Put simply, exercise is any activity that exerts your body beyond the point reached in normal daily activities Sometimes we forget the simplicity of the definition. We get so caught up with shoes, gyms, programmes, stopwatches, science, clothing and fads with funny names such as 'yogilates' and 'super power sets' that we give up on the whole idea of exercise.
Throw all those complicated notions aside. Exercise is nothing more than moving your body for good health. Of course, some exercise is better than others, and different types of movement do affect your body in different ways. But understanding the different types is easy - and so is doing it - if you don't let trainers or overblown health magazines complicate things.
Here's that what we suggest: throw out all you think you know about exercise and start over again, beginning right now. In the following pages, we'll give a concise explanation of the four essential type of fitness - ENDURANCE, STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY and BALANCE. Then we'll tell you precisely which ones you need to focus on for optimal health today and tomorrow.
Finally, we''ll provide specific exercise sequences for you to consider doing most mornings or evenings that deliver the best results for the minimum investment of time and effort.
fitness type 1
Endurance
Endurance activities are those that challenge large groups of muscles, such as those in your legs or arms and shoulders, for at least ten consecutive minutes. The most obvious examples are walking, cycling and swimming but endurance activities also include lifestyle actions such as washing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, gardening, mowing the lawn, raking and pruning. A round of golf-without a cart - also counts.
These activities provide the biggest returns when it comes to protecting against the effects of chronic diseases associated with ageing, such of heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. One major reason: endurance exercises strengthen not only the muscle groups being used but also your heart, lungs and circulatory system. That's why endurance exercise is also called aerobic exercise: the word aerobic basically means it involves oxygen, which is what your heart, lungs and circulatory system are all about.
Endurance exercise is also the most straightforward. To build endurance, you just do your preferred activity at a high rate of intensity for as long as you are comfortable. Come
great advice
Endurance exercise provides the best defence against most chronic diseases
10 ways to exercise naturally
Here are ten ways to get a moderate level of activity without setting foot in a formal exercise envirnoment. Each burns up to seven calories a minute; your goal is to get least 10 minutes of sustained activity at a time.
1 Take a daily fitness walk This is in addition to any other walking you do as part of your day. Commit to a pace slightly faster than your normal gait. Walking the dog is perfect. Don't let weather stop you - light snow or misty rain is no excuse to stay at home. If the weather is too bad for an outdoor walk, go to the shopping centre - but no window-shopping. Walk from one end to the other, but avoid food shops. You'll find that your daily walk not only strenghthens your body but is also a great way to relax, think and socialise.
2 Take up table tennis An intense game of table tennis gets your heart rate up, increases the amount of oxygen going to your lungs and brain, and provides all the other amazing benefits of physical aerobic activity.
3 Coach a childern's team Got extra time on your hands? Why not volunteer to help to coach a youth club football team? In addition to the fun you'll have and the appreciation you'll earn, you'll also get an unexpected work-out at least twice a week (more if you arrange more practises).
4 Clean the old-fashioned way For a cleaner house and a healthier you, get down on your hand and knees to scrub the floor, hang laundry out on a clothes line and wash the window yourself instead of calling someone to do it. All will provide a good, moderate work-out with a bonus at the end: a sparkling house.
5 Play with the children or grandchildren Try throwing a Frisbee or teaching them how to play badmintion. Or even dance around the living room with them for 10 minutes.
6 Go canoeing Many parks offer canoes or rowing boats for hire, and rowing at a moderate pace of less than 6km/h (4mph) provides a moderate work-out.
7 Sign up for dance classes Ballroom dancing, line dancing, folk dancing, ballet and even disco or other forms of modern dance are great endurance exercises.
8 Ride a horse We're not talking about a gallop, although that's certainly something to build up to. But eve a gentle trot or canter helps; you get an extra physical boost if you learn how to groom and saddle the horse.
9 Audition for a musical Most communities have local theatre groups that rely on volunteers for their talent. Singing while moving, as in walking across the stage, provides a moderate level of activity.
