The Benefits of Exercise

The heart is a muscle that benefits greatly from exercise. The type of exercise that helps this most important of muscles get stronger is aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is any type of exercise that makes your lungs work harder and your heartbeat quickly for an amount of time. Aerobic means "with air," so aerobic exercise is a kind of activity that requires oxygen. When you do aerobic exercise, you may notice you’re breathing faster than normal. You know you are doing aerobic activity correctly when it gets your heart pumping. The ideal scenario is to give your heart this kind of workout every day. This helps your heart be more efficient at delivering oxygen-carrying blood cells to all parts of your body. Good examples of activities that qualify as aerobic activity are swimming, ice or roller hockey, running, jogging, basketball, walking quickly, soccer, in-line skating, aquafit, soccer, cross country skiing, biking, rowing, jumping rope, playing hopscotch and rebounding on a trampoline!

Another benefit of exercise is that it strengthens all of the muscles being used during the activity. The more you use your muscles, the more powerful and healthy you will be. Examples of activities that help build muscles are push ups, pull ups rowing, running, bike riding, in line skating, playing lifting weights and playing tug of war.

The third main purpose of exercise is to make you more flexible. This means being able to touch your toes with ease. Children usually have no problem doing this but older humans sometimes certainly do. The true definition of being flexible is the ability to have a full range of motion, which means that you can move your arms and legs freely without feeling any type of pain.  Activities that increase your flexibility include gymnastics, tumbling, yoga, pilates, swimming, aquafit, ballet, dancing, tai chi and martial arts.

You also need to exercise regularly to prevent yourself from getting fat. Food gives you energy in the form of calories. Calories must be expended in the form of activity or else they stay in your body and help you gain weight.  If you’re active and have a busy job (like a bicycle courier) you may not need as much exercise as other people. However if you are sedentary and have some kind of desk job then it is highly possible that you need more exercise on a daily basis. Keep in mind that suffering a great deal of stress does not count as exercise! Too much stress causes a person to gain weight, especially around the belly. It can also lead to over eating as well as problems with the heart. If you suffer from stress then keep in mind that exercising regularly can supply you with the ultimate relief