It's Your Right to Exercise


Americans young and old should incorporate regular physical activity into their everyday lives. This does not necessarily mean joining an expensive gym or committing to a rigorous exercise or training routine. It is sufficient to choose activities that fit into your daily routine that speed your heart rate and breathing, or increase your strength and flexibility. Examples include walking to work, gardening, taking extra stairs, or mowing the lawn with a push mower. Besides building strength and aerobic fitness, regular exercise relieves stress, provides motivation, promotes relaxation, and facilitates sleep. Such activity reduces the risk of dying of coronary heart disease and decreases the risk for colon cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

The Body's Response to Exercise

The human body generally responds well to physical exercise and substantial improvements may be anticipated in heart and lung function, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and one's ability to respond to stimuli.

Some of the more noticeable changes from exercise may include:

Increased bone strength.
Increased physical work capacity.
Increased joint range of motion or flexibility.
Improved sense of well being.
Increased muscular strength.
Improved glucose regulation (very favorable for diabetics).
Decreased blood pressure.
Improved sleep patterns and levels of anxiety.
Indeed, exercise can have a profound effect upon older persons - with the most "unfit" usually experiencing the greatest benefits!
Practical Advice

There are certain things you should be aware of before beginning any program of physical activity. General advice includes the following:

Contact should be made with your doctor prior to commencing a program. A brief medical check-up will ensure that it is safe for you to proceed with an exercise program.
Set short term goals rather than long term aims.
Take account of existing conditions and choose appropriate activities.
Ease steadily into an exercise program by beginning with low intensity, low frequency activities and proceed slowly.
Set aside a specific time of the day to do your exercise.
Consult your doctor if any of the following occur: nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, tightness in the chest or persistent muscle soreness.
Avoid any exercise that hurts. Movements should be gentle and comfortable.

Try Sneaking Exercise into Your Day


Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Go for a walk during your coffee break or lunch.
Walk all or part of the way to work.
Do housework at a fast pace.
Rake leaves or do other yard work.
Walk, cycle, jog, skate, etc., to work, school, the store, or place of worship.
Park the car farther away from your destination.
Get on or off the bus several blocks away.
Perform gardening or home repair activities.
Avoid labor-saving devices - turn off the self-propel option on your lawn mower or vacuum cleaner.
Exercise while watching TV.
Take the dog for a nice, long walk.
Make a Saturday morning walk a group habit.
Walk while doing errands.

How do I stick with it?


Here are some tips that will help you start and stick with an exercise program:

Choose something you like to do. Make sure it suits you physically, too. For instance, swimming is easier on arthritic joints.

Get a partner. Exercising with someone else can make it more fun.

Vary your routine. You may be less likely to get bored or injured if you change your routine. Walk one day. Bicycle the next. Consider activities like dancing and racquet sports, and even chores like chopping wood.

Choose a comfortable time of day. Don't work out too soon after eating or when it's too hot or cold outside. Wait until later in the day if you're too stiff in the morning.

Don't get discouraged. It can take weeks or months before you notice some of the changes from exercise.

Make exercise fun. Read, listen to music or watch TV while riding a stationary bicycle, for example. Find fun things to do, like taking a walk through the zoo. Go dancing. Learn how to play tennis.

Forget "no pain, no gain." While a little soreness is normal after you first start exercising, pain isn't. Stop if you hurt.

The Big Question...


What is the best exercise?

The best exercise is the one that you will do. Walking is considered one of the best choices because it's easy, safe and cheap. Brisk walking can burn as many calories as running, but is less likely than running or jogging to cause injuries. And it doesn't require any training or special equipment, except for good shoes. Walking is an aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, so it is good for your heart and helps prevent osteoporosis

 

as a matter of fact, i walked 9.2 miles today.

 

You should park CLOSER to teh office, sugah!

 

I thought I was AF unoficial personal trainer..

 

i wish you lived closer. i'd love a personal trainer. want to start lifting weights and need someone with knowledge about how to get firm without getting bulky.....just feminine muscle definition.

 

where do you work out, what kind of equipment do they have? I wish my dam gf would say that.. i have bought her 4 gym memberships in 5 years.. at 4 different gyms.. she use to be a gymnist and now she dosent do anything needs to tone up, i dont know what it is but im realy atracted to girls who give a dam about thier bodies..

if you just want to tone you have to stick to the basics, do light weight and high reps, also do a lot of super sets meaning doing multiple exercises together with no break, aim for 3 them after the third take a minute to 2 minutes to rest and start again.. If you want pm me and ill email you a bunch of web sights with detailed descriptions on what to do and how to do it based on what your goals are..

 

The last thing you have to worry about when you start working out is "getting bulky". You will have plenty of time to cut down on your reps/weights if you happen to notice a bulge of muscle that you don't like.

 

sometimes i notice muscle bulge that i do like.

 

^^^...well, I'm off to do my daily 100 d!<k-ups[&:]. Gotta cut a lotta people off in traffic, too, cuz I'm tryN out for "Biggest-D!<K" of teh year, too!!!

 

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