10 Join a sports team Maybe you're beyond the over-40s football team, but what about a double tennis club or other sociable activity group? Even joining a bowling group will provide a decent-enough work-out once or twice a week.
back to it in the next day or two, and you'll be able to do it a little longer. And so it goes on.
So what is a high-enough rate of intensity? It's simple: work hard enough to make yourself breathe harder than usual. Want us to be more specific? There are measurements you can take to guage your ongoing exertion more objectively, but they often involve buying equipment such as a heart rate monitor. Instead, just measure your own rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This simply means your innate sense of how hard you're working and is a guide to your work rate.
In determining your RPE, ten is the highest level of intensity; it essentially means you can't catch your breath and are about to fall over from exertion. Zero is the lowest level of intensity; it means you've probably been lying comfortably on your sofa for the past hour. When you're engaged in endurance activities, aim for somewhere between five, which is moderate, and seven, which is strong.
Another way to know that you're working hard enough is that you'll be sweating and slightly out of breath but still able to talk. Increase the intensity, and you may find yourself only able to gasp out 'yes' or 'no'. Any higher, and you need to bring it down a level.
Next question: how long should you exercise?
Answer: ideally, up to 30 minutes of consecutive exertion. For now, though, start with 10 minutes. That's the minimum length of time in which you can get the respiratory and cardiovascular benefits
you seek.
great advice
Forget measurements at first: you know when you're exerting yourself, and when you've had enough
Ten minutes doesn't sound like much, but if you've been inactive for several years - or even a few months - start slowly. This is not the time to head out for a 30 minute hill climb. Instead, start with a 10 minute walk. Every day, add another 5 minutes and increase your speed until you're doing 30 minutes at the 'breathing-hard-but-can-still-talk' level. Interval training may be recommended for those who are very out of shape. This involves working at a slightly higher rate for a short period, then increasing the intensity for a short period. As you get into shape, you'll find your work-out gets easier. Then you can either choose to up the intensity or settle at a healthy fitness plateau.
Even better, start to diversify your endurance activities. If walking comes easily, then perhaps it's time to take up swimming or tennis or to get out your bicycle and take to the road. One great thing about endurance activities is that they tend to be done outdoors, making them much more natural and fun than being in a gym.
fitness type 2
Strength
Strength exercises increase the power of a specific muscle by challenging it with some from of resistance. That could be weights, exercise bands or even your own body weight. The usual method is careful, slow lifting and lowering of a weight to target a specific muscle or muscle group.
If you think this form of exercise is best left to the young ones, think again. This is probably the most important form of exercise when it comes to preventing the frality and disability associated with ageing.
Why? Without muscle strength, your ability to walk, sit, stand and bend gradually fades. When you observe older people struggling to stand or walk, it's for one reason only - their muscle strength has gone. Yes, injury or disease may have curtailed their capacity for activity, but, in fact, it's still weak muscles that limit their mobility. And only healthier muscles - achieved through strengthening exercises - can return that mobility.
Strength-training has other important benefits. It reduces the risk and symptoms of osteoporosis, heart disease, arthritis and type 2 diabetes. It helps to improve your sleep and reduces your risk of depression. At least one study also found that it improves balance - even in middle-aged people whom you wouldn't think would have balance problems.
Think strength-training is too hard or too awkward for you? Think again. The fact is, strength-training is often less tiring than endurance work-outs. It can be done in limited space and with limited time. You need minimal gear - often just a few dumbbells - though technique is crucial. Best of all, you'll see the results in as little as a few weeks. Plus, strengthening exercises can boost your metabolism by as much as 15 percent, which is a bonus when it comes to losing weight. Maybe that's why more than ever, people aged 65 and older are taking up strength-training.
One important thing to remember if you're taking up exercise in the hope of shaping up: volume for volume, muscle weighs more than fat. That's because it's denser. As you start
Time to move up?
How do you know if you need to move to a lighter or heavier weight? Here's want the experts say.
