Exercise For Wellness

The human body is designed to be worked. The muscles, including the heart, need to be used. If muscles are not used they atrophy. To maintain strength the muscles need to be challenged through exercise. Exercise can take many forms. The most effective exercise programs are those that a person enjoys enough to do on a daily basis for 30 to 60 minutes. Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, jogging, dancing or hiking can be alternated with resistance training exercises such a weight lifting to give the body variety. The best exercises are those that work different muscles in different ways and challenge the body in a variety of ways. Interval training which incorporates cardiovascular exercise with weight bearing exercise is very effective for this reason.

The reason people don't exercise enough is because the exercise they have chosen is not fun. Fun does not mean easy, it means that even when the work out is tough it is enjoyable.

The first step to setting up a wellness program through exercise is to form the intention to exercise consistently. Choose your exercises to suit you and your lifestyle, and create a written plan for your exercise program.

Equally important to setting up your exercise program is to create and plan your meal program. Food serves two purposes. It

• provides the essential vitamins, minerals and vital nutrients needed by the body to keep it healthy and disease free
• provides calories which the body uses as fuel in order to expend energy

It is vital that the body not only receive the right foods to feed the body's cells, but it must also receive enough of the right foods. For example, a person who is weight lifting will need to consume an appropriate amount of protein, such as meat or fish, to help build muscle tissue that is being repaired and replaced. An athlete that wants to perform well in a cardiovascular activity is wise to consume a suitable amount of carbohydrates, such as pasta, a suitable amount of time before his activity to expect the endurance required in a strenuous performance.

One of the biggest problems in our society today is that we are consuming too many calories and the wrong types of calories for the energy we expend on a daily basis. Calories unused are then stored as fat.

Beginning an exercise program can feel overwhelming so it is important to start out slowly. Don't try to jog 3 miles on your first day . Start out on a walking program first. Plan to exercise at least 30 minutes each day. If 30 consecutive minutes is too difficult, break it up into three - ten minute sessions. As you get stronger, increase the time and level of difficulty. . Each workout should be preceded by a warm up and followed by a cool down which often involves stretches to prevent injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints. If you are exercising effectively you should experience an increase in your heart rate and it is a good thing to break out into a sweat. If you have any health concerns, consult with your doctor before beginning. Your exercise program should be challenging, but safe.

Keep a daily log of your exercises. It is motivating to observe your own progress. Imagine the encouragement one would receive from starting out walking one block a day to logging a total of 300 miles after a few weeks. A famous quote by Lao Tzu states " a journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step."

Set goals for yourself. Start out with short term achievable goals. Write your goals down in a place that you can refer to easily. Don't fret over goals you did not quite achieve. Reset them. Check off the goals you have attained and reward yourself for them. Keep adding new goals, always. Allow yourself breaks from the exercise routine, but if you can, replace your usual activity with a new activity for the day. If rest is what your body needs, take it. Let it be your reward for work well done.

Finally , wear good quality and appropriate clothing for your activities to support the body properly and to protect it from injury.