Independent Articles & Videos About:

1. The Health Benefits of Exercise
2. Aerobic Exercise Benefits
3. Anaerobic Exercise Benefits

The Amazing Health Benefits of Walking for Exercise

Walking for exercise is a purposeful, brisk walk specifically designed for the purpose of improving health. It is one of the best and cheapest forms of exercise. If you want to improve your general health and keep fit, or if you want to reduce your weight, walking is a good place to start.

Walking keeps you fit and helps you take off extra weight and keep it off. It's cheap, it's simple and almost anybody can do it. Walking has a multitude of health benefits for everyone. Here are some of its many benefits:

- Helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke - Lowers high blood pressure - Helps reduce weight and body fat - Helps reduce risk of some cancers - Reduces anxiety and depression and improves your mood and mental well-being - Helps control joint swelling and pain from arthritis - Gives you more energy - Helps you sleep better - Helps you look better - Improves bone density and helps reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis - Helps those people who are recovering from a period of ill-health

Walking for exercise does not need to be strenuous to produce results. Even walking for 30 minutes a day has been reported to produce measurable benefits, even among those who are least active.

If you want to feel great, have more energy and improve your overall health, take a walk. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise and you can do it almost anywhere, anytime, and for free.

Along with its benefits to the heart, walking improves circulation, helps breathing, combats depression, bolsters the immune system, helps prevent osteoporosis, helps control weight and helps prevent and control diabetes. It's a gentle exercise and it's suitable if you are recovering from heart trouble, a stroke or other illness. It helps the total circulation of blood throughout the body, and thus has a direct effect on your overall feeling of health.

Remember, if you have a medical condition, are overweight, over 40 years of age or haven't exercised regularly for a long time, check with your doctor before you start any type of exercise program.

Chileshe Mwape.

Running for Beginners: The Benefits of Water Aerobic Exercise

As beginning runners (or any runners for that matter!), we often tend to stick to the one thing we know: Running.

However, running does give us quite a pounding on our legs! Our joints and muscles are repeatedly shocked throughout the course of a run... And the more intense the run, the more pounding they take!

Cross training a day or two a week can work wonders!

What is cross training, you ask?

It basically means that you "cross over" for a day into another aerobic exercise area, instead of only running, in order to help prevent injury. (Or to recover after an injury!)

Don't get me wrong! Running, as we've stated before, is NUMERO UNO as far as aerobic exercises go! Nothing gets your heart rate going like a good run!

But running does give you a good pounding!

So lots and lots of runners take a day or two a week and cross train.

For cross training, you want to do another activity that elevates your heart rate, but doesn't pound you quite as much as running.

This gives your muscles and joints a rest, while keeping your heart going!

Cross training has some great benefits:

1) Gives joints, bones, and muscles a much needed rest, making them fresher for your next run.

2) Still increases your heart rate, so you still get a good aerobic workout even on the days you don't run.

3) Breaks the routine. (I mean, we love running, but sometimes it's just nice to do something else!)

So, what kinds of cross training are there?

There's riding a bike... But cycling can be expensive!

There are treadmills and elliptical machines at the gym... But the gym can be expensive, too, and one of the reasons we are runners is because we like the price!

Water Running

My recommended cross training activity is water running. It does take a one-time investment in an aqua jogger shoes or gloves (around $15-20) or an aqua jogging vest or belt (a $45-55 cost), but after that, you're good to go!

Just get in the deep water at your nearest pool, and run in the water. (It takes a little getting used to, but it's really very simple. In no time, you'll be water running with the best of 'em!

The health benefit of water running is big!

When you do your water running, your heart rate still gets up there (so you get the aerobic benefit), but your muscles get a rest from the pounding for a day.

So it's a perfect cross-training activity.

And just by doing water running, you're helping yourself prevent injury!

And if you're already injured (Let's hope not! But occasionally it does happen!), water running is perfect for keeping your aerobic fitness up while your injury heals.