Reduce the weight if:
Throw all those complicated notions aside. Exercise is nothing more than moving your body for good health. Of course, some exercise is better than others, and different types of movement do affect your body in different ways. But understanding the different types is easy - and so is doing it - if you don't let trainers or overblown health magazines complicate things.
Here's that what we suggest: throw out all you think you know about exercise and start over again, beginning right now. In the following pages, we'll give a concise explanation of the four essential type of fitness - ENDURANCE, STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY and BALANCE. Then we'll tell you precisely which ones you need to focus on for optimal health today and tomorrow.
Finally, we''ll provide specific exercise sequences for you to consider doing most mornings or evenings that deliver the best results for the minimum investment of time and effort.
fitness type 1
Endurance
Endurance activities are those that challenge large groups of muscles, such as those in your legs or arms and shoulders, for at least ten consecutive minutes. The most obvious examples are walking, cycling and swimming but endurance activities also include lifestyle actions such as washing windows, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, gardening, mowing the lawn, raking and pruning. A round of golf-without a cart - also counts.
These activities provide the biggest returns when it comes to protecting against the effects of chronic diseases associated with ageing, such of heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. One major reason: endurance exercises strengthen not only the muscle groups being used but also your heart, lungs and circulatory system. That's why endurance exercise is also called aerobic exercise: the word aerobic basically means it involves oxygen, which is what your heart, lungs and circulatory system are all about.
Endurance exercise is also the most straightforward. To build endurance, you just do your preferred activity at a high rate of intensity for as long as you are comfortable. Come
great advice
Endurance exercise provides the best defence against most chronic diseases
10 ways to exercise naturally
Here are ten ways to get a moderate level of activity without setting foot in a formal exercise envirnoment. Each burns up to seven calories a minute; your goal is to get least 10 minutes of sustained activity at a time.
1 Take a daily fitness walk This is in addition to any other walking you do as part of your day. Commit to a pace slightly faster than your normal gait. Walking the dog is perfect. Don't let weather stop you - light snow or misty rain is no excuse to stay at home. If the weather is too bad for an outdoor walk, go to the shopping centre - but no window-shopping. Walk from one end to the other, but avoid food shops. You'll find that your daily walk not only strenghthens your body but is also a great way to relax, think and socialise.
2 Take up table tennis An intense game of table tennis gets your heart rate up, increases the amount of oxygen going to your lungs and brain, and provides all the other amazing benefits of physical aerobic activity.
3 Coach a childern's team Got extra time on your hands? Why not volunteer to help to coach a youth club football team? In addition to the fun you'll have and the appreciation you'll earn, you'll also get an unexpected work-out at least twice a week (more if you arrange more practises).
4 Clean the old-fashioned way For a cleaner house and a healthier you, get down on your hand and knees to scrub the floor, hang laundry out on a clothes line and wash the window yourself instead of calling someone to do it. All will provide a good, moderate work-out with a bonus at the end: a sparkling house.
5 Play with the children or grandchildren Try throwing a Frisbee or teaching them how to play badmintion. Or even dance around the living room with them for 10 minutes.
6 Go canoeing Many parks offer canoes or rowing boats for hire, and rowing at a moderate pace of less than 6km/h (4mph) provides a moderate work-out.
7 Sign up for dance classes Ballroom dancing, line dancing, folk dancing, ballet and even disco or other forms of modern dance are great endurance exercises.
8 Ride a horse We're not talking about a gallop, although that's certainly something to build up to. But eve a gentle trot or canter helps; you get an extra physical boost if you learn how to groom and saddle the horse.
9 Audition for a musical Most communities have local theatre groups that rely on volunteers for their talent. Singing while moving, as in walking across the stage, provides a moderate level of activity.
10 Join a sports team Maybe you're beyond the over-40s football team, but what about a double tennis club or other sociable activity group? Even joining a bowling group will provide a decent-enough work-out once or twice a week.
back to it in the next day or two, and you'll be able to do it a little longer. And so it goes on.
So what is a high-enough rate of intensity? It's simple: work hard enough to make yourself breathe harder than usual. Want us to be more specific? There are measurements you can take to guage your ongoing exertion more objectively, but they often involve buying equipment such as a heart rate monitor. Instead, just measure your own rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This simply means your innate sense of how hard you're working and is a guide to your work rate.
