Before you get started on an exercise program, decide for what reason you will be exercising. If you go into exercising for the wrong reason, you may lose interest or not see improvements in the area you desire.

Different kinds of exercises provide different benefits. After you have determined your goal(s) and your method of exercise, you must make sure the exercise provides the type of benefit you wish to achieve. There are exercises that help relieve stress, aid the heart, control weight, define muscles, improve strength, increase power and endurance, and maintain flexibility. You may choose one or more of these methods; you decide.

Exercising for Stress Reduction

Exercise is a form of positive stress; one of its effects is to cancel the negative emotional stresses that accumulate daily. Almost any exercise where you work out for at least one-half hour is effective. Pleasant surroundings also help in relieving stress. Swimming is soothing and relaxing for many people; others enjoy jogging or biking.

Exercising for Your Heart

Aerobic exercises are considered the most effective in terms of increasing heart capacity. Thirty minutes is what most studies believe is the magic number to produce maximum benefits from aerobics (this 30 minutes does not include the warm-up or cool-down periods).

Exercising to Maintain Weight

Regular physical activity carried out consistently over many months (indeed, for life) is the key to weight management and weight reduction. When you exercise regularly, not only do you expend calories, but you also tend not to use food to relieve stress-related mental tension: you tend to eat less in general. It requires the expenditure of 3500 calories to lose one pound of body fat. That is the equivalent of walking for about 14.6 hours (walking expends 4 calories per minute) or jogging about 8 hours (jogging expends about 7 calories per minute).

Anyone on a weight-loss program needs both to reduce the consumption of needless calories and increase significantly the time devoted to physical activity. This is why achieving and maintaining weight loss takes time and perseverance.

Exercising for Strength

Bodybuilding generally means weight training with light barbells, dumbbells, and weight machines. In strength training, you use many of the same techniques as those for building muscles. The difference between muscle building and strength building is that less weight and more repetitions are used with strength building. In other words, instead of lifting 100 pounds 10 times, you might lift 10-pound weights 50 times: the same amount of bodywork builds strength instead of bulk muscle.

Exercising for Endurance and Power

Endurance is your body's ability to withstand stress over a period of time, and power is your muscles' ability to perform over an extended period of time. Endurance is built by gradually increasing the length of time of strenuous activity, whereas power is achieved by short burst of strenuous activity followed by rest periods. Sports not suitable for strength and endurance are softball and golf.

Exercising for Flexibility

Calisthenics and yoga are great for flexibility. Keep in mind that flexibility should not be confused with fitness; flexibility is part of fitness, but flexibility exercises alone do not make a person physically fit. Almost all sports and exercises will increase flexibility. Stretching exercises should be incorporated into all sports activities and workouts.

© 2003 by AfroStaff