Exercising
We have all heard how exercising is essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Being active helps manage our weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It also works to keep our heart, lungs, muscles, bones, and joints strong. Exercise can help you battle depression and anxiety by boosting your energy and psychological well-being. There are many different types of exercise, although not all types may be the right fit for you.
Aerobic exercise increases maximal oxygen consumption and improves cardiovascular and cardio respiratory function. It also increases your blood supply to muscles and your ability to use oxygen. Lowering your blood pressure and triglycerides and raising your HDL cholesterol (the good one) along with reducing body fat to improve weight control are important benefits to aerobic exercise. People who have diabetes benefit from it too. This type of workout helps keep blood sugar levels on target. Simply taking a brisk walk three times each week will lower your blood sugar levels significantly.
So what is aerobic exercise? Aerobic exercise is any kind of body movement that gets your heart pumping and makes your muscles use oxygen. Another name for aerobic exercise is cardiovascular exercise or simply cardio. These activities allow more efficient use of oxygen in the body. It also refers to physical activity that maximizes the use of the larger muscle groups in the body like the heart muscle and the lungs. Taking an aerobics class is a good way to get you started on this type of exercise. If this isn't an option for you, then any activity such as walking, running, swimming, bicycling, dancing, martial arts, and hiking can be good alternatives.
Another form of exercise is strength training. Strength training increases muscular strength and improves flexibility. It reduces body fat and increases muscle mass. Strength training, like aerobic exercise, can lower blood pressure and create positive changes in cholesterol. Diabetics also benefit from strength training because it improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity.
When you strength train with weights, you are using your muscles to work against resistance. By making your muscles work harder than they are used to, this strengthens and increases the amount of muscle mass in your body. Two types of weights that are frequently used are free weights and weight machines. Free weights, including barbells, dumbbells, and hand weights, usually work a group of muscles at the same time whereas weight machines are typically designed to help you isolate and work on a specific muscle. The use of resistance bands and even your own body weight for strength training is possible. Push-ups, sit-ups, or body weight squats are some examples of using your own body weight to train.
Strength training is not to be compared with power lifting, competitive weightlifting, or bodybuilding. Those sports concentrate on how much weight a person can lift at one time, and those activities can lead to serious injury if not careful. What we are focusing on is becoming physically active to benefit our lives and our health.