How Much Exercise Do We Need?

For many Americans, trying to find the time to exercise is a constant challenge. The stresses of everyday life often lead many people to fall short of their workout goals. It is no secret that living an active lifestyle leads to better health, which is why you should you learn how to increase the efficiency of your workouts. The best place to start is by identifying your fitness goals, which might include cutting body fat, strength training or increasing your body size. 

Maintaining Your Health
If your workout goals are to maintain your overall health, there are some very simple guidelines you can follow from the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association. The AHA provides workout guidelines for cardiovascular health and lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure. The guidelines are as follows:

• Cardiovascular Health- At least 150 minutes per week of moderately intense aerobic workouts and a minimum of two days per week of intense strength training. The AHA recommends you break up your aerobic workouts into 30 minute cycles five days per week.

• Lowering Cholesterol and Blood Pressure- A minimum of 40 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity three or four times per week.

The Mayo Clinic recommends that you do strength training at least two time per week and to target all your major muscle groups. The recommendation also includes performing a single set of 12 to 15 repetitions for each of your muscle groups. The Mayo Clinic's recommendation for cardiovascular health is the same as the recommendation from the American Heart Association.

Moderate aerobic workouts include taking a brisk walk, swimming or working in your yard. Vigorous aerobic activity includes running, dancing, interval training and cardio sessions on workout equipment such as elliptical trainers and treadmills.

Cutting Body Fat
If your workout goals are to get your body looking lean and trim by cutting fat, then you will need to increase the intensity of your exercises. You should concentrate on training your whole body at a minimum of three to four times a week. Your workouts need to include large movements that expend a lot of energy. You need to allow adequate time for your body to recover so it can restore all that lost energy. Give your body a full day of recovery or include some light aerobic activity in between your intense workout sessions.

Training for Size and Strength
If you want to bulk up and increase your body strength, you need to exercise at least four times per week using the three most common strength training workouts, deadlifting, bench pressing and squatting. You will need to include heavy sets in your training regimen, so do not forget to give your body adequate recovery time. Make sure that you do not go overboard when you train for size and strength. If you work out too much, it could have an adverse effect on your body and keep you from your fitness goals. Some signs of overtraining include lack of sleep, lowered strength, an increase in body fat and water retention.

The amount of exercise you need all depends on your workout goals. If you just want to live a healthier lifestyle, the workout recommendations from the Mayo Clinic and the AHA combined with a proper diet should be more than enough to reach your goals.

How Exercise Helps the Brain Fight Aging

Everyone has a general understanding that moderate exercise is beneficial to your overall health. Even the smallest amount of exercise can improve your circulation, help fight arthritis, and even improve conditions such as diabetes and high cholesterol. Most people, however, do not realize how beneficial simple exercise is to keeping the brain young.

Exercise Requires Coordination

All forms of exercise require coordination. Because of this, your brain must make the effort to stay coordinated to complete the task. This is very helpful to keeping your brain young. Many people when they age start to lose their ability to maintain their balance or stay coordinated to complete certain tasks. This is why falling is common in the elderly. By keeping your brain active through exercise you will be able to maintain your balance and coordination.

Exercise Requires Dedication

Making a commitment to exercise everyday requires you to make a commitment to the routine. Establishing a routine of any type is beneficial to the brain because the brain is required to remember and perform this routine on command. Repeating an exercise routine helps you retain your memory skills and keeps the brain stimulated.

Feeding Your Brain

Your brain requires fresh blood and pure oxygen to work properly. When you exercise, you are pushing more blood and more oxygen through your system. This means that you will feel more alert and your brain will function at optimal strength. By continuing to exercise, you will feed your brain and help it to stay healthy.

Social Interaction

Many people find that it is easier to exercise with a friend. Going to the gym or attending exercise classes gives you the opportunity to interact with other people. This social interaction is beneficial to your overall mental health, and this benefit extends to your physical brain. Your brain “enjoys” the pleasure hormones that it receives when you are socially interactive and this response keeps your brain active and young.

Health Benefits

There are many medical disorders that can have adverse effects on the brain. High cholesterol, diabetes, even high blood pressure can all take its toll on the brain. When your body is unhealthy your brain will also suffer. Exercising decreases your risk for many of these diseases and can help improve them if you are already suffering from one of these conditions. For every other medical condition you eliminate, prevent, or manage, your brain will benefit from your healthy efforts.

Exercise, when added to a healthy diet, is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your body and your brain. Exercise will help you remain strong, keep you feeling young, and help your brain stay active and healthy. You do not have to commit to an aggressive workout routine to see the benefits. Making the commitment to add twenty minutes of movement of any type to your day will be very beneficial to your overall health.

