,000 individuals at high risk for diabetes who lost 12-15 pounds and walked 150 minutes per week (five 30-minute walks per day) for three years. They reduced their risk of diabetes by 58%! That's significant considering there are 1 million new cases of diabetes diagnosed each year. Aerobic exercise can also improve insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition where the body doesn't use insulin properly, and this condition can occur in individuals who do and do not have diabetes. Insulin is a hormone that helps the cells in the body convert glucose (sugar) to energy. Many studies have shown the positive effects of exercise on insulin resistance. In one, 28 obese postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes did aerobic exercise for 16 weeks, three times per week, for 45-60 minutes, and their insulin sensitivity improved by 20%!
Cardiovascular disease
The list of studies that show that aerobic exercise prevents or reduces the occurrence of cardiovascular disease is so long that it would take this entire article and probably five others just like it to review all of the research. One of the most important is one of the earliest. In a study of more than 13,000 men and women, it was shown that the least fit individuals had much higher rates of cardiovascular disease than fit individuals—in some cases, the risk was twice as high. Aerobic exercise works in many ways to prevent heart disease; two of the most important are by reducing blood pressure and allowing blood vessels to be more compliant (more compliant means that they become less stiff and it's less likely for fat to accumulate and clog up the vessels). Results like these have been proven over and over again.
Obesity and weight control
Aerobic exercise is believed by many scientists to be the single best predictor of weight maintenance. You can lose weight without exercise by reducing your caloric intake enough so that you burn more calories than you consume, but it takes a regular dose of exercise to keep your weight off. How much is not clear, but somewhere between 40 minutes of vigorous exercise several times per week to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise five or more days per week is probably about right. Your mileage will vary, and so once you get to the weight that you want to be at you'll need to experiment with different amounts of exercise until you find the one that works for you. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that overweight and obese individuals progressively increase to a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, but for long-term weight loss, overweight and obese adults should eventually progress to 200 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity.
Aerobic exercise definitely burns lots of calories. Below is a table of minutes of continuous activity necessary to expend 300 calories based on your body weight.
Cognitive function
Scientists have recently become interested in the effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive function. It has been shown in rats that use of a running wheel every day stimulates new brain cells to grow in as few as 12 days. Brain cells in humans can't be studied directly, but what has been shown is that rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease are lower in older individuals who exercise three or more times per week compared with older adults who exercise fewer than three times per week. In some cases the risk is 62% lower! Evidence is also accumulating that active individuals perform better on cognitive function tests such as tests of memory and spatial relations than sedentary individuals. Cognitive function is an exciting area of research in its infancy. I suggest not waiting for more to be known. I say get started now and get those brain cells working!
I defined aerobic exercise for you in the introduction. It's any activity that stimulates your heart rate and breathing to increase but not so much that you can't sustain the activity for more than a few minutes. Aerobic means "with oxygen," and anaerobic means "without oxygen." Anaerobic exercise is the type where you get out of breath in just a few moments, like when you lift weights, when you sprint, or when you climb a long flight of stairs (or a short flight if you're deconditioned!)
A caveat
Dancing, swimming, water aerobics, biking, walking, hiking, and many other activities are all examples of aerobic activities, but they can be anaerobic too if they are performed at a high enough intensity. Try riding your bike alongside Lance Armstrong in the French Alps and you'll know what anaerobic exercise means in moments. But then again, riding along on your bike at a leisurely 8-10 mph on the boardwalk at the seashore is the same activity, but at a much lower intensity, much lower heart rate, and much lower oxygen consumption, and so in this case, biking is aerobic. The bottom line is that the intensity that you perform an activity determines if it's aerobic or anaerobic.
What are the health benefits of aerobic exercise?
Perhaps no area of exercise science has been more studied than the benefits of aerobic exercise. There is a mountain of evidence to prove that regular aerobic exercise will improve your health, your fitness, and much more. Here's a partial list of the documented health benefits of aerobic exercise.
Cancer prevention
Colon cancer. Research is clear that physically active men and women have about a 30%-40% reduction in the risk of developing colon cancer compared with inactive individuals. It appears that 30-60 minutes per day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk, and there is a dose-response relationship, which means that the risk declines the more active you are. Breast cancer. There is reasonably clear evidence that physically active women have about a 20%-30% reduction in risk compared with inactive women. Like colon cancer, it appears that 30-60 minutes per day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk, and it is likely that there is a dose-response relationship as well. Prostate cancer. Research is inconsistent regarding whether physical activity plays any role in the prevention of this cancer. Lung cancer. There are relatively few studies on physical activity and lung cancer prevention. The available data suggest that physically active individuals have a lower risk of lung cancer; however, it is difficult to completely account for cigarette smoking. Other cancers. There is little information on the role of physical activity in preventing other cancers.
Cancer treatment
There's some good news for people undergoing cancer treatment. In one study, aerobic exercise performed five days per week for 30-35 minutes for six weeks at 80% of maximal heart rate reduced fatigue in women being treated for cancer. In another study, 10 weeks of aerobic exercise at 60% of maximum heart rate for 30-40 minutes, four days per week, reduced depression and anxiety in female cancer patients. Aerobic exercise isn't a panacea when it comes to cancer, but evidence suggests that it certainly can help.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone density which can lead to an increased risk of fracture. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including over 300,000 hip fractures, 700,000 vertebral fractures, 250,000 wrist fractures, and 300,000 fractures at other sites. The good news is that exercise may increase bone density or at least slow the rate of decrease in both men and women. It may not work for everyone, and the precise amount and type of exercise necessary to accrue benefits is unknown, but there is evidence that it can help. In children there is good news, too. It seems that active children have greater bone density than sedentary children and that this may help prevent fractures later in life.
Depression
Most of us who exercise regularly understand that exercise can elevate our mood. There have been a number of studies investigating the effects of exercise on depression. In one of the most recent studies, it was shown that three to five days per week for 12 weeks of biking or treadmill for approximately 30 minutes per workout reduced scores on a depression questionnaire by 47%! It's not a substitute for therapy in a depression that causes someone to be unable to function (in which case medication and /or psychotherapy may be necessary), but for milder forms of depression, the evidence is persuasive that it can help.
