Health and fitness can be fun!
Fitness and working out can be tough to fit into daily schedules, but it is a crucial part of life to stay fit and healthy. Fitness and working out can come in many different ways. Some people plan out their workouts and do them every day at a specific time. Others are in sports, or have a hobby that help them have physical activity. Any of these ways of working out is great! There are some key things to know about working out before you start. First, the importance of cardio in workouts, second strength/weight lifting workouts, and third yoga workouts. Knowing that everyone likes different workouts these three points will help show how to have a well-rounded workout plan.
Cardio is a workout that makes the heart rate go up, and keeps it up for a significant amount of time. Cardio workouts are considered one of the most effective ways to lose weight (Remedios, 2013). When new to cardio workouts, it is good to plan the workout to last about 20 minutes. After getting comfortable with that amount of time, try working out for longer. Set new goals. Cardio workouts should not be super intense, just enough to keep the heart rate up and consistent for 20-30 minutes. Some simple cardio workouts would include: walking, running, biking, swimming, and aerobic workouts. All of these workouts will keep the heart rate up for an extended period of time, and help maintain, or lose weight.
Swimming cardio can be very effective and fun. Swimming at a moderate pace either freestyle, butterfly, or breast stroke for 30 minutes can burn up to 350 calories! Swimming can be very beneficial because it is not as hard on joints. Unlike running where the repetitive motion constantly pounds on your joints.
Jogging is also a great cardio workout, it works every part of the body and helps build up lung strength.
Tennis is a fun way to incorporate cardio into a workout, tennis helps with speed, strength, and reaction time.
Another fun way to incorporate cardio in the workout is to participate in Zumba. Zumba can be compared to a dance class. It is a really fun way to work out!
Kickboxing is an intense kind of cardio workout. Not only does kickboxing work the entire body, it really strengthens the core muscles of the body. Compared to walking or running, kickboxing has participants moving different ways constantly throughout the workout!
Strength/weightlifting workouts can be very effective. Weightlifting burns fat, reduces risk of diabetes, prevents back pain, and even helps fight depression. Research findings show that not only does weightlifting tone the body and improve body composition, it can also improve overall health, and elevate moods (Blackie, 2013). Weight training can help prevent osteoporosis, build up your muscles to prevent injury, and tone up your body. It is important when weight training that the right amount of time is spent. We don’t want to weight train every day. It is important to have a healthy balance. The goal should be to incorporate 2-3 weightlifting workouts per week. In each of these workouts try to target different areas of the body. For example; Monday’s workout could be the upper half of the body, and on Wednesday the lower half. It’s also important to talk about the difference between males and females when it comes to weightlifting. Women get concerned that when they weight train, they will end up looking like the next Arnold Schwarzenegger! This is not the case, women don’t have enough testosterone in their body to produce huge muscle mass. Women also produce muscle at half the rate men do. Weightlifting is different than cardio, weight training is more intense and centered more towards building up the muscles and gaining strength. When weight training, it is more likely that there will be more muscle mass built. Thus making people gain weight instead of lose weight. This is a good thing! Muscle takes up less space than fat, and people will look lean and toned. It’s not all about how much someone weighs, it’s about how healthy that person is, and how comfortable they are their own body.
Yoga, when first thinking about “yoga” there’s always the thought in the back of the mind that it is some spiritual meditation, and some want no part of it. But yoga can be a very soothing, and relaxing exercise without practicing the spiritual mediation part. Yoga is a great way to increase flexibility and being more flexible makes it easier to move, people are less stiff, and less tired. In one study 35% of people who have participated in yoga for eight weeks increased their flexibility (S.Juhasz, 2014). There are a lot of different kinds of yoga, there is yoga that helps with strength and endurance. Yoga that helps build better posture. Yoga can also help breathing, this can regulate stress levels, making someone feel calmer. Yoga is also beneficial because it helps maintain the balance of the metabolism. One of the best things about yoga is that anyone can do it! There are different variations of poses for beginners or for those more advanced. So it’s always easy to start!
Hopefully this article has helped bring to light some of the workouts that can benefit people’s lives. Contributing motivation to get up and plan a workout and live a happy and healthy lifestyle!
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