Exercising will help you feel significantly better. You have concluded that it is time to start exercising. Congratulations! You have taken the first step on the path to a new and improved body and mind shape.
Exercise is a magic pill, ”says Michael R. Bracko, Edd, FACSM, president of the American University of Sports Medicine’s User Information Committee.“ Exercise can literally help cure diseases like some forms of heart disease. Exercise helps prevent and create, and it helps recovery from some forms of cancer. Exercise helps people with arthritis and helps prevent or reverse the flow of depression. “
There is no doubt that exercise can help most people lose weight and look taut
But of course, you need to start – and keep going if you want to feel the benefits. This does not necessarily mean strict adherence and long-term exercise in the gym, although it has advantages. The truth is that you can profit through many different types and levels of exercise.
“Any small increase in physical activity will be a great incentive for weight loss and will help you feel better,” says Rita Redberg, M.Sc., president of the Scientific Advisory Board for Choose to Move program of the American Society of Cardiology.
Your exercise options are numerous, including walking, dancing, gardening, cycling – even doing small household chores, Redberg says. She says it’s important to choose the activities we enjoy. This will increase your chances of it becoming a habit for us.
And how much should I exercise?
For heart health, The AHA recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking, on most days of the week.
Still, “if you do less than that, you’ll still feel the benefits,” Redberg says. “If you can’t exercise for 30 minutes, you can’t give up because you definitely benefit from even 5 or 10 minutes of movement.”
Get ready to start…
Ready to get started? Experts for health and fitness helped compile this Beginner Exercise Guide, including definitions of some common exercises, exercise examples, and home exercise equipment recommendations.
The way to measure yyour exercise’s intensity check your heart rate and pulse during physical activity. This should be in the target range during different levels of exercise intensity.
For example, according to the CDC, heart rate should be 50% to 70% of its maximum value for moderate-intensity physical activity.
Prepare The first step is to assess your physical shape.
The first step to any exercise is to assess how fit you are for your chosen physical activity. It would be a good idea to consult a doctor when starting an exercise program. Anyone at high health risk, men ages 45 and older, and women ages 55 and older should have medical tests done, says Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., chief physiologist for the American Exercise Council.
But, regardless of your health condition, you can usually do at least some forms of exercise.
“I can’t imagine any medical problem getting worse with the right kind of exercise,” says Stephanie Siegrist, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at a private practice in Rochester, NY.
Exercise goals
After assessing your ability, you can set your own exercise goals. For example, do you want to prepare for a 5 km run? Do you go to the gym five times a week? Or are you just walking fast in the neighborhood?
“Make sure the goals are clear, realistic, and concise,” says Sal Fichera, an exercise physiologist, and owner of the New York Forza Fitness.
Regardless of your goals and health condition, approach each new exercise with caution.
“Start with low goals and go slow,” Bryant advises. Many beginners make the mistake of moving too aggressively, becoming tired, in pain, or being injured, he says. Some become discouraged because they thought aggressive exercise produces instant results.
“Generally speaking, when people go too aggressively early in the program, they tend not to be in the program for long,” Bryant says. “What you really want to do is develop some new habits that you can stick to for life.
Fitness Definitions
Even people who exercise for a long time may have misconceptions about what some fitness terms mean. Here are some definitions of words and phrases you are likely to come across:
Aerobics / cardiovascular activities
These are exercises that are strenuous enough to speed up your breathing and heart rate temporarily. Running, cycling, walking, swimming, and dancing fall into this category.
Maximum heart rate is based on a person’s age. You can obtain an estimate of the age-related maximum heart rate by subtracting a person’s age from 220.
Flexibility training or stretching
This type of training increases the range of motion of the joints. Age and inactivity tend to shorten muscles, tendons, ligaments over time. Contrary to popular belief, however, stretching and warming up are not synonymous. In fact, stretching unheated muscles and joints makes them prone to injury.
Strength, weight, or resistance exercises
This type of exercise is aimed at improving muscle strength and function. Specific exercises are designed to strengthen a particular muscle group. Lifting weights and exercising with stretchy resistors are examples of resistance exercises, as are exercises like push-ups in which you work against your own body weight.
Set
Commonly used in connection with strength exercises, this term refers to repeating the same exercises a certain number of times. For example, a weightlifter can do 10 biceps exercises, rest for a few moments, and then do another “set” of 10 biceps exercises.
Repetition or “tail.”
This refers to the number of times the exercise is performed during the set. For example, the weight lifter mentioned performs 10 repetitions of biceps exercises in each set.
Heating
It is a way of preparing the body for stress exercises. You can warm up the body with light intensity aerobic movements such as slow walking. These movements increase blood flow, which warms the muscles and joints. “Think of it as body lubrication,” Bryant explains. You should do a little light stretching at the end of the warm-up.
Cooling
It is a less strenuous exercise to cool your body after more intense exercise. For example, after walking on a treadmill, you walk at a slower speed for a while your breathing and heart rate slow down. Stretching is often part of the cooling.
Examples of exercises for beginners
It is important to warm up before you start exercising and then stretching. You should leave most stretching after training.
Once we warm up, experts recommend three different types of exercise for overall physical fitness: cardiovascular activity, strength conditioning, and flexibility training. It doesn’t have to be all done at once, but doing everything regularly will result in balanced fitness.
Cardiovascular activities.
Start doing aerobic activities, like walking or running, for 20-30 minutes, four to five times a week, Bryant says. To ensure you are working at an optimal level, try a “speech test”: Make sure you can maintain a basic conversation level without losing too much breath. But if you can easily sing a song, it means you’re not working hard enough.
Power conditioning
Start by exercising one set of exercises targeted at each major muscle group. Bryant suggests using a weight to comfortably perform the exercises eight to 12 times in a set. When you notice how you can endure more, gradually increase either the weight, the number of repetitions, or the set number. To get more out of strength training, do at least twice a week. Never exercise the same body part for two days in a row.
Flexibility training
The American Exercise Council recommends doing slow, static stretching three to seven days a week. Each stretch should last 10-30 seconds.
To learn how to perform certain exercises, consider taking a personal trainer during one or two sessions or take advantage of the free sessions offered when you join a gym.
Home exercise equipment
Exercise doesn’t have to be in the gym. You can exercise in the comfort of your own home. You can use your own weight resistance in exercises like squats and push-ups. To improve your strength and aerobic capacity, you can also invest money in buying exercise equipment at home.
Several experts gave their opinion on the popular home equipment:
• Ergometer. This best-selling piece of equipment is great for cardiovascular exercise, says Bracko. He recommends starting walking at a low intensity for 30 minutes and apply the speech test. Depending on how you progress, adjust the intensity and/or time accordingly.
• Free weights. Dumbbells make up this category of strength training equipment. Dumbbells are recommended for beginners. Fichera suggests buying an adjustable set of dumbbells to which you can add weight.
• Other strength training equipment. This includes weight training devices (rope boards and pulleys)
• Exercise ball. Although instructions and/or video instructions usually come with this subject, Bracko believes beginners can misuse the ball. “Some people fall or can’t hold the ball in place,” he says. But if you enjoy practicing with a ball, this can be a good exercise.
• Exercise videos and DVDs. Before exercising with video or DVD, Siegrist recommends watching them at least once before exercising to observe the structure and proper training. To further enhance your workout, she suggests exercising in front of a mirror if possible or for someone else to watch you during your workout.