So, take some good advice on running for beginners! For all of you who love running and want to keep doing it for years...

... Water aerobic exercise, in the form of water running, is a great way to cross train and save your legs!

You'll be saving some of the miles in your legs for another day!

Kely Braswell has been a runner for 27 years. He's not the fastest... just an Ordinary Runner. But he stays in shape, and he knows a lot about running!

Aerobics and health benefits?

Aerobics or aerobic exercises basically refer to the process of physical conditioning which is designed to improve respiratory and circulatory efficiency. The word 'aerobics' itself means 'with oxygen'. This involves intense and sustained exercise such as swimming, cycling, jogging etc.

So what are the health benefits of aerobics?

Regular aerobics exercise keeps you fit and healthy and helps your body work effectively. Aerobic exercises yield are very beneficial to your health. Aerobics if carried out regularly can be effective in weight loss as it burns calories and may increase your BMR (basic metabolic rate). Other benefits include:

-Aerobics improves your respiration system by strengthening your muscles that facilitate air flow -Aerobics improves your stamina by strengthening your heart and lungs (your aerobic system) -Aerobics tones your muscles which improves overall blood circulation -Aerobics improves the flow of oxygen

Your heart, lungs and blood system will be strengthened through prolonged and sustained aerobic exercise. Regular aerobics exercise will significantly improve your health and reduce health risks associated with cardiovascular problems.

Tobias Clover is an aerobics and cardio consultant.

Reduce Stress with Exercise

We have heard it so many times before that there are many benefits to exercise especially when used to lower stress. If everyone knows that exercise is important then why is stress, disease, and fatigue so prevalent in today's society? The answer is simple. We know what to do we just aren't doing it.

Experts agree that one best way to manage stress is through exercise. Exercise has been proven to relax the body and mind, burn fat, improve cardiovascular system, bring in more oxygen, reduce the chance of diseases, lower blood pressure and the list goes on.

During the stress response, many chemical reactions occur in the body preparing it to what is known as the fight or flight response. During prehistoric days as cave dwellers, we had the opportunity to burn off our stress when an animal attacked, as it was a means of survival. We were able to run away or fight the threat immediately. In today's society, we do not have to fight a bear or tiger, so we do not have much of an outlet readily at hand to burn off the stress or pent up negative emotions. Therefore, we carry it with us creating emotional and physical problems. Exercise can help by providing an outlet for negative emotions such as worry, irritability, depression, hostility, anger, frustration, and anxiety. You can dissipate these feelings by simply taking it out on the tennis court, by running, or punching a bag. Regular exercise provides the opportunity to manage the fight or flight response and helps the body to return to a homeostasis or balanced state more quickly.

Exercise can also improve self-esteem and self worth by realizing that you are benefit directly. You may feel more outgoing and social because of the increased energy and also a better physique creating more confidence and positive self image. Your self-esteem may be enhanced by taking on exercise challenges or goals, giving you a feeling of accomplishment and reward.

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Exercise: Aerobic exercise is an activity that uses major muscle groups such as walking, running, swimming, and cycling. This type of exercise strengthens your cardiovascular system by increasing your heart and respiratory rate and brings in more oxygen into the body. To reap the full benefits of aerobic exercise, you must be at 60%-80% of your target heart rate for at least 20 minutes, between three and five times a week.

To calculate your target heart rate use the following formula: Take 220 - (subtract) your age X (multiply 60%, or 70%, etc. intensity rate.) = Target heart rate (divide by six for a ten second pulse count. Take your pulse for ten seconds and gage where you are during the workout. Speed up the pace if you are below 60%.

Aerobic exercise is key to lose weight as it burns calories which are the energy consumed and adds fat to our bodies. Combined with a healthy diet it is a sure way to lose weight. One pound of body fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. To lose one pound, you must burn 3500 calories. It is easier to combine aerobics and create a small caloric deficit in your diet than to do one or the other solely.

