The Value of Exercise

Exercise is Important: Why You Should Exercise Regularly

Benefits of exercise: increased energy, weight control, heart health, endurance, strength, longevity, increased libido, and as an anti-depressant. Everyone needs regular exercise at every age.

Your heart is the most important muscle in your body, and it is always important to properly exercise it. This can be done easily with a good, vigorous 30-minute workout including walking, lifting weights, riding a bike, or any activity that increase your heart rate and gets it working harder than normal. Doing a solid, consistent exercise for 30 minutes at least 4 times a week can help improve your overall health.

To make a muscle fit, we work it slightly harder than usual use for a sustained period of time on a regular basis. Because the most important muscle in your body is the heart muscle, which is always pumping, you must exert your heart muscle by raising the heart rate for thirty minutes four times weekly, over its normal workload. This is exercise! This does not mean gardening or walking, Tai Chi or Yoga, which are great activities, and good for the soul but little or no impact on the heartbeat.

It means we have to do something relatively vigorously to get our heart rate up, such as walking vigorously for 15 minutes away from our home and then 15 minutes back to your home. Or you could stand still and lift weights, or ride a bicycle, or do push-ups and sit-ups on the floor… anything that is weight bearing, slightly exertive, and done consistently for 30 minutes, regularly for 4 times weekly.

No matter what your ability, you can always creatively exercise your heart muscle. If you are above your ideal body weight, you can expend 300 calories by doing one hour of exercise activity. If you calorie-restrict by only 300 calories daily, you will lose one pound/week and achieve or maintain a great cholesterol, reduce risk of breast and colon cancer, avoid osteoporosis, improve blood pressure, reduce heart attack and stroke risk, reduce depression and feel like a million bucks. Participation in sports activities promotes balance, joy and longevity. Go to Weightwatchers.com and read any of the books about The Zone.

As long as you are alive, you need to exercise!

Just 2500 calories of exercise/week halves heart disease and cancer risk! Do it! Anything is better than nothing! Start at the lower HR for 15 minutes and work up to 30-60 minutes, longer if weight loss is goal, four times a week, up to the higher heart rate. Exercise is important and can improve your health physically and mentally allowing you to feel less stressed and more energetic.

 
Age
Target Exercise Heart Rate  Per Minute
 
Activity
       Calorie Expenditure Per Hour
 
 
20-40
110-150
 
Bed-Rest
100
 
 
40-60
100-140
 
Strolling
200
 
 
60+
90-130
 
Brisk Walking
300
 
    
Jogging, Climbing Stairs
400
 
    
Dancing, Cycling
600
 
       

Weight Watchers has been proven in research to be causal in successful weight loss of over 25 lbs. when one attends meetings for over two years.

If you are serious about weight reduction, then you will commit to going to meetings. FYI: everyone thinks they are not the “meeting type”. Guess what: if you really want this time to be a success, you’ll go.

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