Maintaining health and fitness is an important aspect of a modern lifestyle.  

 

 Physical Fitness

 

Fitness is an essential aspect of being healthy. Unfortunately, less than 20 percent of Americans get the recommended amount of exercise per week. This lack of activity can lead to years of health problems that could have been avoided. The US government recommends 2.5 hours of moderate aerobic exercise or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous exercise. It also recommends anaerobic, muscle strengthening exercise twice per week.

 

Fitness consists of three main areas: aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, and flexibility and balance.

 

Aerobic Exercise (cardio) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it?

 

Aerobic exercise is any movement that gets your heart rate up and increases blood circulation throughout the body. There are many different types of cardio that have various benefits. Aerobics enable the entire cardiovascular system to work more efficiently.

 

It’s important to include aerobics in any fitness program for any age group, including seniors.

 

What are its benefits?

 

Better Recovery: By strengthening the entire cardiovascular system, aerobics enables the body to withstand greater physical stresses and recover more quickly from daily tasks and regular workouts.

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Improved Hormonal Profile: Aerobic exercise helps the body release endorphins that results in positive moods and the sensation of feeling good. Aerobics can help lift mild to moderate depression if performed regularly.

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Cardiovascular Health: The heart muscle needs to be worked like all other muscles. Aerobic exercise directly affects how functioning of the heart and lungs, enabling you to performing daily tasks that much easier.

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Disease Management: Aerobics play a positive role in preventing disease and in helping you manage heart disease by strengthening the heart and diabetes by helping you utilize glucose more efficiently. 

 

More Efficient Metabolic Rate: Regular aerobic exercise increases your metabolic rate. This helps in burning more calories and managing weight. This metabolic increase continues even after exercise is complete.

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Anaerobic Exercise (resistance training)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it?

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Anaerobic exercise is any short duration movement that is of such high intensity that your bodies need for oxygen is exceeded. It is not dependent on inhaling oxygen. Its energy source comes from your muscles. There are many different types of anaerobic exercise: resistance training (lifting weights, exercise bands, bodyweight), sprinting, high intensity interval training, etc.

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It’s important to include anaerobic exercises in your fitness regimen, especially as you get older to stop age-related muscle loss.

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What are its benefits?

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Builds Lean Muscle: Anaerobic exercise involves the increase in size and density of the large skeletal muscles of the body (hypertrophy) and improving the ratio of muscle to fat. This improves both the appearance and heath of the body.

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Improves Metabolism: Because anaerobic exercise builds lean muscle your metabolism increases. Muscles are very metabolically active. This help immensely with losing and maintaining a healthy weight. Although aerobic exercise burns more calories during exercise, anaerobic exercise burns more subsequent to exercise (afterburn or EPOC – Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption).

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Strengthens Bones and Joints: Performing anaerobic exercises creates greater bone density and helps strengthen and protect the joints from injury. This is critical as we age and protects you from falls and injuries.

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Improves Energy: Since anaerobic exercise uses muscle action it fosters more efficient utilization of muscle energy (ATP) and assists in decreasing fatigue. Regular anaerobic exercise increases the maximum amount of oxygen you can consume (VO2 Max) leading to greater availability of oxygen when you need it.

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Anaerobic training makes life a lot easier.

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Flexibility and Balance Training (yoga, Pilates)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it?

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Flexibility is the ability of a joint to move through a full range of motion. Balance is a state of having weight spread equally so as not to fall. Flexibility and balance are often neglected in overall fitness efforts. This is especially unfortunate as you get older and your joints stiffen and your balance begins to wane. Flexibility training helps restore balance to muscle groups that are overused and to correct posture.

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There are many ways to improve to improve flexibility and balance. Yoga, Pilates, Essentrics, and Tai Chi are excellent ways to practice various forms of flexibility and balance training.

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What are its benefits?

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Better posture: Stretching exercises can improve posture through rebalancing the spine and strengthening muscles needed to maintain balance.

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Improved physical performance: When joints are flexible they can move more easily through a complete range of motion. Flexible joints are stronger joints due to the more durable surrounding muscles. You are able to produce great force, leading to more power usable in everyday activities or athletic events.

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Protection against injury: When a muscle is able to stretch there is less possibility of injury. Muscle and joint tightness leads potentially to injuries of the back, hips, shoulders, knees, etc. Tightness produces more likelihood of muscle strain and ligament pulls.

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Less muscle soreness: Over time with consistent stretching, the amount of muscle soreness experienced after exercise or athletic performance will diminish.

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Increased synovial fluid: Stretching increases the production of synovial fluid which helps more vital nutrients to be sent to the joints. With more synovial fluid there is a greater range of motion and a decrease in the possibility of injury. It also protects joints from long-term degeneration.

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Conclusion

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It’s important to balance the type of exercise you do between aerobic, anaerobic and flexibility training. Find exercises or activities you like and be consistent in performing them. If you are short on time do ten minutes of exercise a few times day. Stretch when you are sitting. Get up and walk around for a minute or two.

 

But don’t overdue the exercises. Stay clear of injuries. Use proper form and moderate intensity. As you get older you will need to modify your fitness activities. Consult such websites as Senior Exercise Central and Spark People.

 

Being fit staves off numerous chronic diseases, improves your immune system while maintaining proper joint function. It can help sustain proper weight and help with overall weight loss efforts.

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Exercise can be boon to your health. Give it a shot.

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