In determining your RPE, ten is the highest level of intensity; it essentially means you can't catch your breath and are about to fall over from exertion. Zero is the lowest level of intensity; it means you've probably been lying comfortably on your sofa for the past hour. When you're engaged in endurance activities, aim for somewhere between five, which is moderate, and seven, which is strong.
Another way to know that you're working hard enough is that you'll be sweating and slightly out of breath but still able to talk. Increase the intensity, and you may find yourself only able to gasp out 'yes' or 'no'. Any higher, and you need to bring it down a level.
Next question: how long should you exercise?
Answer: ideally, up to 30 minutes of consecutive exertion. For now, though, start with 10 minutes. That's the minimum length of time in which you can get the respiratory and cardiovascular benefits
you seek.
great advice
Forget measurements at first: you know when you're exerting yourself, and when you've had enough
Ten minutes doesn't sound like much, but if you've been inactive for several years - or even a few months - start slowly. This is not the time to head out for a 30 minute hill climb. Instead, start with a 10 minute walk. Every day, add another 5 minutes and increase your speed until you're doing 30 minutes at the 'breathing-hard-but-can-still-talk' level. Interval training may be recommended for those who are very out of shape. This involves working at a slightly higher rate for a short period, then increasing the intensity for a short period. As you get into shape, you'll find your work-out gets easier. Then you can either choose to up the intensity or settle at a healthy fitness plateau.
Even better, start to diversify your endurance activities. If walking comes easily, then perhaps it's time to take up swimming or tennis or to get out your bicycle and take to the road. One great thing about endurance activities is that they tend to be done outdoors, making them much more natural and fun than being in a gym.
fitness type 2
Strength
Strength exercises increase the power of a specific muscle by challenging it with some from of resistance. That could be weights, exercise bands or even your own body weight. The usual method is careful, slow lifting and lowering of a weight to target a specific muscle or muscle group.
If you think this form of exercise is best left to the young ones, think again. This is probably the most important form of exercise when it comes to preventing the frality and disability associated with ageing.
Why? Without muscle strength, your ability to walk, sit, stand and bend gradually fades. When you observe older people struggling to stand or walk, it's for one reason only - their muscle strength has gone. Yes, injury or disease may have curtailed their capacity for activity, but, in fact, it's still weak muscles that limit their mobility. And only healthier muscles - achieved through strengthening exercises - can return that mobility.
Strength-training has other important benefits. It reduces the risk and symptoms of osteoporosis, heart disease, arthritis and type 2 diabetes. It helps to improve your sleep and reduces your risk of depression. At least one study also found that it improves balance - even in middle-aged people whom you wouldn't think would have balance problems.
Think strength-training is too hard or too awkward for you? Think again. The fact is, strength-training is often less tiring than endurance work-outs. It can be done in limited space and with limited time. You need minimal gear - often just a few dumbbells - though technique is crucial. Best of all, you'll see the results in as little as a few weeks. Plus, strengthening exercises can boost your metabolism by as much as 15 percent, which is a bonus when it comes to losing weight. Maybe that's why more than ever, people aged 65 and older are taking up strength-training.
One important thing to remember if you're taking up exercise in the hope of shaping up: volume for volume, muscle weighs more than fat. That's because it's denser. As you start
Time to move up?
How do you know if you need to move to a lighter or heavier weight? Here's want the experts say.
Reduce the weight if:
- You can't complete two sets of ten repetitions in a stable position.
- You need to rest after ten reps because the weight is too heavy to complete more reps in a stable position.
- You could have done a few more reps in a stable position without a break. At your next work-out, do the first set of reps with your current weight and the second with the next-highest weight. For example, if you're currently using 1/2kg (1lb) dumbbells, use 1 or 11/2kg (2 or 3 lb) dumbnells for your second set.
- You could do all 20 repetitions at once without a break. At your next session, use heavier dumbbells for both sets.
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