A Cycling Lifestyle and the Benefits it Endows

There is plenty of scientific evidence that cycling is good for your health in general. It is a low-impact form of physical exercise that has many of the same benefits as other aerobic forms of exercise, such as walking and running. Unlike running, however, it is much easier on your joints and can be performed even in old age. This is because it causes less strain on your joints and muscles and is also associated with fewer injuries than other forms of physical exercise. There is very little equipment needed, and it can be a very inexpensive way to get in shape because it does not require a monthly gym fee.

One of the best things about cycling is that it is very easy to fit into your daily lifestyle. For example, you can replace a quick trip in your car to the market with a simple bike ride. It is a great way to sneak in extra exercise without being bored and losing your motivation at a traditional gym. In addition, cycling is a great way to work all of your major muscle groups at once. It is a much more comprehensive and engaging workout than simply going for a leisurely walk. 

Even if you consider yourself to be uncoordinated, it does not take much effort at all to be able to pick up on cycling and get the hang of it for good. In fact, even if you have not tried cycling for many years, you never lose the skills and can literally hop back on a bike again without a problem. 

The major aerobic benefits are that it increases your strength, stamina and general level of fitness. Along those lines, regular cycling can even make other forms of working out much easier if you are looking to mix it up every once in a while. You can also scale your level of cycling to your general fitness level. If you have not worked out in a while, you can build up your level of intensity while cycling over time so that you do not injure yourself or get burned out too quickly.

There are also many social benefits of cycling because it is easy to do as a group activity. Incorporating some socialization into your workout is a good way to stay fit and find some extra motivation to stay on track with your exercise program. If you develop a group of friends who all like cycling, you can plan to meet up to exercise, which will keep you stimulated and active for longer. 

Summer Strong: Keeping You Kids Active While School’s Out

A local Physical Education teacher has been working with UCLA on a study that encourages children to stay active during summer months while school is out.

Martin Wurmlinger is that physical education teacher and he is working with the University of California in Los Angeles’ Sound Body Sound Mind organization. He has stressed that “getting out and finding an activity that keeps [kids] moving and raises heart rate levels” is the most important thing a child can do to keep healthy during the summer months.

While the simple task of raising heart rate levels is important in Mr. Wurmlinger’s opinion he offers a five-pronged approach to maximize a child’s athletic performance. The five important areas to focus on are: muscle strength, heart endurance, muscle endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

There are various ways to tackle these areas of athletic performance.

To fight the summer heat Mr. Wurmlinger suggests that children exercise in a pool, if they have access to one. Swimming can activate more than one of these five core areas of athletic competency.

Another full-body exercise that the organization from UCLA suggests is the burpee. With these exercise your child will start in a standing position, squat into a plank position, then jump into the air from that plank. You can find out more how to do a burpee in THIS YouTube video.

Finally, one of Mr. Wurmlinger’s most unique ideas is to give your child a pedometer. You and your child should sit down at a map and find a location that is far way that your child might like to travel to. This could be Disney World, China, or maybe even around the world. Determine how far in miles these locations are from your front door and have your child try and travel this distance on his or her pedometer over the course of the summer, or even year. This gives children a goal, something to strive towards.

It’s easy to let your kids stare at the TV screen or play video games all summer long. This summer we suggest that you take some of the advice that the Sound Body Sound Mind organization have presented in this new study and get your kid moving.

To learn more about Mr. Wurmlinger’s project and the Sound Body Sound Mind organization you can find their website HERE.

The Walking Movement and What it Means for You

Walking your way to good health is one of the simplest ways to achieve your fitness goals. With little impact and good conversation, the walking movement gives your body a complete workout.

There's a walking movement that's sweeping the nation, and you can be part of that trend. Whether you're taking a lunch break at work or relaxing with a group of friends, you can always perform this exercise in various situations. Take a look at this trend and its physical details, such as your speed, in order to understand what walking means for your health.

Managing the Weight

A major side effect to the walking movement is weight control. You may eat a relatively healthy diet, but your weight isn't moving in any direction. The addition of walking into your life means that you're boosting your metabolism at the same time. Because your body is burning calories more efficiently, you'll see some consistent weight loss when walking is coupled with nutritious food.

Speed Counts 

When you're 50 years of age or older, you may not be concerned with speed as you walk. However, your walking movement plays a part in your health in the form of speed. Scientists have learned that faster walkers tend to be more healthy overall. If you walk at a consistent 2.25MPH speed, you'll typically have a longer lifespan compared to slower people. 