Diabetes
No study has been more conclusive about the role of lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) in preventing diabetes than the Diabetes Prevention Program. It was a study of more than 3,000 individuals at high risk for diabetes who lost 12-15 pounds and walked 150 minutes per week (five 30-minute walks per day) for three years. They reduced their risk of diabetes by 58%! That's significant considering there are 1 million new cases of diabetes diagnosed each year. Aerobic exercise can also improve insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition where the body doesn't use insulin properly, and this condition can occur in individuals who do and do not have diabetes. Insulin is a hormone that helps the cells in the body convert glucose (sugar) to energy. Many studies have shown the positive effects of exercise on insulin resistance. In one, 28 obese postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes did aerobic exercise for 16 weeks, three times per week, for 45-60 minutes, and their insulin sensitivity improved by 20%!
Cardiovascular disease
The list of studies that show that aerobic exercise prevents or reduces the occurrence of cardiovascular disease is so long that it would take this entire article and probably five others just like it to review all of the research. One of the most important is one of the earliest. In a study of more than 13,000 men and women, it was shown that the least fit individuals had much higher rates of cardiovascular disease than fit individuals—in some cases, the risk was twice as high. Aerobic exercise works in many ways to prevent heart disease; two of the most important are by reducing blood pressure and allowing blood vessels to be more compliant (more compliant means that they become less stiff and it's less likely for fat to accumulate and clog up the vessels). Results like these have been proven over and over again.
Obesity and weight control
Aerobic exercise is believed by many scientists to be the single best predictor of weight maintenance. You can lose weight without exercise by reducing your caloric intake enough so that you burn more calories than you consume, but it takes a regular dose of exercise to keep your weight off. How much is not clear, but somewhere between 40 minutes of vigorous exercise several times per week to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise five or more days per week is probably about right. Your mileage will vary, and so once you get to the weight that you want to be at you'll need to experiment with different amounts of exercise until you find the one that works for you. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that overweight and obese individuals progressively increase to a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, but for long-term weight loss, overweight and obese adults should eventually progress to 200 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity.
Aerobic exercise definitely burns lots of calories. Below is a table of minutes of continuous activity necessary to expend 300 calories based on your body weight.
Cognitive function
Scientists have recently become interested in the effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive function. It has been shown in rats that use of a running wheel every day stimulates new brain cells to grow in as few as 12 days. Brain cells in humans can't be studied directly, but what has been shown is that rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease are lower in older individuals who exercise three or more times per week compared with older adults who exercise fewer than three times per week. In some cases the risk is 62% lower! Evidence is also accumulating that active individuals perform better on cognitive function tests such as tests of memory and spatial relations than sedentary individuals. Cognitive function is an exciting area of research in its infancy. I suggest not waiting for more to be known. I say get started now and get those brain cells working!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Aerobic Exercise 2
How aerobically fit can we be?
The average sedentary adult will reach a level of oxygen consumption close to 35 ml/kg/min during a maximal treadmill test (where you're asked to walk as hard as you can). Translated, that means the person is consuming 35 milliliters of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight per minute. That'll get you through the day, but elite athletes can reach values as high as 90ml/kg/minute! How do they do it? Good genes for one, but they also train hard. And when they do, their bodies adapt. The good news is that the bodies of mere mortals like the rest of us adapt to training too. Here's how.
What are the fitness benefits of aerobic exercise?
How our bodies adapt
Here's what happens inside your body when you do aerobic exercise regularly:
1. Your heart gets stronger and pumps more blood with each beat (larger stroke volume). Elite athletes, as I just mentioned, can have stroke volumes more than twice as high as average individuals. But it's not just that. Conditioned hearts also have greater diameter and mass (the heart's a muscle too and gets bigger when you train it), and they pump efficiently enough to allow for greater filling time, which is a good thing because it means that more blood fills the chambers of the heart before they pump so that more blood gets pumped with each beat.2. Greater stroke volume means the heart doesn't have to pump as fast to meet the demands of exercise. Fewer beats and more stroke volume mean greater efficiency. Think about a pump emptying water out of a flooded basement. The pump works better and lasts longer if it can pump larger volumes of water with each cycle than if it has to pump faster and strain and to get rid of the water. High stroke volume is why athletes' hearts don't pump as fast during exercise and why they have such low resting heart rates; sometimes as low as 40 beats per minute, whereas the average is 60-80 beats per minutes!3. Downstream from the heart are your muscles, which get more efficient at consuming oxygen when you do regular aerobic exercise. This happens because of an increase in the activity and number of enzymes that transport oxygen into the muscle. Imagine 100 oxygen molecules circulating past a muscle. You're twice as fit if the muscle can consume all 100 molecules than if it can only consume 50. Another way of saying it is that you're twice as fit as someone if your VO2 max is 60ml/kg/min and theirs is 30ml/kg/min. In terms of performance in this scenario, you'll have more endurance because your muscles won't run out of oxygen as quickly.4. Mitochondria inside the muscle increase in number and activity. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. They do all the heavy-duty work to keep you moving. They use the oxygen to burn the fat and carbohydrate that makes you go. You'd be nowhere without mitochondria! The good news is that they increase in number and activity, by as much as 50%, in just a matter of days to weeks in response to regular aerobic exercise in adults of all ages.
Burn, baby, burn
I mentioned that fat and carbohydrate are the fuels our muscles burn. The difference between them is that fat is high-test; it contains 9 calories per gram whereas carbohydrate has only 4, and so you get more energy and can go farther on a gram of fat than on a gram of carbohydrate. You want to burn fat because it's such an efficient fuel, plus it's nice to lose some of your excess fat! The catch is that you need more oxygen to burn fat because it's denser than carbohydrate. The good news is that your body gets better at using oxygen and burning fat when you do regular aerobic exercise; like I described, your heart pumps more blood, your muscles consume more oxygen, and you have more mitochondria. Regular aerobic exercise has the potential to turn you into a lean, mean, fat-burning machine!
