Benefits of Exercise: Your Personal Fitness Plan

Staying fit is not only good for your health, it is good for you. If you want to enjoy life more, the tips here can help.

The Benefits of Exercise

No amount of exercise can guarantee a long life, however, even moderate amounts of physical activity can improve the likelihood of a healthy life. Along with a positive attitude and a healthful diet, your fitness level plays a major role in how well you feel, what illnesses you avoid, and how much you enjoy your life.

Consider the benefits of fitness presented here and find one or more reasons to to commit to your own fitness program:

• Relives tension and stress
• Provides enjoyment and fun
• Stimulates the mind
• Helps maintain a stable weight
• Controls appetite
• Boosts self-image
• Improves muscle tone and strength
• Improves flexibility
• Lowers blood pressure
• Relives insomnia
• Increases “good” (HDL) cholesterol
• Reduces risk of diabetes
• Increases energy and helps decrease fatigue
• Reduces anxiety and depression
• Improves balance and coordination
• Helps prevent constipation

Are you ready to get Started?

• Any activity is better than no activity…and you never have to run a marathon. You can start with a 5-minute walk today, and presto! You’re started!
• Then, you can look for ways to liven up every day with a few minutes of walking, gardening, bicycling, dancing, swimming, taking the stairs, playing games, etc….
• Some people like to write down all of their activity on their calendar. Then they can step back and say,
  “I did it!”

Your Personal Fitness Plan

No one can prescribe the perfect fitness plan for you. You have to figure it out based on what you enjoy doing and what you will continue to do.

Consistency is the most important, the most basic, and the most often neglected part of fitness. Consistency in regular exercise or moderate activity delivers all of the fitness benefits.

A good fitness plan has 3 parts: aerobic fitness, muscle strengthening, and flexibility.

AEROBIC  FITNESS

Aerobic conditioning strengthens your heart and lungs. Good aerobic exercises include brisk walking, running, stair climbing, biking, swimming aerobic dance, or anything else that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for a while.

MUSCLE STRENGTHENING

Strengthening your muscles improves your work and athletic performance and prevents fatigue.
Muscle-strengthening exercises will also improve your posture and help you feel more energetic.

Resistance training, with free weights, weight-training equipment, or inexpensive rubber tubing, can quickly increase your muscle strength.

Other simple, safe, and effective strengthening exercises include bent-knee curl-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, side leg-lifts, and other calisthenics to improve abdominal, neck, arm, shoulder, and leg strength.

FLEXIBILITY

Stretching can increase your range of motion and reduce stiffness and pain. Stretching is particularly important during the cool-down phase after exercising when your muscles are warm.

• Stretch slowly and gradually. Don’t bounce. Maintain a continuous tension on the muscle.
• Relax and hold each stretch for a count of 20.
• Exhale as you stretch, to further relax your muscles. If stretching hurts, you have gone too far or you are doing something incorrectly.

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