Anaerobic exercise builds muscle strength and power. Isotonics and Isometrics are two kinds of anaerobic exercises.

Isotonics uses your muscles to contract against an object with movement such as weight lifting (also called strength or resistance training.) The benefits of isotonic exercises are stronger muscles, stronger bones, tone, prevent injuries, and condenses and shapes muscle for better esthetics.

Isometric exercise is contracting your muscles against resistance without movement. Such as lifting an object like a dumbbell and holding a position. You are isolating that muscle.

Use both types of anaerobic exercises to maximize your strength to build healthy, lean, and strong muscles.

Select exercises that you enjoy and can do for at least 20 minutes, three to five days a week. Exercise does not necessarily mean hitting the gym and making an ordeal out of it. It can simply be a walk around your neighborhood or dancing to some tunes. Try to think "activity" verses "exercise". When you are in an active mind-frame, you will purposely park a little farther, do stretches at the computer, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.

Commit that you will begin to be more active and stick to your exercises or activities for 21 days. Why 21? Research has showed that it takes about 21 days to create a habit. Document how your feel after the 21 days. Your stress levels should be lowered, you should feel more energized, and see some physical changes such as a slimmer physique.

You may already know the benefits of exercise but are you doing it? So start by making a decision, begin slowly, then gradually work up to more and longer workout sessions. The point of this article is to help you take immediate action.

In the words of Nike...well, you know.

To your health.

Find out more about Fitness at healthandfinesse.com

Muscle Fiber Types and Contraction

Muscles generate heat and force for movement, help us breathe, and keep our bodies upright. Skeletal muscle tissue is composed of two fibers, actin (thin fibers) and myosin (thick fibers). These two fibers give the muscle a striated appearance. In order for muscle to contract it must first be stimulated by nerves called motor neurons. A single motor neuron and the muscle fibers stimulated by it is called a motor unit. The recruiting motor units play a large part in the force of the muscle during contraction. The more motor units (muscle fibers) recruited, the stronger the force of contraction.

Muscle fibers are classified as Type I, Type IIa and Type IIb fibers. "Fast" and "slow" twitch are also two other classifications for muscle fibers. Type I fibers (slow twitch) fibers are more resistant to fatigue than Type IIa or IIb fibers and have a high capacity for aerobic metabolism, fatigue faster and are mainly anaerobic.

Slow twitch fibers are mainly for endurance while fast twitch are for speed and performance. A muscle will generally have an equal amount of both fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. In regards to hypertrophy (muscle growth), fast twitch fibers grow faster and larger than slow twitch. Within the fast twitch muscle fibers, type IIa fibers are considered intermediate between fast and slow twitch fibers in relation to speed and contraction. For example, Type IIa fibers can become more glycolytic or aerobic depending on the type of training an athlete performs. If an endurance runner were to stop running and start weight lifting, then his or her Type IIa fibers would become more glycolytic in order to handle the stress of the activity.

Muscle growth and endurance is an adaptation to stress. For example, a sprinter will develop large quadriceps and hamstrings in order to adapt to the stress, while an endurance runner will develop more endurance to efficiently handle the stress. Type I muscle fibers respond to stress by becoming more efficient and stronger with slight hypertrophy, rather than the extreme hypertrophy seen with Type IIa and IIb muscle fibers. This is the premise behind trainers recommending 6 reps for pure strength/muscle gain and why 10-15 reps are recommended to "tone" a muscle.

Finally, there are four different actions a muscle can perform; isometric, eccentric, concentric, and isotonic. An example of an isometric contraction would be pushing against a wall. Lifting a dumbbell during a bicep curl is considered the concentric portion while lowering of the weight is called the eccentric portion of the exercise. There are also called the positive and negative portions respectively. And finally, isotonic contractions are those that involve full body actions such as skating or running.

Find out more about Fitness at healthandfinesse.com

IN THE MEDIA