The Importance of Exercise

A lot of people have asked me whether I was exercising to lose weight, and the answer is a qualified "no." I had tried exercising to lose weight before, but that isn't the main purpose.

Exercise helps you increase your lean muscle mass, which increases your metabolism. In that sense, the answer would be "yes." However, I'd been exercising all along without making much difference to my Body Mass Index.

The importance of exercise, whether you're trying to lose weight or gain it, cannot be overstressed. This day and age in which we live doesn't give us daily exercise the way our ancestors knew it.

Before the age of machines, everything was done by hand. People mostly walked everywhere, unless they could afford a horse (which was another form of exercise). Since walking is the ideal exercise, our ancestors could stay in shape pretty much just by living a normal life.

Automobiles and a sedentary work life have contributed to a society with fewer people in good shape. We don't get enough exercise naturally from our lifestyle. Since many of us are no longer having to walk everywhere and do heavy, outdoor labor, we have to add in exercise on our own.

In choosing an exercise program, you need to consider many factors. If you're just starting out and are badly out-of-shape, you should talk to your doctor before beginning anything that could aggravate some currently undiagnosed condition.

There are basically three forms of exercise: aerobic (that which causes you to breathe more deeply and increases your lung capacity), anaerobic (which doesn't), and (I'm giving this its own category, though most exercise physiologists probably don't) flexibility.

Aerobic exercise includes walking, running, cycling (or spinning), and skating (though not skateboarding). Anaerobic exercise includes weight lifting, resistance training, and isometrics. Flexibility exercise includes stretching programs, yoga, Pilates, and Praise Moves.

Which one should you choose? Ideally, you should be doing all three. We need aerobic exercise for our hearts and lungs. We need resistance training (of any sort) for our muscles. And we need flexibility so we don't stiffen into statues!

So, check with your doctor and decide to make a change today. I'm going to be adding in more aerobic exercise to accompany my resistance and flexibility programs. While I know I need to keep my muscle tone built up, I also need the endurance that walking will give me. I'll keep you posted on my results, and hope you'll share yours with me!