How are you doing on your New Year's resolutions to eat better  exercise - lose weight? Well, if it's not going like you thought it would, we would like to help.

In the previous two articles, we have discussed "The Problem" and "Nutrition." Now, in this article, we'll discuss "Exercise."

An essential component to any weight loss or health enhancement program is regular exercise. This should be done concurrently with any dietary modification. If you are a man over 35 years old or a woman over 40 and have not been active for over six months or have any chronic diseases, you need a medical check-up before starting any exercise program.

Once you have your doctor's approval, get a fitness assessment to see where to start. A Certified Personal Trainer is a valuable resource when beginning an exercise program. If you have been active, a personal trainer can help you make sure the program is appropriate for your goals.

Why exercise?

Exercise will help you lose weight and/or redistribute your weight. Let's look at how. But first, it's important to understand some basics.

The body is comprised of the bones, internal organs, muscles and fat. The bones (which provide the framework and structural strength for the body) and internal organs are not likely to vary much in weight over the short-term, whereas fat and muscle may.

Fat provides insulation and cushions internal organs and joints. It also is a storage form of energy and stores the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Muscles provide the means for movement of the bones and protection for internal organs.

Lean Body Mass (LBM) is weight minus the fat weight. When one speaks of body fat percent, it is how much of the weight is fat. There is a direct connection to high bodyfat and many chronic diseases of modern western industrial nations. When emerging nations become more affluent, they see significant increases of these diseases as they adopt western dietary practices.

Extremely low bodyfat has negative health consequences as well. Low bodyfat levels have been found to interfere with women's menstrual cycles and production of estrogen and other female hormones. This can lead to reproductive problems and osteoporosis. Both genders face problems with temperature regulation in the body when bodyfat is too low. There is also some speculation that low bodyfat may cause lower levels of testosterone in men.

Stress is known to be a major contributor to the development of disease. However, that is only part of the story. The body and mind actually require a certain amount of stress to function optimally. Too little stress makes people sluggish and too much stress has a wide range of deleterious effects on the body and mind.

Exercise can be a positive stress if it is within the capabilities of the exerciser to recover. Exercising too hard, too often, or too long does not allow the body to recover sufficiently before the next workout. Doing the same type of exercise without variation is more likely to cause over-use syndrome in the joints being used. Using different forms of aerobic exercise is one way to approach avoiding over-training.

One can also change the speed, terrain, and length of time of the workout and take sufficient rest days. If you feel tired, sore, sluggish, it may be time for an extra rest day. The same rules apply to strength training. Change the exercises used for each muscle group periodically. Changing the number of repetitions, the weight, the number of sets or arrangement, and order of exercises are other ways to create change to prevent boredom and burnout. You can also do calisthenics instead of weights or vice versa.

Types of exercise

Exercise for weight loss or weight redistribution should include three components:

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise increases the body's ability to use oxygen to burn fat as fuel An aerobically fit body also burns a higher percentage of its' calories from fat. However, it has been found experimentally that amino acids are used as fuel after 90 minutes of aerobic activity. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, which can only be found in muscle.

This may be accelerated when the blood sugar level becomes too low. That is why it has been found that long-distance runners require more protein per pound of weight than normal runners to maintain muscle mass, Therefore, excessive endurance training has a negative impact on metabolism. It also decreases immune system response to infection.

Stretching

Stretching helps elongate the muscles, reduce tension, increase the range of motion of joints, and prevent or alleviate delayed onset muscle soreness. Tight low back and hamstring muscles are a known risk factor for low back injury, as are weak abdominal muscles and fat accumulation at the waist.

Ballistic stretches, in which one bounces in and out of the stretch, as performed in many sports and may have specific sports applications, should not be used for general use. Rather, hold each stretch for about 20 seconds to avoid injury and maximize the effectiveness. When the stretch is maintained at a safe length, the muscle perceivably relaxes. Also, breathe normally to avoid dizziness.

Strength training

Strength training refers to any method of using resistance to improve muscular strength, muscular endurance, and muscle mass. This can include weight machines, air or water resistance equipment, resistance bands, exercise balls, free-weights, calisthenics, isometrics, stone lifting, or log lifting, such as used by the U.S. Navy Seals.

The entire idea behind strength training is that the muscles contract against resistance. As time progresses, the amount of work done increases either by adding weight, doing more repetitions and sets, or making the exercise harder by changing body position. Free-weight training utilizes weights as low as one pound, which is good for very small, ill, injured, or poorly conditioned people.

It can also produce extremely high resistance for those who need it. Free-weights and weight training machines are the most widely available strength training equipment and easiest with which to quantify improvements. It is also the method used by the overwhelming majority of strength trainers.

When strength training, it is important to learn to warm-up properly. An easy 8-10 minutes of light aerobic activity makes the muscles less prone to injury. Doing a long or hard aerobic session prior to weight training may fatigue the muscles too much for good motor control during the weight workout. Leave that hard or long aerobic workout for after the weight training or on the days you aren't strength training.

Another positive consequence of strength training prior to aerobic exercise is that it is a carbohydrate burning activity, which ought to reduce glycogen (stored carbohydrate) and blood sugar. If that happens, fat burning will happen earlier in the session.

General exercise guidelines

Proper movement speed, range of motion, grip placement, foot placement, neck and torso position and other aspects of form are important to preventing injuries, and working the desired muscles. Breathing properly is important to prevent hyperventilating, which causes dizziness, headache, and light-headedness. It is especially important for people with high blood pressure or heart disease.

Exercise choice, frequency of training, number of sets, repetitions, amount of weight, and length of rest between sets all have effects on the quality and safety of the program. All these variables depend on the ability, level of fitness, and program goals. No one answer works for everyone. Going into these highly specific issues is beyond the scope of this article and is easier to learn hands-on in the gym.

 

 

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