Home Workout Routines

There are three elements you can adjust while exercising: frequency (how often you exercise), duration (how long you perform a particular routine) and intensity (how hard you push yourself). Recent studies indicate that intensity is the most important of the three in maintaining aerobic fitness, the most important type for promoting cardiovascular health. In one study, aerobically trained subjects were able to maintain their fitness levels when they reduced the workout frequency from six days a week to two days but still exercised at the same intensity and for the same duration. Another group of trained subjects continued to work out at the same frequency for the same duration, but lowered the intensity of their workouts by two thirds (as measured by their heart rates during exercise). After 15 weeks, those in the second group had entirely lost the aerobic capacity that their training had produced originally. Knowing how intensely you exercise, therefore, is crucial to the success of quick workouts.

One way of measuring intensity is the amount of energy you expend in the form of kilocalories, more popularly known as calories. A kilocalorie is the heat required to raise the temperature of a grain of water by one degree Celsius. For an effective aerobic workout, exercise physiologists advise that you exert yourself vigorously enough to bum 200 to 400 calories. To be aerobic, this exertion must be continuous and rhythmic. For some of the most common aerobic activities, the pace you should set to accomplish this in 20 minutes. (The exact number of calories you use will vary slightly, depending on your weight. Heavier people hum more calories per minute when they exercise at the same pace as people who weigh less.)

In survey after survey, the main reason people cite for quitting an exercise program – Or for not starting one – is lack of time. They think that exercising requires setting aside inconveniently large blocks of time that will interfere with their other activities. But most people actually do have enough time in their schedules for exercise: The key is to learn how best to manage that time. One approach is to design. an exercise routine that is as convenient as possible. Several studies indicate that exercisers whose regimens require little equipment and that can be done at home, at work or nearby are more likely to stay with it than exercisers whose regimens are less convenient.

Here are some tips for squeezing exercise into a tight schedule:

1. Walk or cycle to and from work. Or, if you have to drive or take public transportation, stop a distance from work and walk briskly the rest of the way – you will burn 50 calories per half-mile.

2. Use stairs instead of escalators or elevators. Climbing stairs requires 15 times the energy that walking on level ground does.

3. Spend your lunch hour or coffee break walking briskly or performing one of the office workouts. Aerobic exercise at lunch can also diminish your appetite so that you eat less,. an aid to those trying to lose weight.

4. “While watching television – Americans watch an average of 4 1/2 hours a day – jog in place, use a stationary bicycle, rowing machine or ski exerciser, or perform calisthenics and stretches.

A11 women (and men!) need to exercise, no matter what shape or size, young or old – and that includes you.

Where do you begin? What specific type of exercise will benefit your body – what are your capabilities and limita­tions? Is it enough to assume you are comparatively fit because you walk up a few stairs or stretch and bend a little as you go about your household chores? And is it true that you can achieve that long-desired perfect body shape from toning up different areas like thighs and buttocks?

First of all we must look at the importance of exercise in relation to our health. This surely is the primary reason for keeping fit. Women are particularly vulnerable to diseases such as arthritis, osteoporosis (brittle-bone disease) and heart attacks in their middle years if they have been leading a sedentary life, sitting slumped in front of the television, losing muscle tone and even bone mass.

For health insurance reasons you owe it to yourself to take care of your one and only body – your working machine. It is after all one of the few areas in our lives over which we have control.

By the age of 50, around 44 per cent of women are overweight, compared with around 21 per cent of 20-24 year-olds. Are you a health risk?

Before we take a look at the right fitness plan for you let’s look at the physical benefits of regular exercise:
1. The biggest muscle in your body is your heart. Getting the circulation going ensures you are helping to efficiently pump gallons of blood around your body.
2. Bone-strengthening exercises like running, aerobics, skiing, swimming, brisk walking and dancing all help to maintain bone mass. Osteo­porosis is a painful disease and causes broken bones and humped backs in 1 in 4 women.

How many of us like our bodies, are confident with the body shape we possess? We assess and evaluate a person on an initial first impression – this includes their whole body image. If you are trying desperately to cover up your body, this will reflect not only in the way you dress but how you move. So how can exercise help?

1. Too often we only look at our faces in a mirror. Exercising in front of a mirror encour­ages us to take a real look at our bodies and get to know and control them better.
2. The sheer pleasure of enjoying the fun of exercise is reflected in our mental well-being.
3.Confidence increases. The way you move, sit and stand will show you have a greater body awareness and pride. Your body language will speak volumes about your happy state.
4.Inhibition decreases. When you are not in harmony with your body, you learn to be less tactile, less physical – learning to ‘reach out’ as a form of communication becomes second nature when you are used to exercising. •
5.As the body tension is eased out by working out the body, muscles relax and a good sleep induced.

Sedentary employment distinguishes today’s work force from those of previous eras: The vast majority of workers in the United States spend most of their day seated. Sitting for prolonged periods can adversely affect physical fitness in several ways. First, it contributes to weight-control problems by burning fewer calories than moving around or just standing up. Second, long stretches of sitting weaken your stomach and hack muscles; lower-back problems are compounded by badly designed chairs or poor posture- Finally, sitting reduces the range of motion through which you move your joints. Desk work in particular restricts movement and deprives you of exercise.

Even if you do not sit all day, chances are that your office environment and work schedule present little opportunity for getting sufficient activity, so that you must snake a conscious effort to fit extra movement into your everyday routine. Furthermore, the conveniences of modern offices as well as the transportation most people take to work tend to reinforce a sedentary lifestyle. Elevators, escalators, word processors, even push-button telephones may contribute to your productivity, but they reduce the amount of physical activity in your life.

One way to compensate for not getting enough activity during office hours is to exercise before and after work. You can also use a stability ball for a office exercise ball to workout your core region. If you consistently walk, run, swim or engage in another aerobic exercise, you can tone your muscles and keep your heart in relatively good shape. But even so, you will still feel better and have more energy if you make a point of moving around and exercising during the workday. Studies show that some form of exercise, even if it is minimal, will improve your concentration, make you more alert and relieve tension. As a result, both your health and your job performance may improve.

Stretching is particularly important for those who work with electronic devices like computer keyboards. It generally takes less effort to push computer keys than typewriter keys. In addition, a computer keyboard requires fewer changes in hand position: Most of the time you hold your hands in place while only your fingers move. You mix not move for long periods of time – you never have to change the paper, or even lift a pencil as you do if you are typing or writing longhand. As a result, when you work at a computer terminal for several hours, tension builds sip in your hands, shoulders and forearms, making you vulnerable to cramps or stiffness.

In addition, neck and back problems can arise from staring at a computer monitor or talking on a telephone for an extended period. The stretches included can stimulate blood flow to your muscles, thereby relieving built-up muscular tension. The exercises emphasize bending slat reaching; in’ ways that most people neglect during the typical workday.

Approach these stretches as carefully as you would any new exercise. Move into theirs gently and do not push yourself farther than you can comfortably go. Over several weeks, you will find that your flexibility will gradually improve as you become more experienced with the routines, and you will be able to reach and stretch farther. Besides offering as setting for stretches, the office is also a good place for strength-building exercises. Strengthening the upper body can be accomplished with isometrics that pit the arms against the hands, or with dynamic exercises that involve lifting hooks or other objects found in the office. Strengthening the middle body in an office chair usually requires swiveling while seated or simply tightening your abdominal muscles in an isometric squeeze ; lower body exercises include shallow knee bends and thigh raises