Highway 6: Exercise
For supreme health and fitness, you’ll love this Exercise Highway to Health.
Let’s have fun on this part of your journey to health! Uh-oh. Are you one of those people who think the body is just a warm place for the heart? Why would you possibly want to exercise?
Well let’s see, a good, well-balanced innovative health and fitness exercise journey can:
- Increase your energy
- Elevate your mood
- Help you attain your ideal weight
- Help you look your best
- Increase muscle mass
- Increase calorie burning
- Strengthen and protect your heart
- Get more oxygen to your tissues
- Pump toxins out of your body
- Helps you think better
- Stimulate creativity
- Relieve stress
- Make you a happier person
- Be a lot of fun
So what do you think now? Could moving your body actually give your heart a lot more TLC than just keeping it warm?
Can you actually achieve your supreme health and fitness level through an innovative health and fitness program?
Of course you can – with the right mindset!
How do you develop a supreme health and fitness mind-set?
One simple road at a time. That’s what this web site is all about. Helping you to take a fun leisurely journey just a few miles at a time. Before you know it, you’ll have a lot of miles under your belt and will be feeling better than ever.
I’ll help you avoid the bad detours along the way. No overwhelming plans. Let’s map out our trip along the exercise supreme health and fitness highway so it’s a lot of fun.
Aerobic Exercise
Let’s start with aerobic exercise, something that gets your blood moving and your lungs oxygenating better.
How about a simple 10-minute walk the first few days. Then we’ll increase our walk by a minute or 2 every few days until we reach our goal of walking briskly at least 45 minutes 3-4 times per week.
Make it even more fun by grabbing a buddy to walk with you. Even a doggy buddy will do. You won’t want to disappoint your buddy, so you’ll stay more committed to walking regularly. Your doggy buddy will be bouncing by the door reminding you that it’s time to go.
You have oodles of other choices for aerobic activities. Find one that intrigues you. You might like the feel of the wind in your face with biking or cross-country skiing. Maybe gliding through the water appeals to you and your joints. For great variety, alternate a variety of aerobic activities on different days.
If a class seems more fun to you and will keep you committed, go for it. How about letting loose in Zumba dancing, kick boxing, Jazzercise, step aerobics, indoor bicycle spinning or Curves.
Strength Training
Besides having a blast with aerobic exercise, you’ll want to add some strength training to keep your muscles toned up. Since the muscles burn the majority of the calories you eat, the more muscle you keep or add, the more calories you will burn even in your sleep. That’s sweet!
Good muscle tone and strength keeps you looking svelte. Besides you want to be able to be as active as possible all of your life.
Here’s a health tip: most Americans lose ½ pound of muscle per year and gain 1 pound of fat per year. That scenario obviously causes a downward spiral into obesity and difficulty moving around.
But you avoid that booby trap filled detour. You’re a maverick. You stay on the Highway to Health so you can roll right into your later years in great shape, still able to play with your grandkids, travel, bike, swim or whatever and get off the potty without help.
You can strengthen those muscles right in your own home or in a gym where it’s fun to interact with other folks.
Somewhere along this highway we’ll add some simple stretching to keep you loose.
Then if you want to shorten the amount of time required for aerobics, we’ll add some interval training when you’re ready.
Speaking of time, it doesn’t take much time. Just 30-40 minutes of aerobic training every other day for 3 days per week. On the opposite days, strength train for about 40 minutes 3 days per week.
So set your mind to relish these workouts. Visualize yourself strong, healthy, active and vibrantly alive as you travel the Exercise Highway to supreme health and fitness.