Exercise is the best-kept secret in preventive medicine. Despite our other differences, we all need to exercise for health. Regular exercise provides essential protection against many of the diseases that plague our country. The list includes:. What does it take to get these benefits? Less than you might think. The key is what exercise scientists call isotonic exercise — activities that use your large muscle groups in a rhythmic, repetitive fashion without making your muscles work against heavy resistance.
We also called it "endurance" exercise because we thought it had to be sustained continuously to be beneficial. But we now know that neither of these long-held beliefs is true. In fact, you can get all the health benefits you need from moderate exercise that won't make you huff and puff, even if you do it in little chunks — as long as it adds up to enough total activity.
We coined the term "cardiometabolic exercise" CME to encompass a range of activities, from climbing the stairs in your office building to pushing yourself on an elliptical. All these things will improve your heart, your metabolism, and your health. The key is to do enough and to do it often enough. For health, doctors should "prescribe" at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise or 15 minutes of intense exercise a day. Mix daily activities, formal workouts, and sports play to get the cardiometabolic exercise you need for health.
And for best results, do some stretching nearly every day and some strength training two or three times a week. The older we get, the more we need these supplementary activities. And as the years roll on, most of us will also benefit from some simple exercises to improve balance and prevent falling, a major health problem for seniors.
Simon, M. McGraw-Hill, No need for a point system, clock, or calendar here. If you're exercising for the fun of it, just go for it — as long as you meet your minimum needs for health. But the recreational value of exercise brings up a point that's relevant for hard-working men who are "too busy to exercise. If your work threatens to overload your psyche, consider using exercise to refresh your mind.
For some, that will mean a trip to the gym to burn off some stress on a treadmill or elliptical; for others, it will be a walk or jog outdoors to get away from it all; and for others, it will be a bit of stretching or yoga at bedtime. But don't let exercise add to your stress; if you hit a truly overwhelming patch, you can take a few days off without losing your edge.
Baseball legend Yogi Berra got it right when he said exercise is 90 percent mental — and the other half is physical. Here's where aerobic training comes in. To stay well, exercise for health fitness. To hit your peak for road running, racquet sports, basketball, biking, or any other competitive sport, work out for aerobic fitness.
If you're like most of us, you'll have to build up slowly, and everyone who works out this hard should warm up before and cool down after aerobics. You'll also benefit from stretching, strength training, and if you're really going for it, interval training, or speed drills. You can design a plan on your own or use this sample workout schedule to help create your own exercise plan. You might also benefit from working with a personal trainer. Developing a personalized plan you can stick to for the long term can help you reach your goals.
Looking to lose weight? Our nutrition guide can help you get on the right track. Sign up for our newsletter and get it free! Effect of 7-minute workout on weight and body composition.
J Sports Med Phys Fitness. Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. Simon S. American Cancer Society. October 23, Skeletal muscle and resistance exercise training; the role of protein synthesis in recovery and remodelin g. J Appl Physiol Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Sports Med. American Heart Association. Updated April 18, Speed- and circuit-based high-intensity interval training on recovery oxygen consumption. Int J Exerc Sci. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellFit. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
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Table of Contents. Weight Loss. Build Strength. Stay Healthy. How Long to Work Out. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. Another important part of the HHS physical activity guidelines for all adults is a warning about the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle. The guidelines recommend adults should move more and sit less throughout the day, though specific limits to sitting time are not specified.
Research consistently shows that, to lose weight, integrating exercise into your routine helps. For example, in one study published in August in the journal Obesity , women who both dieted and exercised lost more weight than those who only dieted.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine ACSM , to minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity yields only modest weight-loss results, and to lose a significant amount of weight, you may need to perform moderate-intensity exercise more than minutes per week in addition to dietary intervention. That equates to about one hour, five days per week. The government suggests that those looking to lose a substantial amount of weight, or more than 5 percent of their body weight, should do more than minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week to reach their goals.
If you increase your intensity, you can reap similar weight-control benefits in about one-half the time. For example, in one study published in January in the Journal of Diabetes Research , women who performed high-intensity interval exercise lost the same amount of weight and body fat compared with those who performed moderate-intensity cardio, but they did it while exercising for significantly less time. A study published in August in the Journal of Primary Prevention that analyzed data from 81 studies investigating the role of exercise in weight management found that one of the biggest ways exercise helps with weight management is by preventing weight gain perhaps even more than it helps you lose weight.
Though the ACSM recommends performing more than minutes of exercise per week to prevent weight regain, the HHS says it varies: Some need more physical activity than others to maintain a healthy body weight, to lose weight, or to keep weight off once it has been lost.
Fortunately for anyone trying to improve their heart health, a little bit of exercise goes a long way. For overall cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association AHA recommends performing at least minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week or at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week.
The AHA recommends performing strengthening activities at least two days per week to help preserve and build lean muscle. Oken says. And, again, remember that it's okay to work up to your target exercise levels. No matter what your goals are, some exercise is always going to be more beneficial than none. Small steps sometimes lead to the biggest gains.
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