I have been going over the mindfulness training, and nutritional guidance information for the past couple of months. Now lets talk more about exercising our bodies. We want to remember our mind training, and how we can use it to get ourselves off the couch, and into exercise.
Having trained people in exercise for thirty years, I can tell you that exercise is not something most people like to do on a consistent bases. Typically, people come in and out of it, or never get into it at all. If you want to be healthy, reverse the aging process, feel your best, and look your best, exercise is vital for those results.
As I have stated before, I do not always like to exercise like people think I do. There are many days that I would rather not, but I know the benefits of it, and how good I always feel when I am done. Just the other day a friend e-mailed me a study from the N.Y. Times all about how exercise slows down the aging process. In our vain society, that ought to motivate us to get moving and stick to it!
There are many, many, articles that I have done in this blog about exercise and its benefits. Along with proper nutrition, it is key to being healthy and fit. One thing that needs to happen is to lose your resistance to doing it. This is where you can use your mind training to reprogram yourself. Just in the same way I talked about choosing to eat healthy using your mind to make good choices, you will do the same when it comes to "choosing" to exercise.
I spoke about the association of foods to making good choices, like associating junk food to being fat, diseased, and unhealthy. You can associate exercise to being lean, fit, and feeling the best that you can. Associate no exercise to being unhealthy, overweight, and feeling crummy. If you are one of those people that is always wishing that you had a fit body, stop wishing and do what it takes to get there.
The two kinds of exercise that are important to incorporate into your fitness program are cardiovascular training, and strength training. Both are important, and come in a variety of ways to accomplish the task. I have known many people that prefer one to the other, but I recommend that doing both be part of your agenda for becoming fit.
Straight from the Mayo Clinic....Cardiovascular exercise improves your mood, combats chronic diseases, helps manage your weight, boosts energy, promotes better sleep, improves your sex life, and can be fun!
I will add to that a little detail....lowers blood pressure, lowers body fat, lowers resting heart rate, lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease, lowers cholesterol, reduces stress, releases sedative like endorphins, and reverses the aging process. These are all things that can help you to have quality of life, not just quantity.
Cardiovascular exercise can be done by walking, running, biking, hiking, roller skating, skiing, swimming, some game sports, exercise machines like treadmill, elliptical, stationary bikes, aerobic classes, and anything that keeps your heart rate in your aerobic zone, which is 60 to 85% of your maximum heart rate for a period of time.
Strength training is important for increased muscle strength, increased strength in tendons and ligaments, improves range of motion in joints, reduces body fat and increases lean muscle tissue, decreases blood pressure, positive changes in cholesterol, builds bone density, improves blood sugar, and improves strength and balance in ones body.
There are many ways to strength train. You can weight train or resistance train with free weights, machines, and Pilates. Using an exercise ball for core stability training is a great way to train. Doing standard push ups, triceps dips, lunges, and abdominal exercises, can also keep you fit with strength training. Again I have many articles in this blog going back to January 2010 that can help you find what is right for you when it comes to strength training.
What do we need to be consistent in cardiovascular and strength training exercise? We need the commitment, the focus, and mindfulness to stay on track to what it is we want in this life. If you want a "rockin" body that is healthy and fit, if you want to feel better than you ever have and stay that way for life, "You" will need to do cardiovascular and strength training exercise on a consistent bases....starting now!
Spring is almost here and summer is just around the corner from that. The days are getting longer and warmer, it is the perfect time to commit to your life long exercise program. Don't be one of the statistics that is becoming more of the norm in our country....65% of the population that is overweight or obese, nearly 26 million people who have diabetes, 787,000 people who have heart attacks each year, over 630,000 people die each year from heart disease. These are diseases that are life style related and could be wiped out if people would choose to eat healthier and exercise regularly.
So how are you going to live your life? Are you always going to be whining about how you wish your body was different, or are you actually going to begin to practice the life style habits that it takes to get the results that you want? Eating healthy, exercising, and guarding your thoughts are the way to getting what you want our of life. Make it your life!
Till Monday,
Queenie
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