When you think about exercise you might be thinking of the strenuous activities people do to keep fit like weight lifting, long distance running, endurance training, and other activities that makes us breathe hard and sweat.
Yes you are right! But exercise entails more than that, it also starts from the small walk you have from your sitting room to your bed room or when you take the stairs to your office or class and the small jogs you have when you are late for something. Any thing you do in order to burn energy either consciously or unconsciously is known as exercise
There are four basic types of exercise that are to be done together in order to enhance or to maintain health and fitness which are aerobic exercise, strength training, balance training and flexibility training. Each of these exercise is unique in its own way and doing all together is important to maximize fitness and to prevent injury.
For example strength training helps makes the muscles stronger and supports the joints thereby preventing the body against injury during aerobic training exercise. Balance training also use muscle strength in a coordinated pattern to keep the body stabilized during exercise. Flexibility also helps improve the range of motion around joints and thereby useful in strength training like weight lifting.
AEROBIC EXERCISE:
Aerobic exercise such as long distance running, jogging, swimming or even dancing are activities that work on the cardiovascular system, they get your heart rate up and make you breathe harder. They reduce cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and may lower the risk of cancer.
STRENGTH EXERCISE:
Strength exercises such as push -ups, weight -lifting and crunches, works on our muscles by using resistance. This type of exercise increases the muscle mass which is very important for weight loss thereby burning calories more than other types of muscles.
BALANCE EXERCISE:
Balance exercise improves the ability to control and stabilize your body position. It is important for older adults because balance gets worse with age but it is also important for everyone. Balance exercise is also important for pregnant women. Examples of balance exercise includes: Standing on one foot, doing yoga, using a balance board, walking heel to toe.
FLEXIBILITY EXERCISE:
Flexibility exercise helps stretch your muscles and improves your range of motion at your joints. They help reduce the risk of injury during sports and other activities. Stretches also help to reduce the lactic acids in the muscle.
It is good to combine all four exercises when training to improve the efficiency of your work out. For example you can combine strength and balance training by doing bicep curls while standing with one leg. After running or walking for about 30 minutes on the treadmill and then doing strength and balance exercises combined , stretches can also be included.
Fitting exercise with a busy schedule can be a roadblock to a successful exercise regime, here are some tips for fitting physical activities in a busy schedule:
. Try and replace some journeys with walking or jogging, For example walking from your car to work or jogging to class.
. Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator
. Try and replace leisure time watching television to do small work outs such as little push ups and stretches
. Vigorous housework and chores are also encouraged in order to keep fit
. Try going for a little swim during weekends
. Small early morning exercises are also encouraged
Comments
Post a Comment