Now get off your bum and Exercise

StephenW

The secret to better health — exercise
Whether you’re 9 or 90, abundant evidence shows exercise can enhance your health and well-being. But for many people, sedentary pastimes, such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer and video games, have replaced more active pursuits.
What exercise can do for you
Millions of Americans simply aren’t moving enough to meet the minimum threshold for good health — that is, burning at least 700 to 1,000 calories a week through physical pursuits. The benefits of exercise may sound too good to be true, but decades of solid science confirm that exercise improves health and can extend your life. Adding as little as half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day can help you avoid a host of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancers. Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, reduce stress, control your weight, brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning, and improve your sex life.
A well-rounded exercise program has four components: aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training, and balance exercises. Each benefits your body in a different way.
Fighting disease with aerobic activity
Aerobic exercise is the centerpiece of any fitness program. Nearly all of the research regarding the disease-fighting benefits of exercise revolves around cardiovascular activity, which includes walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. Experts recommend working out at moderate intensity when you perform aerobic exercise — brisk walking that quickens your breathing is one example. This level of activity is safe for almost everyone and provides the desired health benefits. Additional health benefits may flow from increased intensity.
Protecting bone with strength training
Strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts and the use of weight machines or free weights, is important for building muscle and protecting bone.
Bones lose calcium and weaken with age, but strength training can help slow or sometimes even reverse this trend. Not only can strength training make you look and feel better, but it can also result in better performance of everyday activities, such as climbing stairs and carrying bundles. Stronger muscles also mean better mobility and balance, and thus a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. In addition, more lean body mass aids in weight control because each pound of muscle burns more calories than its equivalent in fat.
Easing back pain with flexibility exercises
Stretching or flexibility training is the third prong of a balanced exercise program. Muscles tend to shorten and weaken with age. Shorter, stiffer muscle fibers make you vulnerable to injuries, back pain, and stress. But regularly performing exercises that isolate and stretch the elastic fibers surrounding your muscles and tendons can counteract this process. And stretching improves your posture and balance.
Preventing falls with balance exercises
Balance tends to erode over time, and regularly performing balance exercises is one of the best ways to protect against falls that lead to temporary or permanent disability. Balance exercises take only a few minutes and often fit easily into the warm-up portion of a workout. Many strength-training exercises also serve as balance exercises. Or balance-enhancing movements may simply be woven into other forms of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.
Exercise at a glance
In a nutshell, exercise can:

• reduce your chances of getting heart disease. For those who already have heart disease, exercise reduces the chances of dying from it.
• lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
• reduce your risk for colon cancer and some other forms of cancer.
• improve your mood and mental functioning.
• keep your bones strong and joints healthy.
• help you maintain a healthy weight.
• help you maintain your independence well into your later years.
  

music000

im here. you do excercise?

music000

shallwehaveaappointment? dowork outandsignhereeveryday

StephenW

回复 music000 的帖子

So you are back or still over there?
I walk everyday, or try to. Exercise is very boring.

music000

I WAS THERE FOR BUSINESS, WAS BACK NOW.

YOU LOOK A LITTLE THIN, WHY THINK THAT BORING.
I LIKE IT BUT WEATHER DOES'T SUPPORTIVE ALL THE TIME~~~~NO EXCUSES

StephenW

回复 music000 的帖子

Ah that place is well known for its bad weather. Still it is an exciting, but expensive place.

Walking is most boring, lucky I can listen to the radio while I walk.

hbv30year

回复 StephenW 的帖子

Me too, sir. i enjoy walking while i was in china, never feel boring. watch the small business along the road, what did they sell, how to make new business by myself, also watch the beatiful girls... lots of fun.

StephenW

回复 hbv30year 的帖子

Obviously I am walking in the wrong place! When I was younger, I tried to walk on a beach in the area (have to drive there first) where women like to get a sun-tan all over , but then the traffic was heavy (with the large number of old men walking) and the eyesight was failing. Now, it is straightly a walk in the neighbourhood.

hbv30year

回复 StephenW 的帖子

walking in neighbourhood is good. when i come to canada, i walk around the shopping mall or neighbourhood from time to time. but this year i didn't walk too much, because my job is a physical job, a little bit tired.