The average sedentary adult will reach a level of oxygen consumption close to 35 ml/kg/min during a maximal treadmill test (where you're asked to walk as hard as you can). Translated, that means the person is consuming 35 milliliters of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight per minute. That'll get you through the day, but elite athletes can reach values as high as 90ml/kg/minute! How do they do it? Good genes for one, but they also train hard. And when they do, their bodies adapt. The good news is that the bodies of mere mortals like the rest of us adapt to training too. Here's how.
What are the fitness benefits of aerobic exercise?
How our bodies adapt
Here's what happens inside your body when you do aerobic exercise regularly:
1. Your heart gets stronger and pumps more blood with each beat (larger stroke volume). Elite athletes, as I just mentioned, can have stroke volumes more than twice as high as average individuals. But it's not just that. Conditioned hearts also have greater diameter and mass (the heart's a muscle too and gets bigger when you train it), and they pump efficiently enough to allow for greater filling time, which is a good thing because it means that more blood fills the chambers of the heart before they pump so that more blood gets pumped with each beat.2. Greater stroke volume means the heart doesn't have to pump as fast to meet the demands of exercise. Fewer beats and more stroke volume mean greater efficiency. Think about a pump emptying water out of a flooded basement. The pump works better and lasts longer if it can pump larger volumes of water with each cycle than if it has to pump faster and strain and to get rid of the water. High stroke volume is why athletes' hearts don't pump as fast during exercise and why they have such low resting heart rates; sometimes as low as 40 beats per minute, whereas the average is 60-80 beats per minutes!3. Downstream from the heart are your muscles, which get more efficient at consuming oxygen when you do regular aerobic exercise. This happens because of an increase in the activity and number of enzymes that transport oxygen into the muscle. Imagine 100 oxygen molecules circulating past a muscle. You're twice as fit if the muscle can consume all 100 molecules than if it can only consume 50. Another way of saying it is that you're twice as fit as someone if your VO2 max is 60ml/kg/min and theirs is 30ml/kg/min. In terms of performance in this scenario, you'll have more endurance because your muscles won't run out of oxygen as quickly.4. Mitochondria inside the muscle increase in number and activity. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. They do all the heavy-duty work to keep you moving. They use the oxygen to burn the fat and carbohydrate that makes you go. You'd be nowhere without mitochondria! The good news is that they increase in number and activity, by as much as 50%, in just a matter of days to weeks in response to regular aerobic exercise in adults of all ages.
Burn, baby, burn
I mentioned that fat and carbohydrate are the fuels our muscles burn. The difference between them is that fat is high-test; it contains 9 calories per gram whereas carbohydrate has only 4, and so you get more energy and can go farther on a gram of fat than on a gram of carbohydrate. You want to burn fat because it's such an efficient fuel, plus it's nice to lose some of your excess fat! The catch is that you need more oxygen to burn fat because it's denser than carbohydrate. The good news is that your body gets better at using oxygen and burning fat when you do regular aerobic exercise; like I described, your heart pumps more blood, your muscles consume more oxygen, and you have more mitochondria. Regular aerobic exercise has the potential to turn you into a lean, mean, fat-burning machine!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Aerobic Exercise
What is aerobic exercise?
Imagine that you're exercising. You're working up a sweat, you're breathing hard, your heart is thumping, blood is coursing through your vessels to deliver oxygen to the muscles to keep you moving, and you sustain the activity for more than just a few minutes. That's aerobic exercise; any activity that you can sustain for more than just a few minutes while your heart, lungs, and muscles work overtime. In this article, I'll discuss the mechanisms of aerobic exercise; oxygen transport and consumption, the role of the heart and the muscles, the proven benefits of aerobic exercise, how much you need to do to reap the benefits, and more.
The beginning
It all starts with breathing. The average healthy adult inhales and exhales about 7 to 8 liters of air per minute. Once you fill your lungs, the oxygen in the air (air contains approximately 20% oxygen) is filtered through small branches of tubes (called bronchioles) until it reaches the alveoli. The alveoli are tiny sacs (they kind of look like bunches of grapes, and you have about 300,000,000 in each lung!) where oxygen diffuses (enters) into the blood. From there, it's a beeline direct to the heart.
Getting to the heart of it
The heart has four chambers that fill with blood and pump blood (two atria and two ventricles) and some very large and active coronary arteries. Because of all this action, the heart needs a fresh supply of oxygen, and as you just learned, the lungs provide it. Once the heart uses what it needs, it pumps the blood, the oxygen, and other nutrients out through the large left ventricle and through the circulatory system to all the organs, muscles, and tissue that need it.
A whole lot of pumping going on
Your heart beats approximately 60-80 times per minute at rest, 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime! Every beat of your heart sends a volume of blood (called stroke volume—more about that later), along with oxygen and many other life-sustaining nutrients, circulating through your body. The average healthy adult heart pumps about 5 liters of blood per minute.
Oxygen consumption and muscles
All that oxygen being pumped by the blood is important. You may be familiar with the term "oxygen consumption." In science, it's labeled VO2, or volume of oxygen consumed. It's the amount of oxygen the muscles extract, or consume from the blood, and it's expressed as ml/kg/minute (milliliters per kilogram of body weight). Muscles are like engines that run on fuel (just like an automobile that runs on fuel); only our muscles use fat and carbohydrates instead of gasoline. Oxygen is a key player because, once inside the muscle, it's used to burn fat and carbohydrate for fuel to keep our engines running. The more efficient our muscles are at consuming oxygen, the more fuel we can burn, the more fit we are, and the longer we can exercise.
How aerobically fit can we be?
The average sedentary adult will reach a level of oxygen consumption close to 35 ml/kg/min during a maximal treadmill test (where you're asked to walk as hard as you can). Translated, that means the person is consuming 35 milliliters of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight per minute. That'll get you through the day, but elite athletes can reach values as high as 90ml/kg/minute! How do they do it? Good genes for one, but they also train hard. And when they do, their bodies adapt. The good news is that the bodies of mere mortals like the rest of us adapt to training too. Here's how.
