All About Fitness!
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Exercise and Weight Loss
The key to weight control is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical activity) in balance. When you consume only as many calories as your body needs, your weight will usually remain constant. If you take in more calories than your body needs, you will put on excess fat. If you expend more energy than you take in, you will burn excess fat.
Exercise plays an important role in weight control by increasing energy output, calling on stored calories for extra fuel. Recent studies show that not only does exercise increase metabolism during a workout, but it causes your metabolism to stay increased for a period of time after exercising, allowing you to burn more calories. There are two basic forms of exercise: anaerobic and aerobic.
When Should You Exercise?
Among the factors you should consider in developing your workout schedule are personal preference, job and family responsibilities, availability of exercise facilities, and weather.
Its important to schedule your workouts for a time when there is little chance that you will have to cancel or interrupt them because of other demands on your time.
The two most popular times to workout are the hour just before the evening meal and early morning before the workday begins. The late afternoon workout provides a welcome change of pace at the end of the workday and helps dissolve the days worries and tensions. Advocates of the early start say it makes them more alert and energetic on the job.
Anaerobic Exercise
Anaerobic activity is short in duration (0 to 2 minutes) and high in intensity. Anaerobic activities include activities such as racquetball, downhill skiing, weight lifting, sprinting, softball, soccer and football. This type of exercise requires immediate energy to be supplied by blood glucose and muscle glycogen, and focuses more on increasing muscle mass and building power.
Anaerobic exercise is very important in improving strength to perform daily activities and train for sporting events. “As you build muscle and get stronger, ordinary activities require less effort, leaving you with more zip all day long.” Additionally anaerobic activity increases your metabolic rate for several hours after exercising, as well as your resting metabolic rate. The quickening of the metabolic rate may make it easier to shed unwanted weight.
Aerobic Exercise
In the strictest sense, moderate-intensity activities that can be sustained for more than 2 minutes are called aerobic exercise. More commonly, aerobic exercise is defined as using the same large muscle group, rhythmically, for a period of 15 to 20 minutes or longer while maintaining 60-80% of your maximum heart rate. Examples of aerobic activities include cross-country skiing, biking rowing, jogging or walking.
Aerobic exercise is highly effective in improving the cardiovascular system because it conditions the heart and lungs by increasing the oxygen available to the body and by enabling the heart to use oxygen more efficiently. Other benefits include:
Reduction in body fat.
Increased energy and general stamina
Toned muscles and increased lean body mass.
Reduced tension, depression, and anxiety
Sleep better.
Exercise Intensity
The intensity and the duration of an aerobic workout are the two important factors. The best way to measure the intensity is to check your heart rate. “Studies have shown that for the greatest cardiovascular improvement and most