Why Exercise Is The Door To Your Health.

Keeping fit is an important part of being healthy.  It’s pointless cutting down on fat and sugar, eating plenty of vegetables and fruits if you don’t combine these habits with consistent exercise.  Exercise is a regular series of physical activities, which is essential not only for every slimmer, but for everyone who desires fitness. However, if you find these activities a bit boring and you sigh and grumble each time you have to exercise then something is definitely wrong.

The good thing about exercise is that it helps you discover a higher level of energy, a feeling of physical freedom and physical wellbeing, in addition to the positive influences on health and looks.  It helps you to tackle the things you find tedious.  In fact, the more you exercise, the more energetic you become. Exercise helps take the edge off your appetite, raises your metabolic rate, improves your sleep and reduces depression.  In view of the benefits of exercise, how do you turn the uninteresting into the delightful?  After all, there's no point going to the gym when you find it boring and monotonous, or jogging if it gives you nothing but pain.  Do you do things because others are doing it? It's important to find your own pleasurable activity and do it for your own sake. 

Putting all these together, keeping fit should be something to look forward to and should be fun.  So, how much exercise do you really need to become fit and healthy?  Just how fit should you be?  To avoid disappointment, you need to be clear in your mind on why you want to exercise.   Remember this is your time.  You should be enjoying yourself.  The personality and the attitude of your instructor are also crucial.  He or she should actually teach rather than demonstrate.

Tips to ensure safe and effective exercise program

1. As long as you enjoy it, exercise is a good way to deal with stress.  Punch a boxing bag, hit a tennis ball or go for a brisk walk.  Have fun and don’t be competitive.  Play tennis to work out your muscles and not to compete.  Once competition sets in, it puts pressure on you.  You're stressed at the end of the game, rather than relaxed.  Follow your own pace in any activity you decides to do.

2. Fitness is not the same as good health.  You can be fit and not healthy.  Just because you can run five miles in thirty minutes doesn’t necessarily make you healthy.

3. A regular gentle exercise is better for you than violent, jerky, non-frequent exercise.  One hour of walking every day will be of more benefit than one hour in the gym once a week.

4. Regular, gentle exercise like swimming and stretching will help keep your body supple and joints mobile.  This will also help minimise your chances of developing backache or muscle tension.

5. Avoid doing exercises you don't enjoy.  It won't do you much good, as you're likely to do it half-heartedly and less often.

6. Make your workout safe by starting slowly.  Be patient.  Don’t overdo it in the first few weeks.  You should exercise in comfort and feel moderately tired, not exhausted.  The guideline is not to be too tired that you cannot carry out a conversation with companions during a workout session.

7.Climbing the stairs in your office building, standing on your feet all day at work, or running around doing errands don’t count as aerobic exercise as they are not sustained long enough, though some movement is preferred than none at all.  It’s better to set time aside during the day and do a proper aerobic activity without trying to compensate with stair climbing or shopping.

8. If any part of your body is painful or hurts, stop.  Pain is one way of your body saying it has had enough.  If you push through it, you're likely to make it worse.  Let your body dictate your pace, not the instructors.

9. No one is too old to exercise, albeit the older the individual the greater the prevalence of underlying heart disease.  A doctor’s clearance becomes important in using a stress test to recommend safe exercises.

10. If you injure your ankle for instance, stay off jogging.  Try an alternative activity, until you feel no symptoms of pain as you work the injured joint.  Runners may swim while waiting for the injury to heal.  Tennis players who hurt their shoulders may take up walking until the shoulder feels better.  Working past the pain will make it worse later on.

11. Don’t stop suddenly during any workout.  Always wind down slowly for at least five to ten minutes.  Do static stretching; holding squatting positions without bouncing for 15 to 20 seconds and repeat until you feel relaxed.  Or walk around.  Never dive into a cold pool or shower as sudden temperature alterations can encourage incorrect cardiovascular reflexes and mislead the heart’s circulation and reflexes.

12. Don’t eat a solid meal for at least one hour after your activity.  You can re-hydrate with liquids, but don’t sit to a full meal after exercise.

13. Exercise will not shrink your bust or make it grow a cup size bigger, no matter how you try.  But it will tighten the muscles that support the breasts making them look better or perkier.  Then again, this depends on factors such as pregnancy, breast-feeding, or the natural shape of breasts.

14. You don’t need to spend a fortune to keep fit.  Don’t spend money on exercise machines – treadmills, bicycles, weights or abdominal exercise crunchers – unless you know you will enjoy using them.

When you finally decide on an exercise, the decision should be based on a good foundation of safety and knowledge.  Always ask questions about the do’s and don’ts of exercise.  If your doctor is not sports medicine or exercise physiology oriented, get the help of a physical therapist or exercise physiologist.  There are many people who claim to be instructors or physiologists.  Ask about their training, experience and how long they have been practicing.  Be sure that you don’t jump into your chosen activity until you know what you're doing and how to do it correctly.  Remember, no question is a stupid one, except that which is asked.  If answers to your questions seem sketchy, seek alternative professional help.  It's your body.  You need to be sensible about any fitness program you are embarking upon in order to get all the possible benefits – not injuries.

Finally, dedicate an hour three times a week to a keep-fit routine you enjoy.  See it as a wonderful challenge.  You will certainly feel better for it.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.