Imagine that you're exercising. You're working up a sweat, you're breathing hard, your heart is thumping, blood is coursing through your vessels to deliver oxygen to the muscles to keep you moving, and you sustain the activity for more than just a few minutes. That's aerobic exercise; any activity that you can sustain for more than just a few minutes while your heart, lungs, and muscles work overtime. In this article, I'll discuss the mechanisms of aerobic exercise; oxygen transport and consumption, the role of the heart and the muscles, the proven benefits of aerobic exercise, how much you need to do to reap the benefits, and more.
The beginning
It all starts with breathing. The average healthy adult inhales and exhales about 7 to 8 liters of air per minute. Once you fill your lungs, the oxygen in the air (air contains approximately 20% oxygen) is filtered through small branches of tubes (called bronchioles) until it reaches the alveoli. The alveoli are tiny sacs (they kind of look like bunches of grapes, and you have about 300,000,000 in each lung!) where oxygen diffuses (enters) into the blood. From there, it's a beeline direct to the heart.
Getting to the heart of it
The heart has four chambers that fill with blood and pump blood (two atria and two ventricles) and some very large and active coronary arteries. Because of all this action, the heart needs a fresh supply of oxygen, and as you just learned, the lungs provide it. Once the heart uses what it needs, it pumps the blood, the oxygen, and other nutrients out through the large left ventricle and through the circulatory system to all the organs, muscles, and tissue that need it.
A whole lot of pumping going on
Your heart beats approximately 60-80 times per minute at rest, 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime! Every beat of your heart sends a volume of blood (called stroke volume—more about that later), along with oxygen and many other life-sustaining nutrients, circulating through your body. The average healthy adult heart pumps about 5 liters of blood per minute.
Oxygen consumption and muscles
All that oxygen being pumped by the blood is important. You may be familiar with the term "oxygen consumption." In science, it's labeled VO2, or volume of oxygen consumed. It's the amount of oxygen the muscles extract, or consume from the blood, and it's expressed as ml/kg/minute (milliliters per kilogram of body weight). Muscles are like engines that run on fuel (just like an automobile that runs on fuel); only our muscles use fat and carbohydrates instead of gasoline. Oxygen is a key player because, once inside the muscle, it's used to burn fat and carbohydrate for fuel to keep our engines running. The more efficient our muscles are at consuming oxygen, the more fuel we can burn, the more fit we are, and the longer we can exercise.
How aerobically fit can we be?
The average sedentary adult will reach a level of oxygen consumption close to 35 ml/kg/min during a maximal treadmill test (where you're asked to walk as hard as you can). Translated, that means the person is consuming 35 milliliters of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight per minute. That'll get you through the day, but elite athletes can reach values as high as 90ml/kg/minute! How do they do it? Good genes for one, but they also train hard. And when they do, their bodies adapt. The good news is that the bodies of mere mortals like the rest of us adapt to training too. Here's how.
Monday, August 27, 2007
For Better Fitness, Swim Like a Fish
Swimming is easy on the body, and a great way to get fit. Aquatics are cardiovascular and strengthening all in one -- and a great hot-weather exercise. What kid doesn't love swimming?
Water exercise is one of the best nonimpact fitness activities around, says the American Council on Exercise. Just about anybody can swim or work out in water, including pregnant women, the elderly, the overweight, and people with arthritis or physical disabilities.
What's great about swimming? The buoyancy of water reduces your weight by about 90%. That puts less stress on joints, bones, and muscles. That's why a pool is a great place for people with arthritis or back problems to exercise.
When you swim, you involve all the major muscle groups -- the shoulders, back, abdominals, legs, hips, and glutes. Because water provides 12 times the resistance, exercise in water helps build strength. Water exercise strengthens your heart, as well.
Do it right, and swimming can also help you lose weight. But you have to push yourself because it's harder to lose weight by swimming than, say, by running. To get the burn, push hard for short spurts, then drop back to a less-intense level. It's interval training, just like you would do with walking.
Getting Started on Water Fitness
Check with your local YMCA or a health club for a swim class. A "master's" swimming group is one that's for people over age 20 -- so don't be intimidated by the name.
Get comfortable putting your face in the water. Practice swimming drills with a kickboard. Then start learning the right swimming techniques. Getting the rhythm of the swim strokes and the breathing can be tricky at first. But coaches break it down and help you get there slowly.
If you're just beginning to swim, start slowly. Try to swim for 10 minutes. Build up to a 30-minute water workout, three to five times a week.
The pool is a great place to get a good workout -- and to feel like a kid again. Don't be afraid to take the plunge!
Water exercise is one of the best nonimpact fitness activities around, says the American Council on Exercise. Just about anybody can swim or work out in water, including pregnant women, the elderly, the overweight, and people with arthritis or physical disabilities.
What's great about swimming? The buoyancy of water reduces your weight by about 90%. That puts less stress on joints, bones, and muscles. That's why a pool is a great place for people with arthritis or back problems to exercise.
When you swim, you involve all the major muscle groups -- the shoulders, back, abdominals, legs, hips, and glutes. Because water provides 12 times the resistance, exercise in water helps build strength. Water exercise strengthens your heart, as well.
Do it right, and swimming can also help you lose weight. But you have to push yourself because it's harder to lose weight by swimming than, say, by running. To get the burn, push hard for short spurts, then drop back to a less-intense level. It's interval training, just like you would do with walking.
Getting Started on Water Fitness
Check with your local YMCA or a health club for a swim class. A "master's" swimming group is one that's for people over age 20 -- so don't be intimidated by the name.
Get comfortable putting your face in the water. Practice swimming drills with a kickboard. Then start learning the right swimming techniques. Getting the rhythm of the swim strokes and the breathing can be tricky at first. But coaches break it down and help you get there slowly.
If you're just beginning to swim, start slowly. Try to swim for 10 minutes. Build up to a 30-minute water workout, three to five times a week.
