Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Three Types of Exercise

Exercise can fit in one (or more) of three categories.

  1. Flexibility or stretching: this can be static stretching like touching your toes, or active flexibility like yoga or dance.
  2. Strength Training: this can be lifting weights, or using resistance like your own body weight in a push-up.
  3. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise: this is where you get yourheart pumping and pop a sweat!

You need all three types, each several times a week. To get started, aim for 30 minutes of exercise per day. Once you've started, exercise 60 minutes a day for best health. Luckily, you don't need to do your exercise all at once; you can do 10 minutes here and there. In fact, interval training (periods of heavy and light exertion, or exertion and rest) is very effective and burns a lot of calories.

I do 10 minutes of free weights in the morning, and 20 minutes of (static) stretching before bed. I need to work on cardio!

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