Aerobic exercise provides several benefits to your overall health and longevity.
By conditioning your cardiovascular system to become more efficient, aerobic exercise literally can improve every breath you take.
Just a few of the benefits you will see from regular aerobic exercise include:
● improved daily outlook
● reduction of daily stress levels
● reduction of blood pressure
● reduction of blood lipid levels
● management of blood glucose levels.
Examples of weight-bearing aerobic exercises:
● walking
● jogging
● jumping rope
● dance-exercise
Non-weight bearing aerobic exercises:
● bicycling
● stationary cycling
● swimming
● rowing
Frequency. Want to maintain your health? Try to fit in three to five days of aerobic activity. Looking for weight loss? Try to exercise on most days of the week. Aim for at least 5 or 6 days.
Intensity. When exercising remember to keep the pace comfortable. If you want to assess your intensity level, take the “talk test”. The “talk test” is an informal, subjective method for estimating aerobic exercise intensity. While exercising you want to maintain an intensity level at which conversation is comfortable. The intensity level is too great when comfortable speech is no longer possible. It is then suggested that you slow down your pace to drop back into the recommended range.
Time. Just starting out? Slowly work your way up to 30 minutes per day. You can even break this down into 3 equal sessions of 10 minutes. If you are trying to boost your weight loss efforts then you should work towards getting your workouts to 45 minutes or longer.
Enjoy your walk, jog, bike or swim!
Your body will thank you!