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The Four Principles of Good Exercise
Exercise is one of the most important things you can do for your health. You might be tired of hearing this all the time but the benefits of exercise have a profound impact to your health.
Exercise benefits include weight loss, improving your brainpower, fighting depression, lowering your blood pressure, increasing your energy levels and slowing down the aging process.
But if exercise is so good for you, why isn’t everyone doing it?
Well, most people actually say they don’t have time; this is more of a psychological resistance rather than poor time management. For those who do manage to exercise, one of the main reasons why they quit exercising is because they don’t get the results that they want.
Your body has the remarkable ability to adapt and learn, so if you do the same types of exercises every day, you’ll be able to master them in no time.
When exercise becomes easy for you, it means your muscles are getting used to the same activity. These muscles need a level of muscle confusion for them to continue improving and growing stronger.
If you don’t raise your level a notch higher, work harder and give your body a new challenge, chances are you end up abandoning your workout regimen because of the monotony and lack of results.
Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that the key to good exercise is having variety in your program or routine. Dr. Mercola started exercising as a teenager and was inspired to work out after reading the fitness book Aerobics. He has never stopped ever since and has been regularly exercising for 40 years.
If you’re planning to start sweating it out or want to resume your workouts, here are Dr. Mercola’s …
Four Principles of Good Exercise
- Aerobic – Examples of aerobic exercises include jogging, using an elliptical machine and fast walking. Aerobic exercise activates your immune system, helps increase your stamina and, gets your heart pumping more efficiently, increasing oxygen circulation and releases endorphins – natural ‘feel good’ chemicals in your body.
- Interval Training (Anaerobic Exercise) – Studies show that the best way to condition your heart and burn fat is by doing alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods. Interval training, also called burst type training, can dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and ability to burn fat. It also greatly reduces the amount of time you spend on exercise while giving you more benefits. For example, when you sprint intermittently, your body produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin within the exercising muscles, thereby increasing your weight loss.
- Strength Training – Round out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine to optimize the possible health benefits. Do enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough for a maximum of 12 repetitions but at the same time, light enough for a minimum of four repetitions. But remember: don’t exercise the same muscle groups every day because your muscles need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
- Core Exercises – Your have 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles form the foundation for movement for your entire body, so strengthening them can help protect and support your back, reduce the risk of injury to your spine and body, and help enhance your balance and stability. Pilates and yoga are great exercises for your core muscles, as well as specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.
A common mistake is thinking that exercise alone can achieve weight loss and that there is no need to stick to a healthy diet. One of the most important factors in weight management is eating according to your Nutritional Type.
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Tags: aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise, benefits of exercise, exercise, exercise benefits, Nutritional Typing, weight loss, workout regimen
I agree with your post. But your readers should know that recovery days from strength-training don’t need to be inactivity days. Active rest helps speed the recovery process. Active rest means purposely exercising at a low-intensity as a means of helping your body recover from muscle soreness. Compared to inactivity, low-intensity exercise on your resting days can help your muscle soreness to go away faster, enhance your psychological recovery and increase physical relaxation. You can do nearly any type of exercise, as long as the intensity is lower than what you’d do in a normal workout. I like to walk or use bike at a comfortable intensity for about 30 minutes.