The pool is a great place to get a good workout -- and to feel like a kid again. Don't be afraid to take the plunge!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
7 Most Effective Exercises
Experts say there is no magic to exercise You get out of it what you put in. That doesn't mean you have to work out for hours each day. It just means you need to work smart. That said, experts agree that not all exercises are created equal. Some are simply more efficient than others, whether they target multiple muscle groups, are suitable for a wide variety of fitness levels, or help you burn calories more effectively.
So what are the best exercises? We posed this question to four fitness experts and compiled a list of their favorites.
1. Walking:
Any exercise program should include cardiovascular exercise, which strengthens the heart and burns calories. And walking is something you can do anywhere, anytime, with no equipment other than a good pair of shoes. It's not just for beginners, either: Even the very fit can get a good workout from walking. "Doing a brisk walk can burn up to 500 calories per hour," says Robert Gotlin, DO, director of orthopaedic and sports rehabilitation at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Since it takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound, you could expect to lose a pound for every seven hours you walk, if you did nothing else. Don't go from the sofa to walking an hour day, though. Richard Cotton, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise, says beginners should start by walking five to -10 minutes at a time, gradually moving up to at least 30 minutes per session. "Don't add more than five minutes at a time," he says. Another tip: It's better to lengthen your walks before boosting your speed or incline.
2. Interval training:
Whether you're a beginner or an exercise veteran, a walker or an aerobic dancer, adding interval training to your cardiovascular workout will boost your fitness level and help you lose weight. "Varying your pace throughout the exercise session stimulates the aerobic system to adapt," says Cotton. "The more power the aerobic system has, the more capacity you have to burn calories." The way to do it is to push the intensity or pace for a minute or two, then back off for anywhere from two to -10 minutes (depending on how long your total workout will be, and how much time you need to recover). Continue doing this throughout the workout.
3. Squats:
Strength training is essential, the experts say. "The more muscular fitness you have," says Cotton, "the greater the capacity you have to burn calories." And our experts tended to favor strength-training exercises that target multiple muscle groups. Squats, which work the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteals, are an excellent example. "They give you the best bang for the buck because they use the most muscle groups at once," says Oldsmar, Fla., trainer David Petersen. Form is key, though, warns Petersen. "What makes an exercise functional is how you perform the exercise," he says. "If you have bad technique, it's no longer functional." For perfect form, keep feet shoulder-width apart and back straight. Bend knees and lower your rear, says Cotton: "The knee should remain over the ankle as much as possible." "Think of how you sit down in a chair, only the chair's not there," suggests Gotlin. Physical therapist Adam Rufa, of Cicero, N.Y., says practicing with a real chair can help. "Start by working on getting in and out of a real chair properly," he says. Once you've mastered that, try just tapping the chair with your bottom, then coming back up. Then do the same motion without the chair. Gotlin sees lots of patients with knee pain, and says quadriceps weakness is the cause much of the time. If you feel pain going down stairs, he says, strengthening your quads with squats may very well help.
4. Lunges:
Like squats, lunges work all the major muscles of the lower body: gluteals, quadriceps, and hamstrings. "A lunge is a great exercise because it mimics life, it mimics walking," only exaggerated, says Petersen. Lunges are a bit more advanced than squats, says Cotton, helping to improve your balance as well. Here's how to do them right: Take a big step forward, keeping your spine in a neutral position. Bend your front knee to approximately 90 degrees, focusing on keeping weight on the back toes and dropping the knee of your back leg toward the floor. Petersen suggests that you imagine sitting on your back foot. "The trailing leg is the one you need to sit down on," he says. To make a lunge even more functional, says Rufa, try stepping not just forward, but back and out to each side. "Life is not linear, it's multiplanar," says Rufa. And the better they prepare you for the various positions you'll move in during the course of a day, the more useful exercises are.
5. Push-ups:
If done correctly, the push-up can strengthen the chest, shoulders, triceps, and even the core trunk muscles, all at one time. "I'm very much into planking exercises, almost yoga-type moves," says Petersen. "Anytime you have the pelvis and the core [abdominals and back] in a suspended position, you have to rely on your own adherent strength to stabilize you." Push-ups can be done at any level of fitness, says Cotton: "For someone who is at a more beginning level, start by pushing from the kitchen-counter height. Then work your way to a desk, a chair, the floor with bent knees, and, finally, the floor on your toes." Here's how to do a perfect push-up: From a face-down position, place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place your toes or knees on the floor, and try to create a perfect diagonal with your body, from the shoulders to the knees or feet. Keep the glutes [rear-end muscles] and abdominals engaged. Then lower and lift your body by bending and straightening your elbows, keeping your torso stable throughout. There are always ways to make it harder, says Rufa. Once your form is perfect, try what he calls the "T-stabilization" push-up: Get into push-up position, then do your push-ups with one arm raised out to the side, balancing on the remaining three limbs without rotating your hips.
6. Abdominal Crunches:
Who doesn't want firm, flat abs? Experts say that when done correctly, the familiar crunch (along with its variations) is a good choice to target them. For a standard crunch, says Cotton, begin lying on your back with feet flat on the floor and fingertips supporting your head. Press your low back down and begin the exercise by contracting abdominals and peeling first your head (tucking your chin slightly), then your neck, shoulders, and upper back off the floor. Be careful not to pull your neck forward of the rest of your spine by sticking the chin out; don't hold your breath, and keep elbows out of your line of vision to keep chest and shoulders open. For his part, Petersen teaches his clients to do crunches with their feet off the floor and knees bent. He says that with feet kept on the floor, many people tend to arch the back and engage the hip flexors. "Crunches can be excellent, but if they're not done correctly, with the back arching, they can actually weaken the abdominals," Petersen says. To work the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your waist), says Cotton, take the standard crunch and rotate the spine toward one side as you curl off the floor. "Twist before you come up," he says. "It's really important that the twist comes first because then it's the obliques that are actually getting you up." But keep in mind that you won't get a flat stomach with crunches alone, says Cotton. Burning belly fat requires the well-known formula: using up more calories than you take in. "Crunches work the ab muscles; [they're] not to be mistaken as exercise that burns the fat over the abdominals," he says. "That's the biggest myth in exercise going."
