Exercise, exercise, exercise! Need we say more?
Do you feel tired all the time? Do you feel like the winter blue is getting to you? Cold, dreary, and dark weathers during the winter season have proven to affect many people psychologically and physically.
It’s not surprising to hear many physicians recommending daily exercises. Yes, we know — exercising will require time and energy — something that you might not have after a long day at work. Stressed out, burnt out, and tired out, all you ever want is to take a hot bath and then snuggle into that comfortable bed of yours.
However! Hear me out here: Exercises will actually help you sleep better while assist you in combating that winter blue.
Get that soothing comfort and relaxations into your mind and body
There are many types of exercises. From strength training to cardio. For example, aerobics, also known in many circles as “cardio” (short for “cardiovascular”), are exercises meant to get the body running. It increases your blood circulation and gets your lovely heart pumping. At the same time, it boosts metabolism to help you burn off some of those calories that are making camps inside your body.
Types of aerobics exercise to try
Now, different exercises will be suitable to different people. I’m not the expert but here are some tips and suggestions that you can try:
The first aerobics activity that most individuals would like to try out is jogging. I know. I cringe when I hear the word “jogging”. I mean, personally, I feel it’s boring to jog by myself for minutes at a time. Not to mention the fact that the first few times when I started jogging, I would feel the burns in my legs, my abs, and my lungs. Although, we can definitely make it fun as well!
Do you like music? Perhaps you may be old school like me and use a Rocky theme as motivation music. When you hear that music playing, put all your might into that final sprint up the staircases you see in front of you!
That’s exaggerating (and you don’t want to do a full on sprint without proper warm up and proper exercise clothing as well to prevent taxing your heart and body too much). But really, music can be inspirational. It makes jogging that much more enjoyable when you play your favorite song lists.
Melodies and lyrics can be a powerful tool to create a suitable atmosphere for you to enjoy something that you might not like at first. As time goes on, you’ll begin to focus on the songs instead of the jog itself. Before you know it, 10 mins of jogging has already passed!
There are some things a new jogger needs to know though:
First, beginners will need to alternate between periods of jogging and periods of walking.When I first jogged, I set a time limit of 3 minutes of jogging with 2 minutes of walking for a total of 5 minutes. It doesn’t sound much but 5 minutes of jogging around a neighborhood with uphill and downhill can be pretty tiring.
After I got past the initial soreness of my legs, I then increased another 2 minutes on my second jogging session to make it 7 minutes (so 5 minutes of jogging and 2 minutes of walking). Third session I increased to 9 minutes. Basically, you don’t want to force yourself to jog for an extended period of time in the beginning. You want to slowly get used to jogging.
It won’t be long until you’ve finally realized you have a much higher stamina, better appetite, better sleep, all the while staying in great shape!
Some other good types of aerobic activities you can try include: biking, swimming, and even boxing. Look for one that sounds fun to you and try it out. If it IS fun, stick to it. No sense forcing yourself to do an exercise you don’t enjoy!
(Or paint ball games with your friends if you are into survival games)
But I don`t have time!
I get it. Not all of us have ample of time to jog for minutes or hours at a time. To be honest, most fitness trainers will tell you that 30 minutes of aerobics exercise is optimal, whether you’re aiming to lose or gain weight. Any less than that, and you won’t burn much fat. Any more, and you’ll risk injuring yourself.
Of course, all that depends on what you’re training for. If you’re just aiming for weight loss or muscle gain, 30 minutes is okay. But if you’re training for a long-distance athletic event, such as a marathon or a channel crossing, you can go well beyond the 30-minute guideline!
The important thing to keep in mind is: What is your ultimate goal?
You skipped everything and just scrolled down to here…
You did, didn’t you?
But it’s okay! We all have our priorities. Perhaps you’ve just stumbled upon our blog posts by chance. Perhaps you’re really trying to find ways to get back in shape. Regardless of your decisions, you are in control of your health, your wellness, and your happiness.
At the end of the day, you want to do things and make decisions that will make you happy. If you are happy, then you will obtain that healthy lifestyle. Success will follow you anywhere as long as you maintain a positive mindset!
Whether if you want to exercise from time to time or you want to set a schedule to be the next marathon winner, do remember to stretch well first. Keep the proper forms throughout the exercise. Keep track of time and stay hydrated. And of course, pace yourself — you don’t get good at anything overnight! 🙂
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Originally published at https://www.vitactivate.com on December 24, 2019.