the old saying, move it or lose it is so true. Eating is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but only a part. No one piece will give you the best health possible. So on to step two.
Make sure that what ever you do as exercise, your body can handle it. I have made the mistakes in the past of wanting it all now and pushing to hard. If you do this, you might get results faster, but more than likely you will over tax your body causing injury, pain, and frustration. Take it slow and give your body a chance to grow and develop into a healthy fit body. If you have any questions on what you should do or where to start, you might want to check with your doctor. Remember for muscles and soft tissue to get stronger it takes a week to two, for your joints (tendon and ligaments) to get stronger it takes two to three weeks, for your bones to start to build it takes four weeks or more. This means that you need to be aware of you whole body, not just your muscles, heart, and lungs.
Exercise/movement is important for our bodies to function. Some of us our in better shape than others, but no matter what shape you are in to keep your muscles, joints, bones, and organs healthy exercise is necessary. There are three main types of exercise; aerobic, strength training, and stretching. Aerobic is necessary to help strengthen your heart and lung as well as improve digestion, help flush toxins out of your system, and many other bodily functions. strength training is important to increase muscle strength, help bone density, increase balance, and help your body move and support you. Stretching helps to keep your muscles & joints limber, your posture healthier, and movement easier in general.
I know, we are all busy with jobs, kids, life. How are you supposed to get this all in? Well, I would suggest, if you are not doing much now, start simple; Stretching before you get up and before bed are a good way to start. In the morning, instead of crawling out of bed, take a couple to minutes to stretch. Have you ever seem a baby wake up? they arch their back and just gentles move around to wake up their muscles. I love to just spend about five minutes or so just warming up my muscles and mildly twisting/stretching. Then find a couple of short yoga nighttime routines or a couple of simple sets of body stretching to help your body relax and unwind from the day.
To do aerobics, (I have read a few studies that have said that say as little as 10 minutes at a time help, until you can work up to 30 minutes or more at least 3 times a week). Now what kind are best? From all I could read, anything that gets and keeps your heart rate into it's aerobic zone will work. You can do a class, a video workout, dancing around your house, brisk walks, cleanings, and so much more. Any activity can be aerobic if it gets your heart rate in the zone. I am to lazy to do all the calculation I found on line, so I just do the super simplified one of 220 minus your age, then times that by .75 for your low end heart rate and the number number for high end is 220 minus your age, then times it by .85. This is a average area for your aerobic zone. For me my aerobic zone by this method is 120-136 heartbeats per minute. I got a heart rate monitor so I could be sure to stay in my target zone. An example of an aerobic activity that got some of my household things done was, today I had to move a lots of things around, so I started my heart rate monitor and by just going up and down the stairs, carrying things around , and keeping moving doing my chores around the house, i was able to keep my heart rate up in the aerobic zone. I should mention that I have a lot of stairs in my house.
It is possible to get your strength training and aerobic done all at once if you interval train, where you don't rest much between each exercise, or you can do strength training an exercise here or there. I do both. Some days, I will put on some music and just do the set of exercises I have picked for that day back to back with little rest. This gets me through my strength and also keeps my heart rate up for the aerobics. Other days, like when I do a walk, or dancing for aerobics, I will do the exercises throughout the day. If interested in just what I do, let me know and I will try to answer any questions.
When working on strength training, be sure to do at least once exercise for each muscle group, push your self (but not to the point of pain, just till you feel your muscle reaching there limit), make sure your are exercising both sides of the body the same, and I am not a person who tells you to "push through the pain" listen to your body, the goal is to be better, not injured.
Another important thing to remember about exercise is in a way it is like eating, the more variety in what you do the better. Your body can and usually does adapt if you only do the same things day after day. You can do the same exercises if you want, but change the order you do them in. This causes the body to continue to strengthen and burn the most calories you can for your exercise time. Your body doesn't get "bored and lazy" so you get the most benefit for your time.
I am working on being the turtle, slow and steady, to win my race for a healthier me. The key is not how fast you can do it, it is just keep working on it and little by little you can get better, I really believe this. Also the hardest part of the whole process is not to judge yourself by others, we are all different, just hang in there.