7. Bent-over Row:
Talk about bang for the buck: This exercise works all the major muscles of the upper back, as well as the biceps. Here's how to do it with good form. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, then bend knees and flex forward at the hips. (If you have trouble doing this exercise standing up, support your weight by sitting on an incline bench, facing backward.) Tilt your pelvis slightly forward, engage the abdominals, and extend your upper spine to add support. Hold dumbbells or barbell beneath the shoulders with hands about shoulder-width apart. Flex your elbows, and lift both hands toward the sides of your body. Pause, then slowly lower hands to the starting position. (Beginners should perform the move without weights.) Technique.
These seven exercises are excellent, efficient choices, the experts say. But with just about any strength or resistance exercise, says Petersen, the question is not so much whether the exercise works as how well you execute.
"Done with good technique, all exercises do what they're supposed to do," says Petersen.
The trouble is that poor form can change the whole exercise, putting emphasis or even strain on different areas than intended. This can hurt, rather than help you.
So especially if you're a beginner, it's a good idea to seek the advice of a fitness trainer - whether it's a personal trainer or a trainer at your gym -- to be sure your form is safe and correct.
So what are the best exercises? We posed this question to four fitness experts and compiled a list of their favorites.
1. Walking:
Any exercise program should include cardiovascular exercise, which strengthens the heart and burns calories. And walking is something you can do anywhere, anytime, with no equipment other than a good pair of shoes. It's not just for beginners, either: Even the very fit can get a good workout from walking. "Doing a brisk walk can burn up to 500 calories per hour," says Robert Gotlin, DO, director of orthopaedic and sports rehabilitation at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Since it takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound, you could expect to lose a pound for every seven hours you walk, if you did nothing else. Don't go from the sofa to walking an hour day, though. Richard Cotton, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise, says beginners should start by walking five to -10 minutes at a time, gradually moving up to at least 30 minutes per session. "Don't add more than five minutes at a time," he says. Another tip: It's better to lengthen your walks before boosting your speed or incline.
2. Interval training:
Whether you're a beginner or an exercise veteran, a walker or an aerobic dancer, adding interval training to your cardiovascular workout will boost your fitness level and help you lose weight. "Varying your pace throughout the exercise session stimulates the aerobic system to adapt," says Cotton. "The more power the aerobic system has, the more capacity you have to burn calories." The way to do it is to push the intensity or pace for a minute or two, then back off for anywhere from two to -10 minutes (depending on how long your total workout will be, and how much time you need to recover). Continue doing this throughout the workout.
3. Squats:
Strength training is essential, the experts say. "The more muscular fitness you have," says Cotton, "the greater the capacity you have to burn calories." And our experts tended to favor strength-training exercises that target multiple muscle groups. Squats, which work the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteals, are an excellent example. "They give you the best bang for the buck because they use the most muscle groups at once," says Oldsmar, Fla., trainer David Petersen. Form is key, though, warns Petersen. "What makes an exercise functional is how you perform the exercise," he says. "If you have bad technique, it's no longer functional." For perfect form, keep feet shoulder-width apart and back straight. Bend knees and lower your rear, says Cotton: "The knee should remain over the ankle as much as possible." "Think of how you sit down in a chair, only the chair's not there," suggests Gotlin. Physical therapist Adam Rufa, of Cicero, N.Y., says practicing with a real chair can help. "Start by working on getting in and out of a real chair properly," he says. Once you've mastered that, try just tapping the chair with your bottom, then coming back up. Then do the same motion without the chair. Gotlin sees lots of patients with knee pain, and says quadriceps weakness is the cause much of the time. If you feel pain going down stairs, he says, strengthening your quads with squats may very well help.
4. Lunges:
Like squats, lunges work all the major muscles of the lower body: gluteals, quadriceps, and hamstrings. "A lunge is a great exercise because it mimics life, it mimics walking," only exaggerated, says Petersen. Lunges are a bit more advanced than squats, says Cotton, helping to improve your balance as well. Here's how to do them right: Take a big step forward, keeping your spine in a neutral position. Bend your front knee to approximately 90 degrees, focusing on keeping weight on the back toes and dropping the knee of your back leg toward the floor. Petersen suggests that you imagine sitting on your back foot. "The trailing leg is the one you need to sit down on," he says. To make a lunge even more functional, says Rufa, try stepping not just forward, but back and out to each side. "Life is not linear, it's multiplanar," says Rufa. And the better they prepare you for the various positions you'll move in during the course of a day, the more useful exercises are.
5. Push-ups:
If done correctly, the push-up can strengthen the chest, shoulders, triceps, and even the core trunk muscles, all at one time. "I'm very much into planking exercises, almost yoga-type moves," says Petersen. "Anytime you have the pelvis and the core [abdominals and back] in a suspended position, you have to rely on your own adherent strength to stabilize you." Push-ups can be done at any level of fitness, says Cotton: "For someone who is at a more beginning level, start by pushing from the kitchen-counter height. Then work your way to a desk, a chair, the floor with bent knees, and, finally, the floor on your toes." Here's how to do a perfect push-up: From a face-down position, place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place your toes or knees on the floor, and try to create a perfect diagonal with your body, from the shoulders to the knees or feet. Keep the glutes [rear-end muscles] and abdominals engaged. Then lower and lift your body by bending and straightening your elbows, keeping your torso stable throughout. There are always ways to make it harder, says Rufa. Once your form is perfect, try what he calls the "T-stabilization" push-up: Get into push-up position, then do your push-ups with one arm raised out to the side, balancing on the remaining three limbs without rotating your hips.
