Working Out at All Ages

by Christine Erickson

Exercise is the key to health at any age, you are never to young or to old to incorporate physical activity into your life. That is the real key, it should be part of your day to day life style and not a sporadic undertaking to lose weight, the nice side effect of exercise is weight loss.

In the late teens and twenties the focus is mainly on looking fabulous at any cost instead of being healthy. This misguided view generally leads to drastic dieting instead of a balanced diet and exercise routine. For those individuals who are looking improve their overall fitness it is recommended that one hour of exercise six days a week in the ultimate goal. These sessions should focus on cardio with at least three thirty minute sessions of resistance training incorporated in. This then means that on three of the days you will do a half hour of cardio and half on hour of weight training or resistance training of some kind.

Find activities that you enjoy, doing cardio does not mean that you have to run on a tread mill or spend your time on a stair climber. It is much more beneficial to your body to mix things up, play tennis, swim some laps, play hockey or soccer, go skating or skiing. There are a lot of activities that are considered cardio so there is no need to get bored the goal is to have fun while pursuing a healthy life style.

When we reach our thirties many of us have experienced a major shift in priorities, work and family seem to dictate every moment of our waking hours. Our bodies begin show the signs of inactivity and we are tired and stressed. Life is definitely underway. Our focus is on others and no longer our selves. Although this trap is understandable this is also the beginning of our bodies and health going downhill.

When we enter this phase of our lives it important to make the time to be physically active as this is when we begin to naturally lose muscle mass and gain body fat. Our metabolism begins to noticeably slow down. To stop and reverse this trend it is important to get in at least five or six days of concentrated exercise. There should be a slight shift to incorporate a little more resistance or weight training to compensate for the bodies natural changes.

Doing circuit training is a good option, because you are alternating between resistance training and cardio on a constant cycle. Pilates and yoga are beneficial for new moms especially because they are very effective at strengthening your core muscles and lifting your parts back up where they belong.

By the time you reach your forties you will definitely notice changes to your body, gravity begins to take over, hormones begin to change and you continue to see more evidence of muscle loss and body fat increases. You have to work much harder to keep the weight off and to keep your muscles toned.

To help ward off these impending changes total body weight training should be a part of your weekly routine (at least three one hour sessions). This is especially important for women because of the correlation between menopause and bone loss. You also be incorporating in thirty to forty five minutes of cardio activity five days a week. In your fifties you will notice real changes to your metabolism, your body takes much less calories to keep it going and therefore it is much easier to put on weight. For women it is a must to continue to incorporate weight training or resistance training into their lifestyle, bone loss is a real concern and osteoporosis is on the rise.

Again four to six sessions of cardio twenty to forty minutes each is optimum, remember a good brisk walk is a cardio workout. It is recommended as a minimum that you commit to two half hour sessions of weight training or resistance training. There are many at home DVDs on the market that incorporate both cardio and resistance training into one session and can easily be done in the comfort of your own home.

The sixties and beyond and new focuses for physical activities as many individuals now begin to experience medical concerns. It is never to late to start being active and positive results are can be achieved very quickly.

Cardio should still be a focus, three days a week of concentrated physical activity is recommended, such as walking, swimming or riding a bike. In addition three days of weight training or resistance training are necessary to keep muscles strong, prevent bone loss and to maintain balance. Activities such as Yoga, Pilates, and Tia Chi are good alternatives as they give you all the benefits of a total body workout, every muscle is worked and stretched and balance is a focus.

Working out and staying physically active are a must at any age. It is also important to remember that exercise is the number one way to prevent illness and disease. It needs to become a part of your life style, make it fun and change it up to keep it fresh. Find activities you enjoy doing.

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Source: goarticles.com