Items Tagged With Fitness

Many of the benefits of being physically active, such as more energy and improved mood, occur soon after you become more active. Some of the most important health benefits, however, have to do with being active over many years. Also, if you stop being active, you lose the fitness you achieved. Being consistent makes the most sense for your health.

Ways to make physical activity a long-term commitment include:

• Setting goals and developing and following a specific program.
• Expanding your fitness activities through coaching, competition, and cross-training.
• Adding variety to your fitness program by changing the place, activity, and time.
• Making physical fitness a habit-a routine, pleasant, and normal part of your life.
• Not letting reasons such as lack of time or bad weather slow you down.
• Having the support of friends and family.

Muscle fitness can mean you have muscles that can lift heavier objects (strength) or muscles that will work longer before becoming exhausted (endurance). As you increase your muscle fitness, you will notice that you can carry heavy grocery bags more easily, pick up children without feeling as much strain, or carry heavy items longer before becoming too tired to continue. Having stronger muscles also protects your joints.

One part of muscle fitness is strengthening the muscles of your trunk. This strengthening is called core stabilization. It can help you have better posture and balance, and help protect you from injury.

Getting started on core stability

Muscles become stronger through a 3-step process:

1. Stress
2. Recovery (rest)
3. Repeated stress

When you exercise against resistance, you stress your muscles slightly but not to the point of serious damage or injury. When you rest, your body rebuilds the muscles and the connective tissues between them (joints, tendons, and ligaments) in a way that prepares them for the next time they will be stressed. When you stress the same muscles again, the process is repeated, and the muscles gradually become stronger.

A resistance-training program to increase muscle fitness can include:

• Basic muscle-conditioning exercises such as push-ups, leg lifts, and other familiar exercises.
• Resistance training with surgical tubing or stretchable bands .
• Weight training with free weights ("dumbbells") or weight-training equipment. See an illustration of muscle-strengthening exercises using weights.
• Doing housework and yard work, such as scrubbing the bathtub, washing walls, tilling the garden, or pulling weeds, on a regular basis.

Experts advise people to do exercises to strengthen muscles at least two times each week.⁷ Examples include weight training or stair climbing on two or more days that are not in a row. For best results, use a resistance (weight) that gives you muscle fatigue after 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise.

Swimming, cycling, rowing, and skiing are activities that improve both muscle strength and aerobic fitness.

When you begin your muscle-conditioning activity, try to take 5 to 10 minutes to walk, jog in place, or do other activities to warm up, and do some stretches. Learn and pay attention to the proper form for all exercises.

As you build muscle strength and endurance, you will notice that you can do more and more of each exercise. Some people will see a change in the way their muscles look, but others will not see a change for a long while. A more important sign of progress is how many repetitions and sets of an exercise you can do, or how much easier it feels to do them. This means your muscle fitness has improved.

Talk to your health professional before starting a resistance-lifting program, particularly if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, or joint problems.

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What is fitness?

Fitness means being in good physical condition. We often think of athletes as being very fit. They tend to focus on performance-related fitness for sports.

But you don't have to be an athlete to be fit. Doing more physical activity improves your fitness and health, no matter what size or shape you are.

This topic focuses on health-related fitness, which helps you feel your best and lowers your risk for certain diseases. Making small changes in your daily lifestyle helps you improve your fitness.

What are the benefits of fitness?

Fitness helps you feel better and have more energy for work and leisure time. You'll feel more able to do things like playing with your kids, gardening, dancing, or biking. Children and teens who are fit may have more energy and better focus at school.

When you stay active and fit, you burn more calories, even when you're at rest. This can help you lose weight if you need to. It also can help you to sleep better, handle stress better, and keep your mind sharp.

Fitness is good for your heart, lungs, bones, and joints. And it lowers your risk for heart attack, colon cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

How much physical activity do you need for health-related fitness?

To improve your health, it’s important to make physical activity part of your daily life.

One way is to get some moderate activity for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or more. Brisk walking is one kind of moderate activity.

Or you can do more vigorous exercise, like running, for at least 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week or more. This is activity that raises your heart rate to 70% or more of your maximum heart rate. To find your target heart rate for exercising, use the Interactive Tool: What Is Your Target Heart Rate?

Children and teens should be active for at least 1 hour each day.

Here’s how you can tell if an activity or exercise is making you work hard enough. If you can't talk while you do it, you're working too hard. You're at the right level if you can talk but not sing during the activity.

What types of physical activity improve fitness?

The activities you choose depend on which kind of fitness you want to improve. There are three different kinds of fitness:

• Flexibility is the ability to move your joints and muscles through their full range of motion. Stretching is an exercise that helps you to be more flexible.
• Aerobic fitness means increasing how well your body uses oxygen. This depends on the condition of your heart, lungs, and muscles. Any activity that raises your heart rate, such as walking or running, can improve aerobic fitness.
• Muscle fitness means building stronger muscles and increasing how long you can use them (called endurance). Activities like weight lifting or push-ups can improve your muscular fitness.