Exercise

Regular exercise is vital to help maintain good health. Exercise burns up extra calories in food and reduces the likelihood of these being converted into fat. Regular exercise makes you fit, gives a general sense of  well-being, improves appetite and sleep and makes the heart and circulation, lungs and respiration work more efficiently. Exercise carried out for about 20 minutes three times a week is beneficial for the body.  

Physical Fitness can be measured in various aspects such as your balance, stamina, strength and flexibility. It is often assessed by measuring heart rate after exercise. Fitness can also be measured in terms of the strength of specific muscles required to perform a task such as lifting weights. optimal Physical fitness requires both aerobic exercise and muscle - strengthening  exercises. 

There are three main types of exercises that can be included in your exercise program. These are-  flexibility, strengthening, and fitness.

• Flexibility exercises involves stretching, loosening up and bending. These exercise helps muscles and joints to perform their full range of movement with suppleness and ease and help to reduce stiffness and keep your joints flexible.

• Strengthening exercises include both flexibility and fitness exercises as well as the use of weights and specially designed equipments in a gym. These exercises help maintain or increase muscle strength, leading to firming up of the body and an improvement in posture. 

• Fitness exercises help increase your endurance and stamina. Vigorous activities (Aerobic activities) such as  brisk walking, jogging, cycling, dancing, swimming along with many sports like football, tennis, badminton etc. improve fitness. The improvement can be seen after a few weeks of regular, fairly, hard exercise i.e.  30 minutes of  aerobic activity every day. However, the level of fitness soon declines if the exercise regime is abandoned. 

Walking: Walking is the best form of moderate exercise. Brisk walking help circulation of blood throughout the body.  Walking can help people avoid a heart attack, peel off pounds and even develop a hard body.

Running or Jogging : Running improves cardiovascular fitness, promotes endurance and stamina and gives complexion a super fit glow. However, over exertion can cause fatigue, insomnia and rapid heart beat after the exercise.  

Cycling : Cycling strengthens legs and thighs, heart and lungs and improve circulation. Fresh air, speed and sense of freedom allow the mind to soar. Ride at an even speed, instead of exhausting the energy by pedalling hard. The continual pumping action benefits the heart. 

Aerobics : This vigorous form of exercising which is generally accompanied with music, will slim you down and improve the efficiency of your heart, lungs and circulatory system.

Swimming : It tones all parts of the body symmetrically. The crawl, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, all of them firm buttocks and thighs, broaden shoulders, slim torso and lift breasts. Swimming also gives a beautiful back and pressure tones the skin to a smooth polish. 

Tennis , Badminton and squash : These sports help develop strong buttocks and leg muscles, strengthen wrists, reflexes, eye hand co-ordination and foot work ability. Warm up before you play. Drink plenty of liquids after play.

Other daily activities like climbing stairs, gardening, carrying groceries etc all count towards moderate exercises which help in burning calories. 

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Basic Principles to get the maximum out of a fitness programme

• Evaluate your fitness level. Be certain that your exercise plan will not aggregate any chronic physical condition you may have, such as arthritis, check with your doctor first.

• Identify your specific goal whether you are aiming for weight loss or general fitness and so on.

• Set a specific time period, you want to allot to your programme

• Pick the exercise that uses skills different from those you may use at work.

• Consider choosing an activity you already enjoy or would like to try. If the activities are the ones you like, you'll always be motivated to keep doing them.

• Plan an exercise programme that includes strength training as well as endurance (aerobic) activity.

• Begin exercise gradually and work up slowly to your desired level of fitness. 

• Always perform your exercise with right posture techniques so as not to lay stress on any of your joints and to avoid injury.

• Use equipment that is the right size or weight for your level of skills and physical size.

• Begin each  workout with a gradual warm up period that includes flexibility exercises (at least five minutes) and end your exercise with a cool down period gradually bringing your body back to rest.A good stretch can also help reduce post-exercise soreness.

• Be certain to get enough daily rest. 

• Pay attention to your own body's signals when they tell you to slow down.

• Never exercise after a heavy meal or after drinking alcohol. If you feel sick or dizzy, stop immediately.

• After and during exercise, prevent dehydration by drinking water. 

• Aim to workout the whole body equally to make all group of muscles strong. Otherwise weaker muscles may be prone to injury.

• Proper breathing pattern is an essential factor during workouts. 

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