I find the best way to choosing the right fitness program is to select activities you enjoy. By choosing your exercises this way you will like training so much more and will not get bored of your program. Some people prefer to train at a gym or at home while others like to exercise outdoors. It all depends on your personal preference as to what exercises you incorporate into your fitness program. It is important that your program provides you with a challenge otherwise you may not see the results you hoped for. You will find starting off at a low intensity and increasing it over a few weeks will ease you better into your fitness training rather than pushing yourself flat out at the beginning.

I have prepared a basic list of fitness activities you could include in your program:

-walking
-running
-swimming
-bicycling
-aerobics
-strength training
-yoga

Walking: This is a good well balanced exercise for most people. I find it more enjoyable if I bring along a partner as it provides a social aspect to my training as well. 10 minute warm-up followed by 40 minutes well-paced followed by 10 minute cool-down. To burn those calories off in less time you could do running.

Swimming: This is great for exercising the whole body. However is not the best choice for weight loss since it does not raise the heart rate quite as much. The body temperature does not rise and metabolism does not increase because the body will conserve fat in cold environments. Swimming is good for rehabilitation since it does not place any stress on joints and muscles.

Bicycling: This is a good form of cardio training and strengthening the upper leg muscles. I do not mind this exercise because you can do it outdoors on a bike or indoors on a stationary bicycle trainer.

Aerobics: There are several forms of aerobics; dancing aerobics, step aerobics and water aerobics. This fitness increases the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles, which allows them to work longer. Therefore you will notice that you can do more physical activity without becoming out of breath or feeling like your heart is pounding.

Strength Training: This builds strength and muscle mass.

Yoga: This does not increase your heart rate but is a mental and physical relaxation used to stretch muscles. You will have increased overall health and energy, a stronger body and reduced stress and tension.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 11:09 am and is filed under Fitness & Exercise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.