Everyone is Doing It

Because everyone can walk, you can form a fun group of friends to get out there and challenge each other. Socializing during an exercise is psychologically helpful, which contributes to consistent walking movement. If your friends aren't available one day, you can always join up with a new crowd and enjoy fresh faces to meet.

Reducing Cardiovascular Problems

Weight loss and mental health aren't the only perks of the walking movement. Your cardiovascular system also benefits with better blood flow and fewer chances of a serious ailment. Your blood pressure may drop and cholesterol numbers might plummet as a result of your walking efforts.

Typically, you can walk in almost any weather unless it's considerably dangerous outside, such as an icy day. If the weather is less than desirable outside, you may want to try some indoor walking. Use your indoor stairs or try out a treadmill for your walking pleasure. Although you might feel a bit confined, you'll still feel the benefits of the walking movement when you perform it on a regular basis.

High-Intensity Interval Training Can Improve Cardiorespiratory Health

Cardiorespiratory fitness is the fitness of your lungs and heart. To improve cardiorespiratory fitness, you have to up your intensity! HIIT training, or high-intensity interval training, requires you to alternate moderate-intensity exercises with high-intensity exercises to get and keep your heart rate up.  Incorporating HIIT workouts offer a safe and effective way to get fitter and adapt your body to more intense exercise.

HIIT workouts increase your cardiovascular fitness more quickly and greater than other kinds of exercise. In addition, it can save you time. You need only 25-30 minutes for an effective HIIT session. You still burn the same amount of calories as a longer workout. Some people also find HIIT workouts more fun and interesting than moderate-intensity options, since they are fast faced and the exercises change.

To create and use HIIT workouts effectively, you'll need to be able to distinguish between moderate- and high-intensity exercises. The easy way to tell the difference is using a talk test. You should be able to talk during moderate-intensity exercise but struggle to say more than a few words without taking a breath during high-intensity exercise.

Before incorporating HIIT routines, work out with moderate intensity for several sessions or until moderate intensity is comfortable for a minimum of 20 minutes. Once you reach 20 minutes, you can add a HIIT routine into your training. Moderate intensity exercise options include biking, walking, jogging, or using a machine like an elliptical.

When you plan to do a HIIT workout, starting with five to 10 minutes of relatively easy exercise to warm up your body. Then, switch to high-intensity work for 30 seconds before swapping back to moderate exercise for up to three minutes. Once you recover completely, repeat the process two or three times over the next 30 minutes.

Remember that working at a high intensity does not mean you should be exerting your maximum effort. If you experience discomfort or pain in your chest, lightheadedness, or severe shortness of breath, stop exercising immediately. If you experience unusual fatigue or joint or muscle pain, talk with your doctor about your symptoms.

As your body adjusts to the HIIT program, increase the frequency of the high-intensity intervals, up to five or six intervals per workout instead of two or three. In addition, you can increase the time of the interval to make it more challenging.

Study: Yoga Safe for Pregnant Women

According to a new, small study, yoga is safe for expectant moms even late into a pregnancy.

The research proved yoga poses do not appear to create stress on the baby or the mom. Researchers used real-time measurements to show yoga postures did not negatively affect blood pressure, heart rate, or other vital signs.

The study was published in December 2015 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Researchers reported the findings provide reassurance that the often-exotic-looking poses seen in yoga classes are safe for pregnant women.

However, modifications are often necessary. For example, pregnant women may need to use chairs, blocks, or the wall to balance or support themselves. This study also does not suggest women walk into advanced classes where participants are kicking their legs into a handstand.

A beginner-level or prenatal yoga class that moves at a slow or moderate pace are excellent ways for women to de-stress and get exercise while pregnant. In a healthy pregnancy, exercise at moderate intensity is very important. These findings help reinforce existing evidence of that assertion.

Yoga continues to gain popularity in the United States. More than 20 million Americans now practice yoga. That number includes pregnant women, though there is still limited research on the safety and health of practicing yoga during pregnancy.

The research team observed 25 healthy women who were between n35 and 28 weeks pregnant. Some were total beginners, some had some experience, and some practiced yoga regularly.

Each participant did a one-on-one yoga class with a teacher, during which they moved through 26 different yoga poses. Monitors tracked their vitals, including uterine contractions, blood oxygen levels, and heart rate.

Postures were standing, seated, reclining, one-legged, and also downward facing dog. No pose caused a worrisome change in vitals for the women or their babies. Moreover, there were no falls or injuries.

There are different types of yoga, some of which are not safe while pregnant. For example, women should not practice "hot yoga" or Bikram yoga during pregnancy. It's okay for pregnancy women to work hard enough to sweat, but avoid heated rooms.