6. Abdominal Crunches:
Who doesn't want firm, flat abs? Experts say that when done correctly, the familiar crunch (along with its variations) is a good choice to target them. For a standard crunch, says Cotton, begin lying on your back with feet flat on the floor and fingertips supporting your head. Press your low back down and begin the exercise by contracting abdominals and peeling first your head (tucking your chin slightly), then your neck, shoulders, and upper back off the floor. Be careful not to pull your neck forward of the rest of your spine by sticking the chin out; don't hold your breath, and keep elbows out of your line of vision to keep chest and shoulders open. For his part, Petersen teaches his clients to do crunches with their feet off the floor and knees bent. He says that with feet kept on the floor, many people tend to arch the back and engage the hip flexors. "Crunches can be excellent, but if they're not done correctly, with the back arching, they can actually weaken the abdominals," Petersen says. To work the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your waist), says Cotton, take the standard crunch and rotate the spine toward one side as you curl off the floor. "Twist before you come up," he says. "It's really important that the twist comes first because then it's the obliques that are actually getting you up." But keep in mind that you won't get a flat stomach with crunches alone, says Cotton. Burning belly fat requires the well-known formula: using up more calories than you take in. "Crunches work the ab muscles; [they're] not to be mistaken as exercise that burns the fat over the abdominals," he says. "That's the biggest myth in exercise going."
7. Bent-over Row:
Talk about bang for the buck: This exercise works all the major muscles of the upper back, as well as the biceps. Here's how to do it with good form. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, then bend knees and flex forward at the hips. (If you have trouble doing this exercise standing up, support your weight by sitting on an incline bench, facing backward.) Tilt your pelvis slightly forward, engage the abdominals, and extend your upper spine to add support. Hold dumbbells or barbell beneath the shoulders with hands about shoulder-width apart. Flex your elbows, and lift both hands toward the sides of your body. Pause, then slowly lower hands to the starting position. (Beginners should perform the move without weights.) Technique.
These seven exercises are excellent, efficient choices, the experts say. But with just about any strength or resistance exercise, says Petersen, the question is not so much whether the exercise works as how well you execute.
"Done with good technique, all exercises do what they're supposed to do," says Petersen.
The trouble is that poor form can change the whole exercise, putting emphasis or even strain on different areas than intended. This can hurt, rather than help you.
So especially if you're a beginner, it's a good idea to seek the advice of a fitness trainer - whether it's a personal trainer or a trainer at your gym -- to be sure your form is safe and correct.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Workout Routines and New Ideas for Fitness
Fitness isn't just a plan you embark on, along with a diet, to lose weight. It's a lifelong love of movement that will help you maintain good health and the physique you want. We?ve compiled some workout routines and ideas to help you along your way.
These recommendations will help you evolve your workout routine and activity plan. The theme is picking something you love doing, and nurturing your feelings every step of the way.
After you read through these workout options, consider journaling to explore your fitness habits, desires, and goals.
Level One:
Begin by expanding your definition of exercise: You don't need to run, sweat, or grunt -- any opportunity to partake in activity counts as exercise!
If you feel uncomfortable going to a gym, a 10-minute walk, twice weekly, is an excellent first step toward better fitness. If you enjoy and can afford it, get a regular massage as well. Consider buying a good beginner's exercise tape, too. (A tip: rent exercise videos from your local library and try them out to see which you enjoy.) Another great activity is gardening, an underrated form of stress reduction and exercise.
Get in touch with your physicality by using a Jacuzzi or sauna after a cool shower, or just by taking a bubble bath. Afterward, try some gentle stretching, perhaps followed by another cool-down shower and Jacuzzi. A facial is another good way to reconnect your physical and mental being.
If you feel daring, consider karate, a dance class, or bowling. Enjoy the activities you pick, but don't make yourself continue with them any longer than you want to; for instance, don't force yourself to bowl three games if you feel like bowling only one. Remember that your goal is to make yourself healthier and fitter by nurturing yourself and reducing stress.
Level Two:
Think about bowling, softball, or any other type of entry-level team activity. Many people who aren't natural-born athletes love team sports because of the combination of exercise and social interaction. (Mall-walking groups offer the same benefit if you're looking for something less strenuous.)
If group activities aren't for you, start a walking routine, two or three times a week, for 15 to 20 minutes. If you feel like it, jog for a few minutes during each walk. Do a few jumping jacks, sit-ups, or push-ups -- along with stretches -- in the morning before work. Jump rope with your kids or buy yourself a Hula Hoop. Take an in-line skating class, or start going out dancing occasionally with friends.
Dance, tai chi, and yoga classes are enjoyable, low-stress fitness activities. Also, consider buying several exercise tapes and try out fun activities including biking, swimming, horseback riding, or even a regular game of Frisbee with your dog.
Focus, above all, on giving yourself permission to enjoy your physicality. If you can, start getting regular massages. If you belong to a gym, don't feel you must do a strenuous workout every time you're there. Try going occasionally just for the enjoyment of stretching for several minutes and then taking a Jacuzzi, steam, or sauna bath. You'll learn to reconnect with your physicality and rediscover your body as a source of pleasure.
Level Three:
By choosing the right exercise program, you can make your natural athleticism work for you. Avoid heavy-duty exercise programs that trim off inches for a little while but may not work in the long run because they can cause burnout.
For long-term results, find activities that you enjoy, instead of merely choosing those that burn calories. You probably already know some of the activities you do and don't like, so select those you prefer and drop the ones that bore or stress you.
For instance, are you starting to dread your usual five-mile run? If so, give yourself permission to take a leisurely bike ride or swim. Too tired for a 30-minute workout? Exercise for 15 minutes, and see if you feel like continuing. And if you find yourself setting harder and harder goals ("I need to run an eight-minute mile"), reconsider your priorities. Remember that getting regular, moderate exercise is smarter and more effective than forcing yourself to do grueling workouts that can lead to injury or burnout.
You might enjoy the challenge of participating in a run or bike race for charity -- a great way to get exercise while meeting new people and helping your community. You might even want to train for a half-marathon, if running is your favorite activity. Just be sure to make fun and stress reduction -- not calorie-burning -- your top priorities!
Level Four:
Keep up the good work! Your goal is to establish a healthy, pleasant exercise routine, intermingling challenging activities with peaceful and relaxing mind/body experiences. If you find yourself getting bored, vary your exercise routine with creative new activities. For instance, if you're tired of jogging every morning, try taking up kickboxing, spin cycling, in-line skating, even a jazz dance class. Spicing up your exercise routine will motivate you to stick with it.
