We all know that regular exercise can improve your mood, increase your immunity, and lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon cancer. Hundreds of research studies demonstrate that exercise helps you feel better and live longer. But what kind of exercise is good for me?
“Finding a physical activity that you like performing is the best incentive to keep doing it’, explains Gabriel Enescu, director of rehabilitation at Excel Physical Therapy, in Lodi, CA.
If you’re not entirely passionate about your exercise routine, be ready to try a few of the choices presented below. Think about activities that appeal to you, and consider their advantages and disadvantages. The following ideas may help you find what you like.
Organized classes
Examples: step workouts; yoga; spin classes; aerobics (exercise that gets your heart working hard)
Advantages: Exercise classes are fun if you like getting out of the house, need an instructor, and you enjoy being in a group. “The class setting brings a sense of healthy competitive atmosphere. It motivates you schedule the class in your daily schedule, get dressed, and work out,” says Gabriel. It is a good way to meet people and socialize.
Disadvantages: Price, or it may not be right for people who feel shy, for people with transportation or scheduling challenges, or people who get bored doing only one kind of exercise. A large class provides fewer chances for individual exercise imagination.
Fitness Club Memberships
Examples: You can use exercise equipment like treadmills, or stationary bikes, free weights. Sometimes you can work with a trainer; doing exercise that relies on body weight, such as push-ups and lunges.
Advantages: You will work out at your very own rate and also do a number of type of tasks within one exercise. You could change the workout in accordance with just what you desire, and also you’re not bound by a routine. Lots of health clubs supply free of charge fitness instructor solutions and also an exercise program customized to your requirements.
Disadvantages: The trainer training. Not all of them will understand your goals. That could lead to injury. Health club membership can be expensive, and you’ll need transportation to the club.
Home exercises
Examples: Range of motion and strengthening exercises with weights or rubber bands/tubes; balance, home programs presented on a video
Advantages: Functions well if you’re a self-starter, and happy to maintain a log of workout as well as time invested. Work out at any time you want, and mix them up as you desire. There’s no stringent timetable, no peer stress, also no transport problems or class charges.
Disadvantages: “Staying motivated it is hard,” says Gabriel. You may not know if you’re exercising enough or overdoing it.
Brisk Activities
Examples: Riding your bicycle; backyard work; playing sport games; playing with children
Advantages: Good for people who like free spirit exercise. You cab choose the activity you want to enjoy during that day. “Almost anything that you can sustain for 20 minutes or more, that gets you to break a sweat, can qualify,” says Kale. Choose something you like and make it fun.
Disadvantages: Keeping track of how much and what muscle groups you are exercising can prove to be difficult. You may not get enough variation — for instance, neglecting balance, strength training, or aerobic activity.
The best approach will be to try all of them and you’ll probably know right away if it’s a good fit. If you find yourself developing a passion for your new activity, you discovered the best way to keep exercising.
As always, please consult with your physician and physical therapist before you commit to any of these physical activities.
