Exercise and Fitness 101

Exercise and fitness, and healthy nutrition go hand in hand. These factors help to make you as healthy as you possibly can. By advocating a healthy and fit lifestyle, you can ward off lifestyle related diseases. It may also contribute to a fuller longer life.

Why Exercise?

You may be asking, “Why should I exercise? I don’t have any health problems.” You may not have any health problems now, but if you go on with your sedentary lifestyle, you may soon experience lifestyle related conditions like hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, obesity, and more. With exercise, you can also drop the extra pounds you may be carrying around and as soon as you reach your goal weight, exercise can also help you maintain it.

Aside from weight loss, your psych can also benefit from a good run. Studies have shown that exercise releases endorphins that can help make you happier and improve your mood. You may also find you sleep patterns improve when you exercise.

Types of Exercise

•    Cardio
•    Weight Training

The above are the two basic classifications of exercise. A good fitness exercise programs should include both.

Cardio exercises are basically exercises that increase your heart rate. Calorie burning is the goal of a cardio work out. The idea behind it is that the faster your heart beats the more calories you get to burn. Before beginning any cardio exercise, however, you need to know what your ideal calorie burning heart rate – lower than this rate and you may not be able to burn enough calories. Much higher and you could be putting yourself in danger. To do this, you need to find out what your maximum heart rate should be.

Research shows that the maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. If, for example, you are 35, then your maximum heart rate should be 185. When exercising, it is encouraged that your heart rate should be no more than 75% of your maximum heart rate. So, at 35, your ideal exercise heart rate should be at around 139.

When it comes to heart rate, here are some of the zones that you are encouraged to stay in

•    Warm Up (Healthy Heart Zone) 50 to 60% of maximum heart rate
•    Fat Burning (Fitness Zone) 60 to 70% of maximum heart rate
•    Endurance Training (Aerobic Zone 70 to 80% of maximum heart rate

Few people, even trained endurance athletes, can last for more than a minute or two when they are at their maximum heart rates. It is also ill advised to continue pushing your heart to such levels.

Weight training fitness exercise workouts are done with the goal of increasing muscle mass and improving muscle tone. Your body has several muscle groups. Some of the most common groups you target through weight training include the biceps, triceps, gluts, abs, and the muscles of your legs.

Aside from toning your muscles and increasing your strength, weight training can also help increase your calorie burning levels. This is because the more muscle mass you have the more calories you will burn.

Some women refrain from weight training because they feel it will make them look like body builders. Note that the muscle gain depends on gender. In addition, body builders go to exercise extremes to get the body that they have.

When to Expect Results

The results of exercise are immediate. Of course, that depends on the results that you are looking for. Initial results such as increased energy levels and improved sleep patterns can be seen in as little as one or two weeks. More drastic results like improved muscle tone will usually take 6 to 8 weeks, before any visible changes are observed.

1 to 2 Weeks – During the first two weeks in, you may see some degree of weight loss. How much weight you loose, however, will depend on how much exercise you perform as well as on your diet. During the first two weeks, it’s unlikely, especially for beginners, to see any outward changes on their body, but it’s most likely that you will feel an improvement in your energy levels. You may also observe improvement in your mood and in your sleep patterns. Some people may find the first two weeks hard as your body is still adjusting to your exercise regimen, but push through as it will soon be getting better.

3 to 5 Weeks – During this time, you will continue to observe an improvement in your energy levels, mood, and sleep patterns. At this point, your body has already started acclimating itself to your exercise routine and you may find that you feel un-energized if you miss a session. You may also have to push yourself further – maybe you can run faster and longer than you did in the first two weeks. Your food cravings will also have subsided during this period and you will be more comfortable with your current diet.

6 to 8 Weeks – At this period, you will begin to see outward signs of your weight loss. You may observe your face getting thinner and you could be loosing inches in your waist, arms, and thighs. If you have been weight training, you may also be seeing definition in your muscles, given that you have lost enough fat mass in order for you muscles to show.

After the initial losses, usually 4 or 6 months in, you may reach a weight loss plateau. This is normal. In order to combat it, you will have to shift your cardio exercises and increase its endurance. Don’t let your body get too used to an exercise or you will end up not burning as many calories as you hoped.

Maintaining a Fit Body

Maintaining a fit body is not just about exercise and weight. It also involves healthy nutrition and diet. When you have reached your ideal weight and achieved your other exercise and fitness goals, you next agenda is to maintain your fit body. You can do that by eating healthy and maintaining the exercise regimens that you have, and don’t forget weight training as it is crucial in maintaining muscle tone.