Make sure that what ever you do as exercise, your body can handle it. I have made the mistakes in the past of wanting it all now and pushing to hard. If you do this, you might get results faster, but more than likely you will over tax your body causing injury, pain, and frustration. Take it slow and give your body a chance to grow and develop into a healthy fit body. If you have any questions on what you should do or where to start, you might want to check with your doctor. Remember for muscles and soft tissue to get stronger it takes a week to two, for your joints (tendon and ligaments) to get stronger it takes two to three weeks, for your bones to start to build it takes four weeks or more. This means that you need to be aware of you whole body, not just your muscles, heart, and lungs.
Exercise/movement is important for our bodies to function. Some of us our in better shape than others, but no matter what shape you are in to keep your muscles, joints, bones, and organs healthy exercise is necessary. There are three main types of exercise; aerobic, strength training, and stretching. Aerobic is necessary to help strengthen your heart and lung as well as improve digestion, help flush toxins out of your system, and many other bodily functions. strength training is important to increase muscle strength, help bone density, increase balance, and help your body move and support you. Stretching helps to keep your muscles & joints limber, your posture healthier, and movement easier in general.
I know, we are all busy with jobs, kids, life. How are you supposed to get this all in? Well, I would suggest, if you are not doing much now, start simple; Stretching before you get up and before bed are a good way to start. In the morning, instead of crawling out of bed, take a couple to minutes to stretch. Have you ever seem a baby wake up? they arch their back and just gentles move around to wake up their muscles. I love to just spend about five minutes or so just warming up my muscles and mildly twisting/stretching. Then find a couple of short yoga nighttime routines or a couple of simple sets of body stretching to help your body relax and unwind from the day.
To do aerobics, (I have read a few studies that have said that say as little as 10 minutes at a time help, until you can work up to 30 minutes or more at least 3 times a week). Now what kind are best? From all I could read, anything that gets and keeps your heart rate into it's aerobic zone will work. You can do a class, a video workout, dancing around your house, brisk walks, cleanings, and so much more. Any activity can be aerobic if it gets your heart rate in the zone. I am to lazy to do all the calculation I found on line, so I just do the super simplified one of 220 minus your age, then times that by .75 for your low end heart rate and the number number for high end is 220 minus your age, then times it by .85. This is a average area for your aerobic zone. For me my aerobic zone by this method is 120-136 heartbeats per minute. I got a heart rate monitor so I could be sure to stay in my target zone. An example of an aerobic activity that got some of my household things done was, today I had to move a lots of things around, so I started my heart rate monitor and by just going up and down the stairs, carrying things around , and keeping moving doing my chores around the house, i was able to keep my heart rate up in the aerobic zone. I should mention that I have a lot of stairs in my house.
It is possible to get your strength training and aerobic done all at once if you interval train, where you don't rest much between each exercise, or you can do strength training an exercise here or there. I do both. Some days, I will put on some music and just do the set of exercises I have picked for that day back to back with little rest. This gets me through my strength and also keeps my heart rate up for the aerobics. Other days, like when I do a walk, or dancing for aerobics, I will do the exercises throughout the day. If interested in just what I do, let me know and I will try to answer any questions.
When working on strength training, be sure to do at least once exercise for each muscle group, push your self (but not to the point of pain, just till you feel your muscle reaching there limit), make sure your are exercising both sides of the body the same, and I am not a person who tells you to "push through the pain" listen to your body, the goal is to be better, not injured.
Another important thing to remember about exercise is in a way it is like eating, the more variety in what you do the better. Your body can and usually does adapt if you only do the same things day after day. You can do the same exercises if you want, but change the order you do them in. This causes the body to continue to strengthen and burn the most calories you can for your exercise time. Your body doesn't get "bored and lazy" so you get the most benefit for your time.
I am working on being the turtle, slow and steady, to win my race for a healthier me. The key is not how fast you can do it, it is just keep working on it and little by little you can get better, I really believe this. Also the hardest part of the whole process is not to judge yourself by others, we are all different, just hang in there.
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