Start Exercising Today

RunnerThere is a direct correlation between being overweight and dying from heart disease. But, maintaining your ideal weight by diet alone is very difficult. This is why exercise is so important. Consider the Brown University study cited in Prescription for Life, where two groups of overweight women were compared. One group dieted and exercised while the other group only dieted. The women who dieted plus exercised lost almost twice the weight than the women who did not exercise.

There are many benefits to exercise beyond just burning calories. Exercise helps lower your blood pressure, strengthens your heart, increase HDL “hero” cholesterol, and reduces the incidence of diabetes, dementia, and even certain cancers!

Strengthening your heart muscle is similar to strengthening your biceps. The more you exercise it, the thicker and stronger the heart muscle gets. If you put a work force on the muscle, it responds by getting stronger, and you live longer. Aerobic exercise (especially jogging) is the best way to strengthen your heart because it keeps your heart at an elevated sustained heart rate for a specific period of time.

Start by setting 30 minutes a day as your aerobic exercise period, whether you are walking or jogging. Add in anaerobic exercise (muscular strengthening) to prevent your muscles from weakening as you age. Consider what obstacles prevent you from exercising 30 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week. Identify the changes you need to make to overcome these obstacles.

I recommend that you design your own personal exercise program. You will find an easy guide in Prescription for Life to get you started. Everyone is different physically and different routines may be necessary. However, the main objective is to start exercising today!

 

 

 

“Jog” photo courtesy of tuelekza at www.freedigitalphotos.net