GetThatBody.com

Health Report (Continued)

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Walking

The Body’s Natural Exercise

Walking is your body’s most natural form of exercise.  Most people don’t think of walking as exercise because it’s not strenuous of difficult.  It’s something you can do easily, alone or with a friend, at your convenience, and at no cost, except for maybe a good pair of walking shoes.

 

Walking has many hidden health benefits.  Regular walks will help you to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight when combined with a sensible diet.  It strengthens your cardiovascular system; tones all of your major muscle groups; helps the body resist disease by strengthening your immune system; and reduces stress to promote an overall sense of well-being.

 

The U.S. government even recognizes walking as a health benefit!  It is currently considering a “national walking program” promotion to motivate people to get moving for improved health.  The national obesity rate has skyrocketed in recent years and regular walking is being recommended by top researchers as the easiest way the majority of our inactive citizens can make positive health changes.  You may have heard of L. Brooks Patterson’s “Count your Steps” program in the Michigan school system where children wear pedometers to reach a certain number of steps per day.  Research suggests you walk at least 10,000 steps per day for health benefits.  Buying a pedometer is a great motivator if you want to begin a walking program.  It gives you an easy way to set goals to achieve.

 

To start a walking program, be sure to have comfortable footwear and begin your walks at a regular pace.  Try to walk at least every other day to build flexibility and endurance.  Gradually increase the distance of your walks, and as you become better conditioned, increase your pace, swing your arms and concentrate on your breathing.  Walk at a pace where your breathing and heart rate are escalated and you are able to talk comfortably, but not sing.  This is the proper intensity at which you’ll achieve the best cardiovascular and calorie burning benefits.  Make it a goal to walk for at least 30 minutes per day.  Make small weekly goals such as adding an extra 10 minutes or 5 blocks per walk to gain a good sense of accomplishment, which will keep you motivated. 

 

A brisk one-hour walk can burn up to as much as 400 calories!  Recommended exercise guidelines suggest the average person should burn between 700-2,000 calories per week in some form of exercise for improved health.  That means just a half hour to 45 minute walk per day puts you at the high end of this spectrum to gain ultimate health and weight loss benefits. 

 

Following dinner with a walk is a great way to get your digestive system moving, eliminating that sluggish feeling you may often experience after a large meal.

 

As long as you can walk free of any pain, you’re never too young or too old to start a regular walking program.  It is recommended that, regardless of age, you talk with your doctor before beginning any program of physical activity, especially if you haven’t exercised lately or have existing health concerns.

 

Pick up a professionally designed walking program for the treadmill, track or trail at www.GetThatBody.com.  This program has been designed to give you the best calorie burning benefits by increasing your heart rate to your ultimate calorie burning level using the highly-recommended “Interval Training” technique.

 

Interval training causes cutting edge fat loss.  The idea is to elevate the intensity of exercise to extreme levels for brief periods of time.  For example:  Walk on a treadmill for 7 minutes at a semi-fast pace, then incline the platform or jog to increase to a higher intensity for about 30 seconds, and back off again for 1-3 minutes.  Do these 30 second sprints 8-12 times within a 30-40 minute workout to get the ultimate calorie burn in the minimal amount of time.  The same can be applied to an outdoor walk by climbing steps or bleachers, or simply by picking up the pace to your fastest walk for 30 seconds, then slowing again.

  

Experience the many great benefits of weight loss and improved health through a simple walking plan.

 

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is constant movement which strengthens your heart and cardiovascular system by forcing it to adapt to the stress of the exercise.  By performing any type of exercise that heightens your heart rate, you will burn extra calories, thereby complimenting your weight loss program.  You should perform some type of aerobic exercise for about 30-40 minutes, a minimum of 3 days per week.

 

A good fast walk, running, swimming, step-class or in-line skating are just a few good examples of aerobic exercise.  You can also put on your favorite music and fast dance your way to a good calorie burn.  Doing activities you enjoy will get you doing it more often and will add to your weight loss success.  You don’t want to dread your work-outs do you?  Find activities you enjoy.  Any activity that gets your heart racing, but does not leave you gasping for breath is a good calorie-burner.

 

 

Here is a look at how to figure your ideal calorie-burning heart rate zone:

 

220 minus your Age = [H]

85% (x .85) of [H] = Maximum Heart Rate

70% (x .70) of [H] = Ideal Exercise Heart Rate (for best calorie burning benefits)

40% (x .40) of [H] = Resting Heart Rate

 

Track your Heart Rate:  Take your wrist pulse:  Count the beats for 6 seconds and multiply it by 10 to get your current heart rate. 

 

Do this before exercise, which is your Resting Heart Rate (RMR) and during exercise to get to your ideal heart rate (IHR). 

 

Tip:  Get to know this feeling of intensity in both breathing and effort to easily recognize your ideal calorie-burning zone.

 

 

Resistance Exercise

 

Any exercise that uses your muscle as resistance will keep your bones and muscles healthy which is beneficial to your ongoing good health and well-being.  Each year as we age after the age of 25, we lose essential muscle mass, which is why elderly people lose the ability to bend down and get back up, or even walk.  It’s caused by years of not challenging the muscles and weakened bones. 

 

The good news is, this decline in muscle and bone mass can be reversed at any time in your life.  Weight training does more than build muscle, it can also strengthen bones. Even if you haven’t lifted a weight before, you’ll find it’s easy to do and the benefits are many, now and especially into your later years.

 

You should start any resistance program with light weights or resistance bands as not to cause injury.  Muscles should always be warmed up prior to resistance moves simply by using easy motions like marching in place, arm circles and jumping jacks.  Never stretch cold muscles, save the stretches for after your workouts.  A cold muscle can snap and cause injury (think cold silly putty).

 

Muscle strengthening activity should be included 2-3 times per week in addition to aerobic for ultimate fat-burning, weight loss and health. For each pound of muscle you gain, you'll burn 30 to 50 extra calories daily by boosting your metabolism.
In other words, by replacing 5 pounds of fat with muscle, you can burn up to 250 calories more throughout the day than you do now, in addition to the calories burned during the workout!

By building muscle, you will burn more calories even while sleeping!

 

How To Build the Muscle You Want

For Bulk - Use Heavy Weights and 5-8 Reps per Set

For Toning - Use Moderate Weights and 10-12 Reps per Set

Need to Lose 30+ Pounds? - Use Light Weights and 15-25 Reps per Set

(Rep or Repetition = 1 complete movement; 1 set = a certain number of reps)

 

To use the correct weight for your goal, you want to fatigue the muscle by the last repetition.

 

Summary

 

Finally, don’t believe the fad diets, magic pills and gimmicks you see.  Diet pills give false promises and often require you to change your eating habits, which are not mentioned in the ads.  Some fad diets may work, but are unhealthy in the long-run and you will regain the weight once you go back to normal eating patterns.

 

The only real way to a healthy body weight is to redesign your menu to include healthy but exciting meals and add regular activity to your life.  Remember to choose foods closest to their original form, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, beans and lean meats.  Get moving to your favorite exercise at least 3-4 times per week for optimum health well into your later years.  You may also want to take a multi-vitamin to get the nutrients you may not always get from your daily diet.

 

Add years to your life and life to your years! 

 

Get the valuable Successful Weight Loss E-book today!:

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