10 Ways To Get Exercise in Your Life
Are you trying to get more exercise but can never find the time? The most important way to get exercise into your life is to SCHEDULE it into your day.
You Know You Need More Exercise – 10 Ways To Get Exercise in Your Life
By increasing lifestyle activities each day, try doing four 10-minute increases at least five days a week. The idea is just to do more of what you are already doing. Here are some great ideas on getting motivated:
1. Aerobics: The word aerobic means “with oxygen” or “in the presence of oxygen.” Aerobic exercise is any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously for a long period, and is rhythmic. Aerobic activity trains the heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system to process and deliver oxygen more quickly and efficiently to every part of the body. As the heart muscle becomes stronger and more efficient, a larger amount of blood can be pumped with each stroke. Fewer strokes are then required to transport oxygen to all parts of the body rapidly. An aerobically fit individual can work longer, more vigorously, and achieve a quicker recovery at the end of the aerobic session.
2. Mind Quieting: A disciplined mind is a free mind. Gain control over your thoughts and you maintain control over your life. Retrain your mind, and you regain your freedom. Calming the mind is a behavioral technique used to interrupt, minimize, and eliminate “psychological noise.” Obsessive, repetitive thoughts, anxiety, and fears are all apart of negative, self-destructive patterns that can benefit from the power of music and mind quieting.
3. Breathing: Breath is life! Exchange of electrons. The flow of energy. Air is the primary nutrient. Survival without it is measured in minutes. It is so important that you do it without thinking. Your breathing is the voice of your spirit. It’s depth, smoothness, sound, and rate reflect your mood. If you become aware of your breath and breathe the way you do when you are calm, you will become calm. Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing. With the addition of music and its rhythm, the “musical breath” can even help stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders. Fall into the rhythm of the music and breathe. Focus on your breathing and music.
4. Weight Bearing: exercise stimulates tissue growth in bone and muscles, strengthening the body’s structure. A stronger skeleton reduces the risk of osteoporosis, arthritic joint pain, and other bone conditions. Also known as resistance training, weight-bearing exercise can be any activity that involves carrying, lifting, or pushing a heavy object. Walking is considered to be weight-bearing, as muscles and the skeleton support body weight. You do not need to “pump iron” to benefit from this form of exercise.
5. Yoga: Many different types of yoga workouts exist. But many times, in our quest for fitness and a hard body, at some point it becomes just a workout and not yoga. If you come to this path with fitness in mind, that is important, but Yoga is extremely powerful. If you try to rush it, you will only slow yourself down. Yoga is not mind over the body. It is the harmony between them. In yoga, the mind is used to perceive (diagnose) and guide (heal) the body. Not to “control” it and never to force it.
6. Stretching: Just as there are different types of flexibility, there are also different types of stretching. Stretches are either dynamic (meaning they involve motion) or static (meaning they involve no motion). Dynamic stretches affect dynamic flexibility, and static stretches affect static flexibility (and dynamic flexibility to some degree).
7. Power Walking: Studies have suggested a link between increased physical activity and a decreased chance of developing the disease in general. Exercise of any kind trims your odds by improving the body’s sensitivity to the insulin, a hormone which helps control cholesterol, weight, and blood pressure, and further guards you against adult-onset of disease.
8. Swimming: It’s hard to beat swimming when it comes to a sport that builds the body, soothes the mind, regulates breathing, stimulates circulation, and puts no stress on the joints. That’s why it’s an ideal exercise for just about everyone — older adults, overweight people, young people, people with hip, knee and ankle problems, and active people with no health problems at all. Plus, swimming has a calorie-burning potential of 350-420 calories per hour. No wonder it’s one of the most popular fitness sports around.
9. Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Aikido: TaiChi, QiGong, Aikido: these Asian art forms have been practiced for centuries. QiQong is one of the four pillars of traditional Chinese medicine: Acupuncture, Massage, Herbal Medicines, and Qigong. Of these, Qigong is the one that can be most easily self-initiated. Both massage and herbal remedies can also be done as self-care. However, Qigong is the mother of Chinese self-healing. Patients who use Qigong faithfully need less medication, less acupuncture, and heal faster.
Tai Chi is a martial arts form that enhances balance and body awareness through slow, graceful, and precise body movements can significantly cut the risk of falls among older people and may be beneficial in maintaining gains made by people aged 70 and older who undergo other types of balance and strength training.
Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba (often referred to by his title ‘O Sensei’ or ‘Great Teacher’). On a purely physical level, it is an art involving some throws and joint locks that are derived from Jujitsu and some throws and other techniques derived from Kenjutsu. Aikido focuses not on punching or kicking opponents, but rather on using their energy to gain control of them or to throw them away from you.
10. Elastic Bands: Resistance training is the benefit of elastic bands or tubing. As long as we have gravity, we can challenge our muscles effectively. Doing a push-up is one example of a resistance exercise. Instead of using weight from another source, you’re using your body weight to challenge your chest and arm muscles, and you will get toned up just as well as you would using a pec deck or a bench press. Elastic tubing and bands are great for those who want to get the benefits of weight training without using traditional weights.
The most important way to get exercise into your life is to SCHEDULE it into your day. You schedule appointments, dinner, meeting, exercise (as a priority) should be no different.
Keep moving!!
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About the Author
Connect with Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac at peacefulmind.com “Living Life, Consciously” Alternative medicine and therapies for healing mind, body & spirit!