No matter what level of activity is right for you, concentrate on nurturing yourself through exercise. When you do, you'll feel good -- and when you feel good, you'll stick with your fitness plan.
Some days, that plan might lead you to be the first person at the gym or to sign up for a challenging fitness run. Other days, you'll be found at the spa, getting a massage or stretching for a few minutes before you take a leisurely walk. It may seem hard to believe, but all of these activities are active ways of achieving true and lasting fitness.
So forget "no pain, no gain," and focus on the joy of swimming, walking, skating, belly dancing, or even Jacuzzi-ing your way to better health and a trimmer body. Expand your definition of exercise to include any activities that help you relieve stress and "connect" your mind and body -- and make a commitment, based on self-love and self-affirmation, to make exercise a priority in your life. When you do, you'll see your excess pounds and inches come off more quickly and effortlessly.
Most of all, remember that combining a variety of workout routines and ideas can help keep your exercise program interesting so that you?ll be more likely to stay on the road to lifelong better health and fitness.
These recommendations will help you evolve your workout routine and activity plan. The theme is picking something you love doing, and nurturing your feelings every step of the way.
After you read through these workout options, consider journaling to explore your fitness habits, desires, and goals.
Level One:
Begin by expanding your definition of exercise: You don't need to run, sweat, or grunt -- any opportunity to partake in activity counts as exercise!
If you feel uncomfortable going to a gym, a 10-minute walk, twice weekly, is an excellent first step toward better fitness. If you enjoy and can afford it, get a regular massage as well. Consider buying a good beginner's exercise tape, too. (A tip: rent exercise videos from your local library and try them out to see which you enjoy.) Another great activity is gardening, an underrated form of stress reduction and exercise.
Get in touch with your physicality by using a Jacuzzi or sauna after a cool shower, or just by taking a bubble bath. Afterward, try some gentle stretching, perhaps followed by another cool-down shower and Jacuzzi. A facial is another good way to reconnect your physical and mental being.
If you feel daring, consider karate, a dance class, or bowling. Enjoy the activities you pick, but don't make yourself continue with them any longer than you want to; for instance, don't force yourself to bowl three games if you feel like bowling only one. Remember that your goal is to make yourself healthier and fitter by nurturing yourself and reducing stress.
Level Two:
Think about bowling, softball, or any other type of entry-level team activity. Many people who aren't natural-born athletes love team sports because of the combination of exercise and social interaction. (Mall-walking groups offer the same benefit if you're looking for something less strenuous.)
If group activities aren't for you, start a walking routine, two or three times a week, for 15 to 20 minutes. If you feel like it, jog for a few minutes during each walk. Do a few jumping jacks, sit-ups, or push-ups -- along with stretches -- in the morning before work. Jump rope with your kids or buy yourself a Hula Hoop. Take an in-line skating class, or start going out dancing occasionally with friends.
Dance, tai chi, and yoga classes are enjoyable, low-stress fitness activities. Also, consider buying several exercise tapes and try out fun activities including biking, swimming, horseback riding, or even a regular game of Frisbee with your dog.
Focus, above all, on giving yourself permission to enjoy your physicality. If you can, start getting regular massages. If you belong to a gym, don't feel you must do a strenuous workout every time you're there. Try going occasionally just for the enjoyment of stretching for several minutes and then taking a Jacuzzi, steam, or sauna bath. You'll learn to reconnect with your physicality and rediscover your body as a source of pleasure.
Level Three:
By choosing the right exercise program, you can make your natural athleticism work for you. Avoid heavy-duty exercise programs that trim off inches for a little while but may not work in the long run because they can cause burnout.
For long-term results, find activities that you enjoy, instead of merely choosing those that burn calories. You probably already know some of the activities you do and don't like, so select those you prefer and drop the ones that bore or stress you.
For instance, are you starting to dread your usual five-mile run? If so, give yourself permission to take a leisurely bike ride or swim. Too tired for a 30-minute workout? Exercise for 15 minutes, and see if you feel like continuing. And if you find yourself setting harder and harder goals ("I need to run an eight-minute mile"), reconsider your priorities. Remember that getting regular, moderate exercise is smarter and more effective than forcing yourself to do grueling workouts that can lead to injury or burnout.
You might enjoy the challenge of participating in a run or bike race for charity -- a great way to get exercise while meeting new people and helping your community. You might even want to train for a half-marathon, if running is your favorite activity. Just be sure to make fun and stress reduction -- not calorie-burning -- your top priorities!
Level Four:
Keep up the good work! Your goal is to establish a healthy, pleasant exercise routine, intermingling challenging activities with peaceful and relaxing mind/body experiences. If you find yourself getting bored, vary your exercise routine with creative new activities. For instance, if you're tired of jogging every morning, try taking up kickboxing, spin cycling, in-line skating, even a jazz dance class. Spicing up your exercise routine will motivate you to stick with it.
No matter what level of activity is right for you, concentrate on nurturing yourself through exercise. When you do, you'll feel good -- and when you feel good, you'll stick with your fitness plan.
Some days, that plan might lead you to be the first person at the gym or to sign up for a challenging fitness run. Other days, you'll be found at the spa, getting a massage or stretching for a few minutes before you take a leisurely walk. It may seem hard to believe, but all of these activities are active ways of achieving true and lasting fitness.
So forget "no pain, no gain," and focus on the joy of swimming, walking, skating, belly dancing, or even Jacuzzi-ing your way to better health and a trimmer body. Expand your definition of exercise to include any activities that help you relieve stress and "connect" your mind and body -- and make a commitment, based on self-love and self-affirmation, to make exercise a priority in your life. When you do, you'll see your excess pounds and inches come off more quickly and effortlessly.
Most of all, remember that combining a variety of workout routines and ideas can help keep your exercise program interesting so that you?ll be more likely to stay on the road to lifelong better health and fitness.
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