All Of Us Need To Exercise!

Decide Today To Stay Fit

You must first of all commit yourself to increasing your physical activity and decide to stay fit. You cannot take this commitment for granted as it demands a lifetime of dedication. Exercise or workouts should become a part of your life like all the other regular activities of your day-to-day life. If you want to succeed, you need to first convince yourself on the importance of staying fit and the dangers involved with an unfit and unhealthy lifestyle.

Give yourself enough time to enjoy the results of your efforts and be realistic with setting goals. Don’t try to achieve too much within a short period of time. Don’t give up until you have enjoyed the benefits of your improved physical fitness and well being. Before giving up, remind yourself that you have reached this state of unfitness over a long period of time and that it did not happen overnight. Therefore, you won't be able to get back to where you were in terms of physical fitness within a couple of days or weeks. However, if you stay motivated and maintain your determination to succeed, you will certainly achieve your goal. The benefits to your body are definitely worth your efforts. Don’t delay anymore, get into action today!

Examining Your Current Health Status

Are you in general good health and under 35? If your answer is “yes”, then it may not be necessary for you to visit your physician prior to starting your exercise program. If your answer is “‘no”, then it’s important that you visit your doctor for a basic health check. He may want you to go through special tests to determine your current fitness level. Before starting your exercise program, you need to make sure that you do not have any of the below issues:

• Hypertension
• Arthritis
• Heart disease
• Dizzy spells
• Inability to take on mild form of physical exertion without leading to a breathless state.
• Previous history of ligament and muscle tears.
• Heart related problems and strokes in the family history.
• You are currently taking prescription drugs (you now have a good reason to stop or minimize them).
• Any other medical conditions.

The health risks are minimal when a person in good health engages in physical activity. They are also minimal when you follow the advice of your health practitioner. On the contrary, excessive periods of inactivity, bad nutrition habits, and over eating present health risks that are far greater.

Defining Fitness

We can easily draw parallels between our physical fitness and the fine tuning of an automobile engine for better performance. When you feel and look great, you will also enjoy an energetic life; it's that point in time when you will realize that you are in excellent physical condition. It is one’s capacity to engage in day-to-day activities in an energetic way and with full alertness. When you are physically fit, you will still have a lot of energy left over to enjoy your evening after a long day. You will also be more able to meet all types of crisis situations without breaking down. Endurance, ability to withstand high levels of stress and the ability to stay poised even in the most trying situations, which may not be possible for an unfit person, are all signs of a physically fit person.

One’s heart, lungs and muscles have to perform at their optimum levels for physical fitness. Our body and mind are closely connected so our physical fitness also affects our psychological attributes such as mental attentiveness and our emotional strength.

When you begin your fitness regimen, remind yourself that physical fitness is something to do with one’s individuality and cannot be compared with others. Factors that influence fitness include age, genetics, sex, motivation levels, personal habits and eating habits. You will not be able to change the effects of age, sex or genetics, but you can certainly work on the other areas and make improvements as and when required.

Basics of Fitness

There are four basic aspects of physical fitness - we can gain better insights into physical fitness by understanding these four basic aspects.

Cardio-respiratory Endurance: It is the ability of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues, to excrete toxins, all at higher intensity levels and longer durations of time. Cardio-respiratory Endurance is normally measured by subjecting oneself to prolonged intensive activities such as walking, running or swimming.

Muscular Strength: It is the ability of your muscle to apply maximum possible force for short durations. Weight lifting for example, is one way of determining the strength of your body.

Muscular Endurance: It is the ability of your muscle to withstand recurring contraction or its ability to exert force over a rigid object. The Push-up and Pull-up are just some of the ways of determining the muscle endurance of arms and shoulders.

Flexibility: It is the ability of extending ones ligaments and muscles to their full range, even beyond. Exercises like sit and reach are good ways of testing one’s flexibility.

Besides the above items, the nature of your body’s composition is also one of the factors that determine your physical fitness. You should have a healthy ratio of lean mass and fat mass to enjoy physical fitness. Lean mass refers to your muscles, organs, tissues and bones. You will be able to decrease the fat mass and increase your muscle mass through appropriate exercises and of course healthy eating habits.

Your Workout Schedule

Based on your personal goals, whether it be to increase mass or to lose fat, you must plan on how much time you want to spend with your workouts, what types exercises you need to do as well as the intensity level you are able to maintain. Along with your goal, you should also take your age, present health condition, abilities and interest level into consideration. If your aim in starting a fitness program is to train yourself to become a top level athletic competitor, then the fitness program will obviously be different from a program that is meant for a person who just wants to stay fit and enjoy a level of general good health that will help him or her meet the demands of day-to-day activities.

To improve your physical fitness you must include some or all aspects of the four items discussed above. All your workout sessions should begin with a stretching and warm-up phase. If you engage in intensive activity, make sure you provide your body with enough time to recuperate in between sessions. Never workout the same body part two days in a row. Although there are supplements to help your body repair and heal quicker, time is still necessary. So give your body a chance to rest. A two or three day rest period for that specific body part or workout routine is recommended.

Sign Me Up

So, how do you get started? Many people choose to exercise at home. That is fine as long as you know what you are doing and have a structured, well rounded program. But the ideal method would be to locate a nearby gym and use their facilities. It's not as expense as you may think. Those that say it is are just looking for an excuse not to exercise. It's a great diversion to your day and you will be surrounded by other likeminded people striving to take care of themselves as well. Most gyms ( I use 24 Hour Fitness) have free initial consultations with a personal trainer when you sign up so take advantage of their expertise and let them help you develop an exercise program that suits your needs and abilities.