The Benefits Of Exercising- Guest Post

 

The Benefits of Exercising

 

Exercise is a great way to do something for ourselves, feel better, improve our mood, and release endorphins that make us happy. Additionally, it’s a great way to stay healthy, build muscle, and lose weight. This post will share the benefits of exercise, workouts for us to try including benefits of yoga and guide to using weights at the gym.

 

Exercise is a great way to lose weight, increase muscle mass, improves mood, sleep better, reduce the risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower blood sugar levels, maintain a healthy weight, lower blood pressure, reduce the risks of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, and  reduce or eliminate the need for medication.

 The best exercises to start with are the following: 1. Aerobics. Aerobics is a great way to increase heart rate and burn calories. 2. Walking. Walking is a fantastic way to get the blood flowing in the body. 3. Bicycling. Bicycling is a great way to increase heart rate and access to some fresh air. 4. Swimming. Swimming is a great way pump the muscles. 5. Yoga. Yoga is a great way to stretch and relax. 6. Jogging. Jogging is a great way to increase heart rate and improve your overall health. 7. Hiking. Hiking is a great way to have some fresh air and increase stamina. 8. Dance. Dance can provide a great workout in a short amount of time. 9. Tai Chi. Tai Chi is a great way to stretch and improve overall health. 10. Pilates. Pilates is a great way to strengthen core muscles

Free weights- Benefits

Something you need to keep in mind and never forget is that when you exercise, you are training for life.  You still may spend an hour a day in the gym, although that will still leave another 23 hours or so for your muscles to function without using any fancy equipment. Whenever you do any type of exercise, the movement of your body during the exercise is known as the range of motion.  The more difficult the range of motion is, the more effective the exercise will be, because your body has to work twice as hard to perform the movement. Take for the instance the classic dumbbell bicep curl.  If you are not familiar with the exercise, it is performed by standing up straight with your palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held down by your sides.  You'll contract your biceps to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder height, then repeat the exercise as many times as you wish. Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep curl machine, you should sit down, brace your  upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in front of you, then perform the same movement as above to move the handles in an upward motion. Now, looking at the muscle contractions in this exercise, you are contracting essentially your biceps if you are using the curl machine, and that is pretty much all you are doing.  When you use the machine you are sitting down, which will limit just how much your shoulders give.  The machine has several muscles used in this exercise limited to the biceps, as well as the muscles in your forearms and fingers. Most of the time, when using machine weights, you will always be limited as to what type of exercise you can perform.  You must always follow a strict procedure, which is the same with free weights.  Unlike free weights, machine  weights offer a certain degree of resistance. One of the best parts about free weights is the fact that you move a little to move around to select the weight you want to use.  Instead  of dragging it over to your exercise area, you simply select it on the machine.  When  you are tired during a workout, this can be a blessing. A lot of people argue in the fact that free weights are the best for your body.  While this is normally true, many people out there feel that machine weights are the best.  There are pros and cons with both machines, although free  weights have been around a lot longer and have been proven time after time to achieve dramatic results. Body builders for example, have used free weights over the years to build very impressive bodies. In a nutshell, free weights will use more of your muscles than the machines do, which makes them more effective overall.  This does not mean that the machines are a waste of use, as they offer some great advantages.  In some cases, it is best to stabilize the muscles that are being used in a movement, which is where machines are the best to use. The decision on which to use for you should be based on what you hope to achieve with lifting weights and where you plan to use the equipment, such as home or at a gym.  Both systems are great for your body, although the free weights are best to use if you want the best possible workout, and always ensure that your muscles are getting the right workouts they need.

Yoga

The practice of Yoga brings with it many physical and emotional benefits that the majority of people are unaware of. This article is quite long, so we have broken it up into two parts.  The first part is an introduction to Yoga and an overview of the major physical and psychological benefits of Yoga, while the second part shows how practicing yoga daily can have a profound effect on your ability to create a healthy lifestyle for yourself.

Yoga is a science; and indeed, in many places in the world (such as India), it is referred to as a science. This is not merely playing with words; it truly is approached as a science, which means that it is understood in terms of scientific methods. Yogic science seeks to verify cause and effect, and build principles based upon objective observations. Indeed, in many places in the world, to be a yogic master of any credibility, one must be highly educated in the sciences, including physics and the biological sciences. This discussion on yoga as science is important for us to include because it allows us to sensibly ask the question: what are the benefits of yoga? After all, if yoga is a faith or a belief, then asking this question is not fair; because it's one that yoga cannot answer in terms that we can objectively understand. Yoga is a science, which seeks to understand how the body acts and reacts to changes in the internal physical environment. And even more simply than any of this: each of us has a right to ask the basic question, "why should I bother practicing yoga and what experience or benefits can I expect?" Indeed, while the experience of yoga cannot be reduced to words – just as reading a book on preparing for a marathon isn't going to actually physically prepare you to run a marathon – the goals and principles of yoga can easily be discussed.

Here's the Mayo Clinic's take on the benefits of meditation:

"Meditation is used by people who are perfectly healthy as a means of stress reduction. But if you have a medical condition that's worsened by stress, you might find the practice valuable in reducing the stress-related effects of allergies, asthma, chronic pain and arthritis, among others."

 

Yoga involves a series of postures, during which you pay special attention to your breathing — exhaling during certain movements and inhaling with others. You can approach yoga as a way to promote physical flexibility, strength and endurance or as a way to enhance your spirituality.

The Mind-Body Connection

Yoga is centered on the mind-body connection. This mind-body harmony is achieved through three things:

 

•  postures (asanas)

 

• proper breathing (pranayama)

 

•  meditation

 

Mind and body draw inspiration and guidance from the combined practices of asanas, breathing, and meditation. As people age (to yogis, ageing is an artificial condition), our bodies become susceptible to toxins and poisons (caused by environmental and poor dietary factors). Yoga helps us through a cleaning process, turning our bodies into a well synchronized and well-oiled piece of machinery.

 

Physical Benefits

By harmonizing these three principles, the benefits of yoga are attained. And just what are these benefits?

 

• equilibrium in the body’s central nervous system

 

• decrease in pulse

 

• respiratory and blood pressure rates

 

• cardiovascular efficiency

 

• gastrointestinal system stabilization

 

• increased breath-holding time

 

• improved dexterity skills.

 

• Improved balance

 

• Improved depth perception

 

• Improved memory

 

 

Psychological Benefits

 

As noted above, Yoga also delivers an array of psychological benefits; and in fact, this is a very common reason why people begin practicing it in the first place. Perhaps the most frequently mentioned psychological benefit of yoga is an improved ability to manage stress. Yoga diminishes an individual’s levels of anxiety, depression, and lethargy; thus enabling him/her to focus on what’s spiritual and important: achieving balance and happiness.

Now that we are aware of the benefits of exercise, the New Year is a fantastic opportunity to start implementing exercises into our routine, but where do we start? How can we incorporate exercise if we have never done this before? There are many kinds of exercises, but the most popular ones are the ones that target the muscles in the chest, back, and core. I hope this article provides a start and a guide to start this new journey and chapter!

To finally mention that this was a guest post by a Personal Trainer, so any comments/questions will be relayed back to them, Thank you!