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Article Series: Exercise & Fitness
What Are The Most Effective Ways
To Exercise & Get Into Shape?
Cardio
Exercises vs Weight Training
All exercisers, whether beginners or old hands,
will ask themselves at some point if they should switch to
an all-cardio or all-weight training program. Trainers are
asked this question every day in gyms across America and more
curious folks write in to fitness columns to pose the query.
Does it really matter if you do all-cardio or all-weights? The short answer to this question is yes, it does matter.
Cardiovascular
exercise primarily focuses on developing and strengthening
the cardiovascular system through aerobic training. This means strengthening your heart, lungs, and blood vessels
so that they all work more efficiently, both together and individually.
By training the body to meet higher and higher levels of aerobic
endurance, you increase the efficacy of your system. This is
a fantastic move to make your present life easier and more
pleasant, but it’s also a smart move to prepare for later life.
Research proves over and over again that adults who maintain
a high level of fitness throughout early and middle life end
up living fuller, more productive lives as seniors. That’s
in addition to living longer than people who don’t exercise.
The benefits of cardiovascular exercise are almost too numerous
to list: lower blood pressure, lower ‘bad’ cholesterol and
higher ‘good’, decreased incidence of heart attack and stroke,
decreased risk of osteoporosis, overall decreased risk of most
cancers, increased life span and more. Cardiovascular or aerobic
exercise is the smartest choice around – or is it?
Weight
training aims to strengthen the muscles by lifting weights. By increasing the overall strength of the muscles
in the body, the support of the body is increased and allows
for greater ease of living. Since the muscles connect to each
other and all essentially hold up the skeleton, without them
there would be no way to move to exercise. People who lift
weights are shown to have many of the same characteristics
as those who engage in cardiovascular exercise. Weight-lifters
also experience a decreased risk of bone fractures since the
weights help build bone through the resistance. Lifting weights
is surely the best approach to fitness – right?
In reality, the
number one way to achieve ultimate fitness in your life
is to combine the two approaches of aerobic exercise
and strength training to boost your health to the optimum level.
The two methods, though targeting different systems, form a
beautiful relationship that works together to develop and build
all aspects of the body to create the strongest, healthiest
body possible. Cardiovascular exercise strengthens the lungs
and allows the body to build up stamina. Weight training uses
that stamina to build muscles for longer periods of time. The
muscles then act in their roles as support team for the skeleton
and organs, and can work more efficiently. The increased efficiency
of the body means that it can develop greater aerobic capacity
through exercise – and you see how the cycle begins again.
Cardio and strength training feed off each other to develop
your best body ever.
The next question should be obvious: what’s
the best combination aerobic and strength training workout? The answer to this is
swimming. Swimming is the ultimate aerobic conditioner as well
as muscle builder. Thanks to the buoyancy you experience underwater,
your muscles can concentrate more on working than on supporting
your body. Doing all those laps, though, requires a great deal
of aerobic stamina. Thus all of your body’s systems get a thorough
workout when you swim. One recommended program is to swim a
certain number of laps in the pool but on each lap, swim a
different style. On your first lap, swim freestyle to get into
the groove and warm your muscles. On your second lap, swim
breaststroke. Do backstroke on the third. Rotate the strokes
so that your muscles are continually surprised and challenged.
Do this as your swimming workout four to five times a week
and you will be amazed at the change in your body both in shape
and in endurance.
The smart exerciser knows that there’s no choosing between
cardiovascular exercise and weight training. The best programs
always incorporate a variety of the two to provide maximum
development and strength. Start adding your own combination
workouts to your schedule and be delighted as your body starts
to truly reinvent itself.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2005
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