You need to have a good working understanding of exercise and how it affects your body in order to get the most out of it. If you exercise too little or too much, you may not be getting the intended benefits from the effort, which would make it a pointless effort all together, or may end up getting you hurt or overworked in the process. Here is a basic look at what kind of exercise you should be doing and why it will benefit you to do it this way.
The first thing to understand is that 30 minutes of exercise a day is usually more than sufficient. If you exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week, you will improve your health by getting your heart going and burning additional calories. What most people are unaware of is that following a good workout, you will continue to burn calories based on your muscle mass and how hard your heart is working. So not only are you burning 30 minutes of exercise worth of calories, but your body will continue to burn calories for a good long while afterward, improving your health significantly. Here are some other things to keep in mind:
- You need to walk every day. You should aim for 10,000 steps in a day accumulated throughout the day. This includes steps from the bed to the bathroom, down the stairs into the kitchen, and however much walking is required to get you to work. You should also aim to do about 30 minutes of continuous walking a day if you can, as this will benefit your entire body, especially your heart.
- If you want to build muscular strength which, as we touched on, will benefit your weight loss, you should aim to do thirty total minutes of resistance exercise per week. Break this into 3 10-minute weight lifting sessions during the week and you should be just fine.
- Getting the right amount of cardiovascular exercise has to do with your maximum heart rate and exercise at 80 percent of this. Take 220 and subtract your age. This is your maximum heart rate. Try to achieve this maximum heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes, three times a week. If you are 50 years old, your maximum heart rate is 136 beats per minute, which is 220 minus 50, for 170, times 0.8.
- For optimal flexibility, which is an important part of getting physically fit and healthy, you should be stretching for approximately five minutes per day. Keep in mind that you should always warm up before you stretch rather than treating stretching as the warm up itself. If you have not warmed up, your muscles will be stiff and cold and much more apt to suffering injuries. Walk around for a few minutes to get your body going, then stretch when everything is feeling warm and limber.
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Originally posted 2009-01-15 05:03:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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4 comments ↓
You mentioned warming up before stretching, but isn’t it true that you should warm up before doing any type of exercise to prevent injury?
I agree with Misti, please make sure you warm up and strecth before doing any exercises. You made a good point about working out 3 days a week, which is very true! If you work out even just two days a week, you’re still doing a lot more than the average Joe laying on the couch watching TV.
This is good blog, very true! I have trained many people who, at first, had the mentality that they needed to be in the gym 7 days a week to stay healthy and fit. This is simply not true! Just as your body needs exercise, it also needs rest. I think that 30 minutes/day for 3-4 days a week, mixed with a nutritional diet is perfect.
I also definitely agree that people underestimate the impact that walking has on a person’s health. This is why I always recommend that my clients take the stairs! Great article, keep up the good work!
If you’re on Twitter, I’d love to connect. I am @DefiningSports.
Very good instructions on how to break up your exercise into time periods that are easy to fit into your schedule.
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